Navigating Veterinary Registration in New Zealand: Insights for Overseas-Qualified Vets

This episode focuses on the essential steps required to become a registered veterinarian in New Zealand, emphasising the importance of understanding the registration process for overseas applicants.

Key topics include language proficiency, registration types, and examination requirements.   

• Overview of the veterinary registration process in New Zealand
• Importance of a current Annual Practicing Certificate (APC)
• Requirement for English proficiency and passing the IELTS
• Difference between general and limited registration for veterinarians
• Examination pathways for those with unrecognised (according to the Veterinary Council of New Zealand) veterinary degrees
• Overview of Massey University’s Supervised Year of Clinical Training

and something new in 2025:

• Announcement of the transition to a newsletter format with focused content

Veterinary Council of New Zealand website

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Transcript

Julie South: 0:06

Happy New Year, happy 2025,. Wherever this finds you, I hope that 2025 is your best year ever. What does it take to be a veterinarian in New Zealand? This is a question I get asked often. This is a question I get asked often, sometimes daily. A couple of years ago, I had Ian McLaughlin, the Registrar of the Veterinary Council of New Zealand, on this podcast. Ian explained then why not all vet degrees are recognized here. I'll put links to his episodes, because he was on three times on the show notes of this one for you to listen to if you want to know why not all veterinary degrees are recognized in New Zealand. If you are affected by that In New Zealand, affected by that In New Zealand, the term registered veterinarian is actually a legal registered term. It means that only in caps, underscored, bolded exclamation marks only registered veterinarians can call themselves veterinarians in New Zealand, and because of that, there are a whole bunch of things that some overseas qualified vets need to do before they can also call themselves registered veterinarians here in New Zealand.

Julie South: 1:38

Welcome to Veterinary Voices. This is episode 219, 219, and I'm your show host, julie South. Veterinary Voices celebrates all that's great about working in New Zealand's veterinary industry. I'd love to hear from which of the 1,400 cities Veterinary Voices is listened to around the world that you're tuning into. So please feel free to let me know at. Veterinaryvoices is listened to around the world that you're tuning into, so please feel free to let me know at veterinaryvoicesnz. And it's also at veterinaryvoicesnz where you can find back copies as well. For example, ian McLaughlin's episode episodes plural Veterinary Voices is brought to you by Vet Clinic Jobs. Plural Veterinary Voices is brought to you by Vet Clinic Jobs. That's the job board that helps vet clinics do more than just post a job vacancy. Vet Clinic Jobs is all about helping employers find their dream team members no recruitment agency involved by letting job seekers find out more about a job vacancy than your regular boring old job advert. You can check it out at vetclinicjobscom.

Julie South: 3:01

To practice or use the title veterinarian in New Zealand, as I said at the beginning of the show, you must be registered with the Veterinary Council of New Zealand and hold a current APC, an annual practicing certificate. The best place to find out about this information is on the Vet Council's website, which is vetcouncilorgnz. Start. On the support and the registration page. There are basically two types of registration. These are for general practitioners, not specialists. Specialists have a whole different criteria to work with. So two types of registration general registration and limited registration.

Julie South: 3:47

Regardless of which registration path you go down, all applicants must meet some strict requirements that are set by the Vet Council of New Zealand. One of those is English English proficiency. You must be able to communicate in and understand English at a level that's suitable for practicing as a veterinarian in New Zealand. So that might mean that your conversational English is okay, but your clinical English isn't. So if English isn't your first language, you'll need to provide proof of English competency by passing one of the approved English tests. The most preferred for this is IELTS I-E-L-T-S, the International English Language Testing System. If English isn't your first language and you're in the early stages of applying for New Zealand registration, I highly recommend that you speak English, conversational English, as often as possible, especially at home, with your family, your flatmates, your housemates, because, as we all know, english isn't the easiest language to learn and a high standard of proficiency is required. Yes, I know, it's a pain in the proverbial. My husband is an airline pilot. He is a born and bred Kiwi. He has university entrance level English. He had to sit and pass an English language test to have his airline registration as well. So it's not just overseas veterinarians, it applies to many types of professions registered here in New Zealand.

Julie South: 5:40

Another thing that you'll have to prove is that you are fit and proper, you are fit to practice and that you're that you have recency of practice. So you'll need a letter of good standing from your own country's vet council proving that you are current, that you are recent and you are fit to practice veterinary medicine. If you've been out of clinical practice for a couple of years, a few years, then you might need to do a refresher course. In New Zealand, the Vet Association, the New Zealand Veterinary Association, has a refresher program that you can enroll in. Here in New Zealand, the council accepts veterinary degrees and passes in specific and very specific examinations and assessment programs for registration without having to re-sit again. This means that, provided your primary veterinary science degree is listed on the Veterinary Council's list of recognized institutions 2015, and that's the document. It's actually a legally gazetted document. It's the list of recognized institutions 2015. I'll put links to that document in the show notes for you at veterinaryvoicesnz.

Julie South: 7:06

So either your primary veterinary degree is on the list of recognized institutions or you have passed one of the council's accepted exams, which happen to be on page three, you may be eligible for registration here in New Zealand without additional testing, and that's provided that you meet the minimum standards for practice. Like you are recent, you've got a letter of good standing and you've apply for supervised registration and that's provided that you've passed for example, here I'm talking about the Australasian Veterinary Board's exam, the AVE provided you've passed the first half of the AVE, which is the multi-choice question. When you've passed that, you may be eligible to work here as a super, as a vet under supervision. However, you need to know that just because you've passed your mcq, the multi-choice questions, it doesn't mean that you're necessarily going to be able to find a job at a clinic here in new zealand easily either. Yes, we have a shortage of veterinarians in New Zealand, around the world in fact, and it's because of the shortage. It means that the majority of clinics here in New Zealand don't always have the capacity to have vets working in a supervisory role. So just keep that in mind. I will put links to the Australasian Veterinary Exam Board website again on the show notes for you. So limited registration it's available if you don't qualify for general registration and this type of registration allows you to be registered in a limited scope of practice. Currently, the applications are being accepted under these scopes of practice Biosecurity, postgraduate training, academic industry, and that's laboratory and diagnostic, particular skills for a restricted period, a restricted purpose scope and a time-limited scope for New Zealand-based national veterinary examination candidates. I'll get to that a bit in a minute. If you've got questions about your specific situation, about your overseas qualification, you will need to speak with one of the registrars at the Veterinary Council in New Zealand. Even if you have, say, a PhD from one of the recognised universities in this 2015 list, in this 2015 list, but your primary DVM or your Bachelor of Veterinary Science is not from one of those recognized institutions, recognized universities you will have to re-sit somehow, because it doesn't matter about your PhD. What the veterinary council in New Zealand and Australia are interested in is where you got your primary veterinary science degree.

Julie South: 10:42

Now, registration by examination. That means that you have to sit another exam and pass it. As I said just now, if your primary degree isn't on the list of recognised institutions, you will need to sit and pass an exam of some kind to work in New Zealand and or Australia. Now think back to how hard your exams were when you first sat your veterinary science bachelor's degree. Think back also to how much you studied for that exam, because that is what you'll need to do if you need to sit one of the prescribed exams. To be registered here, you'll need to budget a few years and maybe about 20,000 New Zealand dollars or so, and that's as at the beginning of 25, those rates. You can't buy an exam in New Zealand or Australia. You actually have to sit and pass it. Gosh, I reckon I would be that I wouldn't have to work anymore if I were able to print off exam passes. With the number of times I've been asked how do you buy an exam pass? You can't, I'm sorry. You have to sit it and it's hard and it costs dollars and it takes a lot of time and it takes a lot of time.

Julie South: 12:14

Another pathway, less common than sitting the Australasian Veterinary Exam Board or the NAVLE, the North American one is to go the route of Massey University Supervised Year of Clinical Training. That's the last year of the Massey Veterinary Science degree here in New Zealand. Tauwharaora, the veterinary school at Massey University in Palmerston North here in New Zealand, aims to offer a limited number of places each year for the clinical training component under specific programs. The availability of these places depends on the predicted class size and the clinical training year typically starts in late November and you must complete it within 12 months. Preference is given to internationally qualified vets with New Zealand residency already or citizenship, although international students may also be considered. So even if you're not here right now and you think this is the way you want to go, then inquire, please inquire. I will let you know that it's also another expensive pathway, but it's just one year long and, provided you pass, it's probably a faster route than going down the AVE or the NAVLE, the North American Pathway. I'll put links to Massey University's website at veterinaryvoicesnz for you if you are thinking that that is the way that you might like to go.

Julie South: 13:48

If this is your pathway, again, there are strict requirements and applicants must meet all of them, including, as I said just before at the beginning, a very high standard of English. When places are available, because Massey doesn't guarantee a set number each year, the selection process ensures that applicants possess the necessary communication and problem-solving skills for the veterinary teaching hospital. Massey University is a teaching hospital. Standards are high and, just so you know, part of the selection process includes participating in a multiple mini interview, sometimes known as the MMI multiple mini interview, and that's done online. There's also as at recording this at the beginning of 2025, there's also a non-refundable fee for the selection process, and that's approximately 400 New Zealand dollars. It has to be paid in advance. If this sounds like your preferred pathway and you'd like to be considered for clinical training in one of the specified programs and you've met all of Massey's requirements, then you'll need to apply before the 1st of July each year to be considered for a start in late November of the same year.

Julie South: 15:22

Thank you for listening and for supporting Veterinary Voices over the last 200 plus episodes. This will actually be the last podcast in this format, so what's going to take its place, julie? Thank you for asking. Veterinary Voices caters to two specific and very distinct audiences. I've been asked for just a motivation and mindset podcast and I've been asked for just a recruitment specific podcast as well. Now, doing one podcast is hard enough. Doing two would just do my head in.

Julie South: 15:59

So here's what is going to happen going forward, because clinics are interested in learning how to grow their brands as great employers, which most job seekers really don't give a proverbial about. Sure, job seekers want to know that the clinics they're going to are good places to work when they're looking to make their next move, but they're not interested in knowing about the nuts and the bolts how of what that looks like or how it's done. Similarly, or likewise, not all clinic managers or principals or HR managers are interested in knowing how to get their head screwed on straight. It's been a really tight line to walk along, a tight path to walk along, and it's because of that that I've decided that this will be the last podcast episode in this format. Instead, what we're going to do is move to an educational newsletter that you can sign up for.

Julie South: 17:02

Weekly soundbites, five-minute soundbites. So if your role at your clinic is learning how to get the most out of your job advertisements you might be a practice manager, an HR manager or a principal then you can do that via a weekly newsletter that'll take you about five minutes to read and each week you will get something new to think about, to do to action Just something teeny, tiny, insy, winsy, dinky that will make a huge difference to you attracting your dream team to your clinic. Likewise, if you want to know how to keep or get your head screwed on straight with coaching, mentoring, mindset type life hacks, then you can get that too, again in a five minute read newsletter. All you have to do is register. To register is visit veterinaryvoicesnz and fill out the email signup form that's on that website. From there, we'll send you an email asking which newsletter you'd like to receive the employer branded focus one or the life hack one and you can opt in to receive both.

Julie South: 18:15

We do have some great interviews scheduled and they will still be available as a podcast format, and I will let you know via these emails so that you can listen or read about them. So you can choose to listen to the audio, like you have been, or you can opt for the proceed of the conversation. You'll be able to choose your preferred medium audio or text. Easy peasy, five minute reads. That's all it'll be, wherever you are. Oh, by the way, if you have already opted in to receive veterinary voices updates, look out for an email from us and we'll be asking you which one you actually want to, which newsletter you want to start receiving. Again, thank you for your ears. Wherever you are in the world. Happy new year. Whatever you're up to, stay safe on the roads, in the skies, on the water. And here's to wishing you the absolute bestest 2025. Your best year ever. Ka kite anō. This is Julie South signing off.