New Zealand Green List Tier 2: How the 24-Month Work Period Is Counted
A Green List Tier 2 applicant does not qualify for residence merely by holding a relevant job title for two calendar years. Immigration New Zealand (INZ) checks whether the work, visa, hours, role and pay met the rules during the periods being counted. The 24 months must fall within the 30 months immediately before the residence application, and the work can be completed in more than one stretch.
That means a break does not necessarily erase earlier qualifying time, but it can push older work outside the 30-month window. Before choosing an application date, build a dated record of each eligible work period and compare it with the current requirements for the specific occupation.
Start by confirming the occupation and tier
Green List roles have occupation-specific conditions. Depending on the role, these can include a qualification, professional registration, experience, a particular job description or a wage threshold. Check the current Green List entry itself; a similar job title or a matching qualification does not automatically satisfy the listed requirements.
Tier 2 is the work-to-residence route. The applicant must have a qualifying Tier 2 role and complete the required New Zealand work period before applying. Tier 1 roles use a different residence pathway. Do not infer the tier from an employer’s description of the job.
What time can count toward 24 months?
INZ says the work experience must be full-time and in a qualifying Tier 2 Green List job, or in work paid at twice the median wage, while meeting the wage rate required for that work. The applicable visa must also allow the work. The relevant wage is generally the rate specified for the Green List job when the eligible work period began; where the role has no specified rate, the median wage at that time may apply.
For the application, INZ also requires 24 months of eligible work in the 30 months immediately before applying. The rules allow the 24 months to be completed in several stretches. For example, two 12-month periods separated by a six-month gap can fit the time pattern. The gap itself is not work experience, and every counted period still needs to meet the eligibility rules.
Some paid leave can count as part of work experience when it is leave the employee is legally entitled to. INZ lists annual, bereavement and other legal leave, including parental leave. Keep the employment and payroll records that show the dates and terms of the leave.
When the clock may pause or stop
A period may stop counting if the work visa ends, the job no longer meets the requirements, or pay falls below the wage rate that applied when the person began counting experience. The time already accumulated is not automatically lost, but the applicant must meet the requirements again for later work to count. Only work within the 30 months before applying can be used for the 24-month total.
Changing employers does not automatically reset the clock. INZ says work in a new job may continue to count where the new job is another eligible Green List job and the applicant meets the wage requirement for that job. Check the new role’s own tier, duties, registration and wage rules before adding it to the timeline.
If an occupation is removed from the Green List after a worker starts the eligible job, INZ states that time already worked in that job can still count. That does not remove the need to satisfy the other residence requirements or to hold a qualifying current job or offer at application.
Check the visa history as well as the job history
For at least 24 months before applying, the applicant must have held an eligible work visa or one of the limited visa types INZ accepts for this purpose. The official page includes work visas, certain Critical Purpose Visitor Visas that already allow work, and qualifying Interim Visas issued while a person waits for a new work visa or eligible visitor visa. The Critical Purpose Visitor Visa is closed to new applications, so this point is relevant only to people who already hold an eligible visa.
Keep a separate visa timeline. A job may meet the occupation and pay tests while a particular visa period does not qualify. Do not assume that permission to remain in New Zealand is the same as permission to perform the work being counted.
Build a period-by-period evidence table
For each job or work period, record:
start and end dates, including any gap or leave;
employer, job title, actual duties and work location;
weekly hours and whether the role was full-time;
visa type and the dates it allowed the work;
hourly pay, changes to pay and the wage threshold that applied when counting began;
the Green List occupation requirements met, including registration or qualifications.
Support the table with employment agreements, job descriptions, payslips, tax or earnings records and employer letters. INZ asks for evidence showing what work was done, how much and when the person was paid, weekly hours, work locations and employer contact details. Contracts and payslips are useful, but check that they tell a consistent story about duties, dates, hours and remuneration.
Then test the proposed application date against the rolling 30-month window. Remove any work outside that window, exclude periods that fail a visa, full-time, occupation or wage condition, and confirm that the remaining eligible periods add up to 24 months. If the calculation depends on a disputed job classification, a pay change or an unusual leave period, resolve that issue before relying on the total.
The current job still has to qualify
Meeting the previous-work calculation is only one part of the application. At application, the person must be working in, or have an offer for, a Green List Tier 2 job with an accredited employer and meet that role’s requirements. INZ also specifies full-time work and a permanent or qualifying fixed-term position, alongside age, health, character and English requirements. A complete timeline does not replace these separate tests.
For an overview of the programme and the service scope, see the New Zealand Green List Residence page.
Official information
INZ can change visa conditions and occupation-specific wage rules. Recheck the official pages for the applicant’s occupation and circumstances before applying:
*Information checked against Immigration New Zealand’s official pages on 23 October 2026. Eligibility depends on the current rules and the facts and evidence of each application.*
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