Occupational therapist: Australia or New Zealand?
The Occupational Therapy Board of Australia's portfolio assessment against OTBNZ's overseas route: what each reads, English, demand, and how to choose.
Australia and New Zealand sit side by side on the map and often side by side on an occupational therapist’s shortlist. Their registration routes are closer than most pairs of countries, and they are linked: one can lead to the other. But the way each reads an overseas occupational therapy degree is different, and so is what happens if your training does not line up exactly.
This post compares the two, using only what the boards and the two governments publish.
Who decides in each country
Australia: the OT Board and Ahpra
In Australia, occupational therapists register with the Occupational Therapy Board of Australia, with Ahpra running registration. The board describes three pathways for internationally qualified practitioners: a comparable regulator pathway, a recognised international qualification pathway, and a qualification assessment pathway. A qualification the board does not already recognise goes through the qualification assessment pathway, with a full portfolio.
Source: occupationaltherapyboard.gov.au · Registration for internationally qualified occupational therapists · Assessment of international qualifications · 2026-10-04
New Zealand: OTBNZ
In New Zealand the Occupational Therapy Board of New Zealand holds the register. Overseas-qualified applicants are individually assessed by occupational therapists the board appoints. There is a shorter, abridged pathway, but it is for practitioners qualified and currently registered in the UK, Ireland, Canada or South Africa.
Source: otboard.org.nz · Overseas qualified practitioners · Overseas qualified practitioners: UK, Ireland, Canada, and South Africa · 2026-10-04
How each reads your training
Australia: an outcome with three possibilities
Your portfolio is assessed against the board’s criteria for international qualifications, and the outcome is one of three. If your qualification is substantially equivalent, you can apply for general registration. If it is relevant to the profession but not yet enough, you need limited registration for supervised practice and a competence assessment, run by the Occupational Therapy Council, before general registration. If it is neither, you are not qualified on that basis.
Source: occupationaltherapyboard.gov.au · Next steps after qualification assessment · Competence assessment · 2026-10-04
The middle outcome has a practical edge. Supervised practice means finding suitable employment and a supervisor in Australia first.
New Zealand: a desktop assessment with referees
On OTBNZ’s standard route you submit your application through its portal, then complete a desktop competence self-assessment against its Competencies for Registration and Continuing Practice, give three referees (the third an occupational therapist who confirms your self-assessment), and send hard copies of the documents the board marks.
Source: otboard.org.nz · Overseas qualified practitioners · 2026-10-04
So Australia reads a portfolio and can route you into supervised practice. New Zealand reads your evidence and your own account of your competence, checked by a referee.
Documents and English
Documents
The Australian portfolio asks for the board’s portfolio form, a certified copy of your registration and any registration exam results, records of your practical placements, your course curriculum with learning outcomes and assessment tasks, and certified transcripts and award certificate.
Source: occupationaltherapyboard.gov.au · Assessment of international qualifications · 2026-10-04
OTBNZ asks for two forms of certified identification, certificates of good standing from every regulator you have been registered with, your qualification certificate, academic transcript and detailed course description, a criminal history check, a CV and a cultural competence course certificate.
Source: otboard.org.nz · Overseas qualified practitioners · 2026-10-04
Both want the syllabus in detail. Neither will take a one-line “completed” in place of hours and placements.
English
Australia applies Ahpra’s English language skills standard. On the test pathway, IELTS Academic needs 7 overall, with 7 in listening, reading and speaking and 6.5 in writing.
Source: ahpra.gov.au · English language skills registration standard · Accepted English language tests · 2026-10-04
OTBNZ asks for the occupational therapy OET at grade B in each component, or IELTS Academic at 7.0 in every band.
Source: otboard.org.nz · English language policy for registration (Policy 704) · 2026-10-04
Demand, and the link between them
Occupational therapist is rated Shortage on Australia’s 2025 Occupation Shortage List and sits on the Core Skills Occupation List. In New Zealand it is a Tier 1 role on the Green List, which Immigration New Zealand describes as straight to residence.
Source: jobsandskills.gov.au · immi.homeaffairs.gov.au · immigration.govt.nz · Occupation Shortage List 2025 · Core Skills Occupation List · Green List roles · 2026-09-22
First-time occupational therapy registrants: domestic and international
Unit: practitioners
| Category | International | Domestic, incl. new graduates |
|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 522 | 2,023 |
| 2023/24 | 624 | 2,074 |
| 2024/25 | 516 | 2,273 |
Internationally qualified occupational therapists were 516 of Australia’s first-time registrants in 2024/25, against 2,273 domestic. For every international first-time registrant there were more than four domestic ones, so overseas-trained therapists are a steady minority of new entrants rather than the main source.
Accredited Employer Work Visa approvals in our occupations
Unit: applications approved
| Category | Approved, 1 Jul 2022 to 3 Sep 2026 |
|---|---|
| Physiotherapist | 633 |
| Medical diagnostic radiographer | 245 |
| Anaesthetic technician (nearest equivalent to ODP) | 126 |
| Occupational therapist | 120 |
| Social worker | 74 |
| Medical laboratory technician | 66 |
| Medical laboratory scientist | 63 |
| Speech language therapist | 40 |
| Podiatrist | 14 |
Immigration New Zealand has approved 120 Accredited Employer Work Visa applications for occupational therapists since the visa opened. That is well below physiotherapy, in a much smaller workforce.
The two routes are also connected. The Australian board says an occupational therapist with current OTBNZ registration and a current New Zealand practising certificate can apply for general registration in Australia.
Source: occupationaltherapyboard.gov.au · Registration for internationally qualified occupational therapists · 2026-10-04
How to decide
Weigh these, rather than looking for a winner:
- Can you find supervised work in Australia if you need it? A “relevant” outcome depends on it.
- How detailed is your curriculum? Australia reads learning outcomes and assessment tasks; New Zealand reads your self-assessment against its competencies.
- Which English result fits? Australia allows 6.5 in writing on IELTS; OTBNZ asks for 7.0 in every band.
- Where do you want residence? Compare Australia’s skilled lists with New Zealand’s Green List, as each government publishes them.
- Do you want both, eventually? New Zealand registration has a stated path into Australia.
Sources
The source and reading date sit under every fact in this post. The full list for occupational therapists is on our sources page. The bodies that decide are on the Australia page and the New Zealand page.
Your next steps
- Find your college’s detailed curriculum, with learning outcomes and hours
- Ask for certificates of good standing from every council you are registered with
- Compare your English result with both boards’ minimums
- Read OTBNZ’s competencies and write a first self-assessment for yourself
Your route’s fees and timelines travel with it, not with this post. Choose occupational therapist and your country in the Route Finder below.
What we do
How Credentis Global helps with this route
You trained. We file. The regulator decides. Here is what that means for your file.
Your fit, read before anything is filed
we read your degree, transcripts and experience against the regulator’s published standard first, so you know where the file is strong and where it needs evidence.
Every document, in the order the regulator reads it
Each item is checked against the regulator’s own list: names matched to your passport, hours in writing, copies certified by the person the list names.
One portal, and a person who answers
Upload your documents, see every stage of the file and message us in one place. The person who replies is the specialist preparing your file.
We prepare and file. The regulator decides.
Your application goes in from your own regulator account with every page prepared, and every query is drafted against the regulator’s exact question.
One specialist owns your file
The specialist who reads your documents builds the file and answers the regulator’s queries. You always know who has it, and you pay the regulator directly.
