New Zealand Registration in 8 weeks

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Hi guys,

I was granted NZ registration about a month ago. I figured it out on my own and encountered a few pitfalls along the way so thought I would let people know how I went about it to make things a little easier.

In total it took me about 4 months from initially sending it to getting my annual practicing certificate (but it can be a lot quicker or slower than this).

These are my tips;
-Registration with NZ is a legal process. The whole document you send is treated as a legal document so just one signature out of place or one box that you forgot to tick will result in a delay. They will send it back to you or request you send a new copy. One of my referees (for whatever reason) didn't sign their reference form and that resulted in a lengthy delay because they contacted me then needed to get in touch with the referee and send them a new form to fill out and then request they get it back to NZ. So check and double check that all the right boxes are ticked and everything that needs signing is signed.

-Get your police checks and certificate of status from the HPC sorted (but remember these need to be dated within 3 months of your application submission)

-Get all the bits you need from your university asap. You need to get a certified copy of your degree cert, diploma transcript and a full copy of the exact academic syllabus you studied. The academic syllabus is a pretty big document in it's own right, you need to make sure the start of every module is stamped and signed by the uni. Make sure you have a letter to accompany the syllabus that confirms it is the exact syllabus that you studied. Along with a letter that confirms you have completed over 1000 supervised hours and what placements you completed as a student. Having the syllabus makes filling in the competency templates much easier.

-Next complete the CV. This must be done on the NZ CV template. Once again if this is complete it makes filling out the templates much easier.

-Next step is the templates, reflections and gathering evidence i.e. the long haul. You do not need to address every little bit of each competency, your evidence just needs to show that you are competent of working at the same level as newly graduated physio from NZ. And you will find that you can use bits of evidence for more than just one template. I worked through this in three phases. First of all academic evidence-all you need to do is reference back to each appropriate module from uni and relevant placements you completed. Next the post grad part, reference back to relevant parts of your CV and relevant validation of work history forms.
Then the supporting evidence. This needs to be a mixture of course certificates, appraisals/supervision records and reflections (any reflections you submit must be transferred onto the NZ reflection template), you can use in service training slideshow printouts or any educational material or audits you have completed but make sure you have them signed by a senior physio. You can even use your dissertation if you want but if you do it needs signing by the university and every page needs stamping.
Do not use case studies or anything that contains specific patient information without signed consent from the patient and a senior physio that permits you to use the case study for the purpose of the application.

And that's it, get the stat dec signed and witnessed along with certified copies of your documents and it's good to send. The NZ board will write to you at every stage and if they need anything else they will let you know.

Good luck