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546 results matching “certificate of professional standing”
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Certificates of professional status (COPS) are documents used by professional regulators to share information about whether a health practitioner is in good standing. Doctors or physician associates applying for registration, restoration or returning from practising outside New Zealand need to provide us with certificates of professional status.
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How you apply for a practising certificate will depend on whether or not you are already registered in New Zealand, if you have worked in New Zealand before, and how long it has been since you last practised. If you already hold a practising certificate, please see our page on renewing your practising certificate instead.
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To ensure that you are continuing to maintain your competence to practise medicine, you must meet recertification programme requirements set by Council, including any minimum continuing professional development (CPD) requirements.
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To ensure that you are continuing to maintain your competence to practise medicine, you must meet recertification programme requirements set by Council, including any minimum continuing professional development (CPD) requirements.
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All physician associates applying for registration in New Zealand must have key documents verified from their primary source. Council uses the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates’ (ECFMG) Credential Verification for Health Professionals (CVHP) service to do this.
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This page outlines the registration process for physician associates including information on what you need to provide, what you can expect and how long it will take.
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The special purpose visiting expert scope of practice enables doctors to come to New Zealand to proctor, demonstrate, assist or teach a new or existing procedure to New Zealand practitioners for a maximum of one week.
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If you are planning on leaving New Zealand to practise in another country, its medical regulator may ask you for a certificate of professional status (COPS) from us. Your registration is not affected by your decision to practise overseas but you must ensure that we hold current contact details for you.
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All doctors and physician associates coming to New Zealand to practise for the first time must attend a registration meeting and be able to produce the information we have asked for.
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If you're not working away from New Zealand but are just taking a break from medical practice, this page outlines what you need to do.
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We may sometimes use terms you won't be familiar with. Find out here what they mean.
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List of our fees effective from 1 July 2026
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The Performance Assessment Committee (PAC) is made up of two medical members and a lay member. The PAC can assess a doctor’s performance at any time.
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This pathway is for New Zealand and Australian medical graduates wanting to register within the Provisional General scope of practice to complete their internship.
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Find out how to keep us up to date with changes to your information including your name, employment, and addresses.
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You can apply for registration via this pathway if, within the last five years, you have passed either the New Zealand Registration Examination (NZREX Clinical); or Part 1 and Part 2 of the Professional and Linguistic Assessments Board (PLAB) test.
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You cannot work outside the requirements of your scope of practice and any requirements set by Council specific to you. These are shown on your practising certificate. If you are registered within a provisional general, provisional vocational or a special purpose scope of practice, you need our approval of any change to your employment, supervision, position or location.
Once we've received and approved your variation application we will issue you a new practising certificate. -
Request for certificate of registration
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This page sets out the recertification programme requirements for doctors registered and practising in the General scope of practice only. This is typically either participation in a medical college vocational training programme, or in the Inpractice recertification programme.
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From today, 1 October 2026 physician associates are a regulated health profession in Aotearoa New Zealand.
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Regardless of your scope of practice, the basic process for registration as a doctor or physician associate in New Zealand is as outlined here.
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You can apply via this pathway if you have passed Part 1 and Part 2 of the Professional and Linguistic Assessments Board (PLAB) test administered by the General Medical Council (GMC), United Kingdom (UK); completed 12-months of satisfactory practice in the UK; and hold full general registration with the GMC.
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You can apply for registration through this pathway if you have an overseas specialist qualification on our approved list, and have a job offer to work in New Zealand for 12 months or less.
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This page contains a full list of our forms including application, report and referee forms, as well as checklists and the current fees payable.
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This pathway is for physician associates who have experience practising clinically in New Zealand.
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If a doctor or physician associate has an issue with their own health, wherever possible we try to help them to remain in practice while it is being resolved. That said, our primary objective is to protect the health and safety of the public - which may mean that the doctor or physician associate will be unable to practise safely, or will be limited in what they can do, until they are well enough to fully resume practice.
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You can apply for registration through this pathway if you hold a qualification approved by the General Medical Council (GMC) for registration as a physician associate in the United Kingdom.
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This dashboard page contains information around doctors undertaking vocational training in New Zealand.
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The Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal (The Tribunal) has asked us to publish a summary of its recent decisions. You can access the full decision on their website at the links provided.
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In some circumstances you can be restored to the medical register if your registration has been cancelled. This page outlines how to apply to be restored to the register.
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You can apply for registration through this pathway if you hold a qualification accredited for licensure in the United States of America for registration as a physician associate.
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You can apply for registration through this pathway if you hold a qualification accredited for licensure in Canada for registration as a physician associate.
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Doctors who hold overseas qualifications and who want to apply for registration in Aotearoa New Zealand must have key documents verified from their primary source. Since November 2017, Council has required primary source verification using the Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates’ Electronic Portfolio of International Credentials (ECFMG’s EPIC) service, which is now accessed via the MyIntealth portal.
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Emergency medicine is a field of practice based on knowledge and skills required for the prevention, diagnosis and management of acute and urgent aspects of illness and injury affecting patients of all age groups with a full spectrum of undifferentiated physical and behavioural disorders.
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Any doctor or physician associate applying for registration in New Zealand must be fit for registration and fit to practise. It's a legal requirement on us to ensure they are. We determine this as part of our assessment of your application for registration.
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This page contains important information on approved qualifications, the information to include with your application, and other things that may affect your application for registration in a vocational scope.
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This area of our site contains detailed information about the medical workforce in Aotearoa New Zealand.
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Medical Council News is our official newsletter. Published and distributed to the profession regularly, the newsletter contains a summary of the most important recent news as well as articles on topics likely to be of interest to doctors and physician associates.
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Doctors and physician associates get sick too, and when they do it's important that their illness doesn't interfere with their ability to practise safely. A doctor or physician associate must always be able to practise without putting patients or the public at risk.
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All international medical graduates (IMGs) registered in a provisional general, provisional vocational and special purpose scope of practice must be supervised. This is to support their practice while they become familiar with the New Zealand health system and the expected standard of medical practice.
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If you have concerns about the care you received, or about a doctor or physician associate's behaviour or professionalism, you can notify either the Health and Disability Commissioner (HDC) or the Medical Council of New Zealand (Council). We work closely together, but our roles are different.
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General practice is an academic and scientific discipline with its own educational content, research, evidence base and clinical activity, and a clinical speciality orientated to primary care. It is personal, family, and community-orientated comprehensive primary care that includes diagnosis, continues over time and is anticipatory as well as responsive.
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Occupational medicine involves the study and practice of medicine related to the effects of work on health and health on work. It has clinical, preventive and population based aspects.
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Musculoskeletal medicine involves the diagnosis and treatment (or referral) of patients with neuro-musculoskeletal dysfunction, disorders and diseases, most of whom present with acute or chronic pain problems.
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Psychiatry involves the assessment, diagnosis and treatment of patients with psychological, emotional, or cognitive problems resulting from psychiatric disorders, physical disorders or any other cause.
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Intensive care medicine involves the diagnosis and treatment of patients with acute, severe and life-threatening disorders of vital systems that are medical, surgical or obstetric in origin, and whether adult or paediatric.
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This pathway is for New Zealand and Australian medical graduates who have successfully completed their internship in Australia and want to register within the General scope of practice.
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We serve Aotearoa New Zealand by protecting the health and safety of the public. We do this by setting and promoting standards for doctors and physician associates.
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You can download copies of your current and expired practising certificates by logging into your myMCNZ account.
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In addition to being registered, you must also hold a current practising certificate to practise medicine in New Zealand. You cannot lawfully practise in New Zealand without this certificate.
This section outlines the importance of holding a current practising certificate, the consequences of practising without one, and how to apply for one. -
Every doctor in New Zealand must be registered to practise medicine. If you are not eligible for registration under any other pathway, you must sit and pass the NZREX Clinical, our registration examination.
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You are eligible for a 50 percent refund of your practising certificate fee if your medical income (including any tax) in New Zealand or overseas is NZ$20,000 or less.
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In order to practise in New Zealand you must be both registered and hold a current practising certificate. This policy outlines Council's rules around practising certificates.
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This page outlines how the process of renewing your practising certificate works and what to do if your certificate is about to expire and you haven't heard from us.