Occupational English Test must be completed in person

Validated finding · five-country-2010-20260922-v118-evidence-presentation-fix

CountryNew Zealand

Operative dateJuly 13, 2026

CategoryEvidence requirements

Policy toolLanguage test delivery

Affected groupApplicants using the occupational english test for immigration applications

Policy effect

From midnight 12 July 2026 New Zealand Standard Time (NZST), all parts of the Occupational English Test (OET) used for an immigration application must be completed in person at a supervised test centre, and online testing from home is not permitted. Computer-based OET tests with a remotely administered speaking component completed before 13 July 2026 remain acceptable. OET@Home is not an acceptable English language test and has never been accepted.

Conditions and exceptions

Validated condition or limit: From midnight 12 July 2026 New Zealand Standard Time (NZST), all parts of the Occupational English Test (OET) used for an immigration application must be completed in person at a supervised test centre, and online testing from home is not permitted.; Computer-based OET tests with a remotely administered speaking component completed before 13 July 2026 remain acceptable.

Official source excerpt

Quoted verbatim from the official source below. Ellipses indicate omitted text.

From midnight 12 July 2026 New Zealand Standard Time (NZST), you must take all parts of the Occupational English Test (OET) in person at a supervised test centre. You will not be able to complete the test online from home. … If you take the test on or after 13 July 2026, you must go to a test centre. … From midnight 12 July 2026 NZST, we will only accept in-person tests for applications where OET is used as the English language test. … If you completed the computer-based OET test with a remotely administered speaking component before 13 July 2026, you can still use those results for your application. The OET@Home test is not an acceptable English language test for Immigration New Zealand purposes and has never been accepted.

Immigration New ZealandUpdate on English language testing for immigration applications; effective 13 July 2026.Open official source

Retrieved from https://www.immigration.govt.nz/about-us/news-centre/update-on-english-language-testing-for-immigration-applications

Review method

Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite extraction with independent Gemini 3.8 Flash verification

Automated source validation is not independent human legal review. The finding should not be treated as legal advice. Record component-nz-oet-in-person-20260713. Something wrong? Flag this record.

Occupational English Test must be completed in person

Policy effect

Conditions and exceptions

Official source excerpt

Review method

Other New Zealand changes operative in 2026