Council Examinations

In order to work as an osteopath you must register with the Osteopathic Council.  You must also apply for a practising certificate.

Before granting you registration the Council must be satisfied that you:

• Have a qualification recognised by the Council; and
• Are fit for registration (this covers such things as whether you have any criminal convictions, mental or physical health issues or professional conduct issues, and can communicate effectively in the English language, etc); and
• Are competent to practice.

The Council strongly recommends that you ensure that you can meet the fitness-to-practice requirements prior to undertaking the examination. 

It is a three-step process.

STEP 1 - QUALIFICATION

Currently the Council does not recognise any overseas qualifications. Overseas applicants (apart from most Australian-registered practitioners) must therefore pass an entry examination.

The Council has determined that holders of qualifications gained from certain named institutions will automatically be eligible to sit the examination.  Click here to see if your qualification is on the list.  If not, your qualification will need to be assessed by the Council prior to approval being given for you to sit the examination.  Click here for details of the approval process.

The examination is held here in New Zealand. The current examination is a practicum whereby the candidates must assess and treat three patients. This exam has been likened, by previous candidates, as being comparable to the final clinical exam that students sit at the conclusion of their course of study .

Exams are held at Unitec, Carrington Road, Auckland, New Zealand, and are always held on a Saturday.  As the exam is examined and moderated by New Zealand osteopaths, who are familiar with the standards of competence required of New Zealand registered osteopaths, the exam must be sat in New Zealand, and is not available anywhere else.  The Osteopathic Council does not, at present, run prep courses, or refresher courses.

The fee for the examination is $NZ 3,375 (including NZ goods and services tax).

Please click here for guidelines on the exam plus an application form .

STEP 2 - REGISTRATION

Once you have passed the examination you can apply for registration.  This is an additional cost of $675.00 (including goods and services tax).  Once registered in New Zealand, the registration inures until the practitioner is struck off (for disciplinary reasons) or requests that their name is removed from the register.  Click here for an application for registration form.

Registration, by itself, does not allow a practitioner to lawfully practise. In addition to registration, an annual practising certificate is needed each year (1 Apr - 31 Mar).  See step 3 below.

It is quite usual for candidates who have passed the examination to  register in New Zealand and then return to their home country for a period of time, before returning to settle, seek an APC and practise in New Zealand.  In this instance practitioners will be required to show their previous 12 months Compulsory Professional Development/Education.  The maximum amount of time allowed between passing the examination and commencement of practise in New Zealand is three years, although we do not suggest that you leave it this long as you may be required to do additional CPD in New Zealand before a practising certificate will be issued.

Although you can't be registered until you have passed the examination, we suggest that you start gathering up the documents you need well before the date on which you want to start work as it can take some weeks to obtain these. In particular, we are advised that the UK Police Criminal Conviction Clearance certificate can take up to 8 weeks to obtain.

As original documents need to be sighted, it is not possible to apply for registration by email.

STEP 3 - ANNUAL PRACTISING CERTIFICATE

Prior to commencing practice you will also need to apply for an annual practising certificate, and again, there is an extra charge, and an application form.  If all documentation is correct, then this process should take no more than 4 days. As stated above, if there is a delay between gaining registration and applying for a practising certificate, then practitioners will be required to show their previous 12 months Compulsory Professional Development/Education (from their home country).

In terms of starting work, you will need to allow a few weeks after you sit the exam before starting work. The process is:

1. Sit examination

2. Allow up to 5 working days to get result (we say to allow up to 21 days to get a formal result; ie a copy of the moderators report, but normally the moderator advises us informally within a few days of the candidate taking the exam.)

3. Apply for registration. You should allow 2 - 4 weeks for this. It will often be much quicker than this but this will depend on the Registrar's workload at the time and whether you have provided all the required documentation).

4. Once registered, apply for a work permit.  NZ Immigration Service advises that this can take up to 15 working days although it is often much quicker.  Because immigration policies change reasonably frequently, you should check with NZIS to make sure ensure you have up-to-date information. The NZ Immigration Service Website is www.immigration.govt.nz