Vietnamese engineers: New Zealand hired fewer graduates in 2025, so what now?

Tips · 2026-09-21 · 3 min read

Are you an engineer in Vietnam who hopes to work in New Zealand one day? You may have heard that the job market there is slow. This is true for now. But the story has a hopeful part too. Let us look at it step by step.

What happened in 2025?

Engineering consultancies in New Zealand lost more than 1,200 staff in the year to April 2025. More than 760 of them were made redundant. Another 270 left to work overseas.

Firms also stopped taking on young engineers. In 2025, 57% of firms hired fewer graduates, or none at all, than the year before. Almost three in ten firms stopped their graduate intake completely, even though they had hired graduates the year before.

Why is this hard for graduates?

In New Zealand, a degree is not enough to become a registered engineer. A graduate also needs several years of supervised practice inside a firm. This work leads to chartership. Without a placement, there is no registration. About a third of engineering graduates move into other careers within two years when no placement appears.

Other parts of the economy are weak too. Unemployment is expected to reach 5.5% by the June 2026 quarter. Business confidence dropped from +39 to +1 in the March 2026 business survey.

Is there good news?

Yes. Job advertisements were up 11.8% compared with a year earlier by March 2026, and construction led the rise. Conditions are expected to turn from 2027.

The industry also says the country needs up to 2,300 new engineers every year just to keep the same number. Big projects in water, transport and climate adaptation are coming. If local firms train too few people now, they may look overseas for experienced engineers later.

Steps you can take now

Keep a record of your projects. Write down what you designed, built or checked, and who supervised you.
Ask for certified English translations of your Vietnamese degree and certificates when the visa rules ask for them. Vietnamese qualifications are usually assessed again abroad, and some trades in New Zealand need registration.
If a police certificate is requested, Vietnamese citizens usually need the Judicial Record Certificate No. 2 (Phiếu lý lịch tư pháp số 2).
Take IELTS or PTE if your employer or visa needs it.
Read the official New Zealand work visa pages to learn the main options.

Keep your plan realistic

Experienced engineers have the best chance when firms look abroad again. If you are a new graduate, build your skills at home first. Join real projects, learn the standards, and improve your English.

Stay safe

Use only licensed organisations and real employers. Never pay an unlicensed broker. Be careful if anyone asks for money upfront to secure a job or a visa. A slow market sometimes brings people who try to take advantage of hopeful workers.

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