We're Here to Help.

This course has been designed for internationally qualified Nurses, looking to become a Registered Nurse in New Zealand. 

Please note we do not offer Bachelor’s of Nursing courses, or courses for nurses already accredited in New Zealand and looking for postgraduate specialisations in nursing.

You must be an internationally qualified Nurse to apply. The Nursing Council of New Zealand will review your qualification to make sure it is comparable to a Bachelor of Nursing degree in New Zealand. Please head to our course pages here for more information.

We look for a minimum of four years’ clinical experience as a Registered Nurse, but all applications will be assessed on a case-by-case basis. This experience must be gained in a clinical environment within the last two years. Please note that experience as a volunteer nurse, nurse trainee, educator or support worker is not counted as clinical experience for our purposes.

Yes, our Competency Assessment Programme is accredited by the Nursing Council of New Zealand.

Yes, you will complete 5 weeks of practical placement (working on a rotating roster of morning and afternoon shifts). You will complete a minimum of 160 hours of hands-on training so you can put your theory and classroom learning to the test.

The fees for our CAP courses can be found here.

The fees for our Return to Nursing courses can be found here.

The fees for our courses are the same for all students, regardless of NZ residency status.

Once you start working as a Registered Nurse in New Zealand you may be eligible for a refund of your CAP course fees by your employer; we suggest you discuss this with any future employer before taking up an offer of employment with them.

Te Whatu Ora also run an IQN CAP Fund, details of which are here. For those returning to nursing/IQNs working as HCAs and wanting to obtain their APC, funding details are here.

Please budget for the following costs once your enrolment has been confirmed. 

• Work uniform (white short-sleeved shirts/blouses/polo shirts/scrub tops with no logos, black or dark blue trousers that are not jeans, brown or black rubber-soled shoes with flat heels and toes covered)
• Required immunisations and physician sign-off for these
• Indemnity insurance from NZNO
• Shared rental accommodation 
• Travel costs to teaching location and clinical placement
• Food
• Medical, death, repatriation, and expatriation insurance – recommended for all visitors to NZ

Please check our website for available cohort dates. If a cohort shows as closed, that means it is full and is no longer accepting applications. Applications for courses starting later in the year will open once our earlier cohorts have filled.

Ahead of submitting an application, please familiarise yourself with the required documents, which can be found on our website. 

After completing the registration form for a particular course date, you will be asked to provide the following documents for us to review:

• CAP letter from Nursing Council of New Zealand
• Certified true copy of your passport
• Covid vaccination records
• A passport-sized photo
• OET/IELTS results
• CV

We will review your application, and if offered a place, you will be asked to provide additional documents closer to the time including proof of immunisation and NZNO membership. Detailed instructions for these will be provided in due course to those who have paid their fees.

We offer direct applicants places on a first come, first served basis. Note that applying for a place does not guarantee you will be offered a spot, as we review all applications carefully and consider a variety of factors including your nursing experience to date and English test scores. 

Early application is encouraged to maximise your chances of being able to enrol for your preferred cohort dates. We also work with selected agents and have a pre-allocated number of places for students applying through this enrolment route. Note that places for direct applicants are allocated separately to agent applicants, so neither enrolment route is considered more advantageous with regards to securing a place on the course.

Unfortunately we are unable to consider applicants without official confirmation from the Nursing Council of New Zealand that you meet their requirements. Once you have received this confirmation, you are welcome to apply for a place with us.

If you apply for a place without having a received a CAP letter, we will be unable to consider your application. Note that we do not hold places, so you would need to reapply once you have received your decision letter.

If you are applying for a space on our course at the same time as a family member or friend, please note this in your application and include their full name.

Note that spaces on our CAP courses are limited, so we may not be able to offer enrolment for the same date.

Any existing relationship to other applicants needs to be declared so that we can consider this when allocating placements.

Although Wesley Institute works with several agents, we do not have formal agreements with any agents. While some applicants choose to work with an agent, we do accept direct applications from CAP nurses who meet our criteria and encourage them to apply online as soon as they have all the required documents.

All of our nurses are required to supply evidence of either immunity or vaccinations for Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, and Tuberculosis during the enrolment process. We also require evidence for the following diseases:

• Varicella zoster (chickenpox)
• Morbilli (Measles)
• Mumps
• Rubella
• Pertussis (Whooping cough)

Covid vaccinations are expected at all Oceania facilities, and the booster vaccine is compulsory. If these are not completed, you must adhere to your Oceania facility policies. 

If you have yet not been fully vaccinated, some vaccines may be available to you on arrival in New Zealand; you can find out more here and should note any costs associated with receiving them. You will also need to make sure you meet enrolment requirements to join the course on the specified date.

You are more than welcome to undertake the CAP course if you are pregnant, provided you meet all immunisation requirements for placement. If you have not been immunised or don’t have immunity and you are already pregnant, you may not be able to have some of these immunisations and may therefore have to wait until further into your pregnancy or after delivery to enrol on a course with us. You will also need to be able to meet the physical requirements of placement, which can include being on your feet all day.  

If you have any concerns regarding the above, please contact us in advance of enrolling at wesleycap@oceaniahealthcare.co.nz

After sending us documents to review, it typically takes around 2-4 weeks for us to get back to applicants we are able to offer places to. Please note that we prioritise applications based on upcoming cohort dates, so if you have applied online for a place on a course taking place later in the year it may take longer to hear back. If you have not heard back regarding the outcome of your application six weeks before the start date of the course, please contact us at wesleycap@oceaniahealthcare.co.nz and include your Nursing Council registration ID in your email so we can advise you further.

Any courses with available spaces will be advertised on our website. If the cohort shows as closed to new applications, this means it is full (and we are unable to accept further applications for it).

Sometimes due to cancellations, additional places for a course may be released after the cohort has closed to applications. In these cases, we may contact applicants who have previously applied and offer them a space from our waitlist. Please note that in the interest of managing this process fairly, we will endeavour to offer places to those on our waitlist based on the date they applied for a place with us. If you have applied and are awaiting a response, please wait to be contacted by us regarding possible cancellations.

Wesley Institute has secured Nursing Council-approved placements in facilities throughout New Zealand; the regions we may use for our clinical placements are listed below. Sometimes we may have placements in other regions not listed below, as they are subject to availability.

– Northern Region (Auckland, Waikato, Tauranga, Rotorua, Paeroa, Thames, Whangarei)
– Central Region (Napier, Hastings, Gisborne, Wellington, Whanganui, Taupo, Palmerston North, New Plymouth)
– Southern Region (Christchurch, Ashburton, Nelson/Motueka, Blenheim, Dunedin, Invercargill)

Placements in all regions are limited, so there is no ability to choose where you want to go. However, we may consider a variety of factors in the allocation process (including but not limited to): Covid-19 vaccine status and boosters as some placements have strict requirements for these, and expressed preferences in the registration form for enrolment as well as your current address. Note that out of fairness to all students, we do not guarantee placement locations to any applicant during the process. If you have family or friends completing the course at the same time as you, please advise us as this needs to be considered for placement.

Placements in all regions are limited, so there is no ability to choose where you want to go. Once placements have been allocated, they cannot be changed in order to suit your preferences.

We have to consider a variety of factors in our placements process, and do our best to take expressed preferences indicated in the registration form into account. However, as certain regions of New Zealand are requested more often than others it is not possible for us to allocate all students to the same region, and we have to do our best to fill the available places across the country with suitable students. Placements are in high demand for CAP courses, so if you do not wish to take up your placement it will be allocated to another student.

Our CAP course is designed to be completed within a 6-week period. If you do not meet the required competencies within this time frame, you may be required to undertake an extension to complete the course. Extensions can vary in length, with some students needing up to 12 weeks, depending on their individual progress and requirements. There may be additional charges for extensions.

Wesley Institute strongly advises against booking a return flight home before completing the course. Since extensions may be necessary to meet competency requirements, booking a flight could create scheduling conflicts or additional stress. We recommend keeping your travel plans flexible until you are sure that all course requirements have been met.

If you have any concerns or need further clarification, please contact our course support team for guidance.

We recommend heading to NZ Immigration’s website for tips on settling into life in New Zealand.

If this page doesn’t have what you’re looking for, please send us a message via our form.

You will need to abide by NZ border requirements, and ensure you have the correct visa to study on the course. CAP nurses should aim to arrive in NZ at least seven days before theory week commences. This is to allow sufficient time to recover from jet lag, settle in and organize yourself before teaching begins.

Students enrolling onto our courses need to organize their own accommodation for the duration of their course. If you are enrolling through an agent, they may be able to assist you with sourcing accommodation for the duration of your placement and time on the course. 

Please note that clinical placement locations for each student will only be confirmed 3-4 weeks before the start of the course.

Students with a placement outside of the theory teaching location usually book accommodation in the city just for theory week, and then head to their placement where they have other accommodation organised for the remaining five weeks. If you have secured accommodation in advance, you must include details on your application form so we can note this for placement purposes; if you secure accommodation before the course start date and do not inform us via email of the full address then we will not be able to take this into account (and you will be expected to travel to your assigned placement). 

We currently work with several agencies, but we do not have a formal agreement with any agents. We regularly review our partnerships and process for agents to ensure that our CAP nurses choosing to apply through this pathway have a positive experience and their expectations of service are met or exceeded.

If you are interested in working with Wesley Institute, please email us in the first instance to wesleycap@oceaniahealthcare.co.nz and  we will keep your details on file for reference going forward.