All social workers in New Zealand are provisionally registered until they have achieved qualification, completed 2,000 hours of supervised social work in Aotearoa and completed any other conditions required by the SWRB Board.
Being provisionally registered and having a valid Practising Certificate allows you to practise as a social worker in the mandatory environment.
To move from provisional registration to full registration, there are a number of steps to undertake, and these depend upon whether you are a NZ-qualified social worker or an overseas-qualified social worker.
NZ-qualified social workers
If you are provisionally registered and want to move to full registration, post qualification you will need to:
- complete 2,000 hours of supervised social work practice in New Zealand, and
- fill out a confirmation of hours form for your manager/supervisor to complete:
Please email your form to applications@swrb.govt.nz. When you submit your confirmation of 2000 hours there will be ‘provisional to full registration’ application fee, which you can learn about on our fees page.
Overseas-qualified social workers
If you are an overseas-qualified social worker, the requirements to progress to full registration depend on which competence assessment you completed when you applied for registration. These are outlined in the following table:
When you submit your confirmation of 2000 hours, and have met any other condition there will be a fee, which you can learn about on our fees page.
Please use the following links to access forms and additional information:
