Applying for your teaching registration with the Victorian Institute of Teaching (VIT) can be completed before you depart New Zealand. This is great as it saves any downtime on arrival if you have already completed this process.
VIT ask that you apply only when you are within 6 weeks from arrival, but if you have secured a position you can apply at that point.
NZ and Australia have in place a Trans Tasman Mutual Recognition Agreement, and this applies to teacher registration across Australia. This means the VIT will recognise your New Zealand teacher registration and the current status you have.
Initial registration costs AU$167, and it’s $100 to renew annually. It takes anywhere from 2 to 6 weeks to process.
Be prepared, there is a fair bit of paperwork – we suggest printing off all the forms at once, and gathering everything that needs to be sighted by an authorised witness and getting it done at the same time.
Best options for getting your forms all signed are either a NZ principal or a Justice of the Peace.
You can start the application and save as you go, so it’s good to chip away at.
You need a current NZ police check dated within 7 days of your application. Apply for one here. They take 7 to 10 days to process.
The application process:
- Create a MyVIT account here.
- Once you have set this up, it will take you to New User Registration page. Click NO for the first question, then move through completing your details over the next pages.
- Now you are on your MyVIT Click Apply for Registration from this screen.
- Work through the questions, and once you state you are registered as a teacher in NZ it will bring up the Application for Registration (Mutual Recognition), with 8 modules to complete.
Module 1 – Should already be ticked green.
Module 2 – Complete your registration details, then print off the statutory declaration, complete this and upload again. You will need to get an authorised witness to also sign this form for you.
Module 3 – Choose Add Qualifications – complete fields. If the name of the provider where you studied isn’t on the list in the search box, tick I Can’t Find My Provider, then you can free type it. This is also the case for the name of your qualification.
Note to new grads – for the completed date of your qualification, this is the date you have received official evidence you have completed the course, not the last day of your study.
If you graduated in the past, you can choose an approximate date when you received your official transcript.
When you are choosing your subject specialisations – this is for statistical use, and won’t have any bearing on the type of application you will be granted, so just answer to the best of your ability.
ECE Teachers – Now is when you confirm your qualification is approved by ACECQA. If you aren’t sure which option to choose, you will need to verify this with ACECQA.
Now is the time to upload your certified Evidence of Completion and Academic Transcript. If these are together on the one document, you will need to upload it twice, once under each name.
Module 4 – Complete the personal details as requested.
Commencement of identity documents – The only thing you can use here is this Statutory Declaration as we cannot provide a visa number.
Primary Use Documents – Use your NZ passport for this.
Secondary Use Documents – NZ Drivers License, plus Trusted Referees Report (this needs to be completed by someone who has known you for a year).
Module 5 – Name History – complete as relevant.
Module 6 – Address History – complete as per instructions.
Module 7 –Suitability – you may end up having to provide an overseas police check here if you have lived in another country in the last 10 years for more than one year.
Module 8 – You need to provide a NZ Police Check here, and potentially other OS police checks if you have lived abroad.
Extra support – you can watch the 13 minute video from the VIT on how to apply through Mutual Recognition here.