Improving overseas police checks for teacher registration
13 August 2026
Every year, thousands of people applying to teach in New Zealand need to provide evidence of their good character from overseas.
As applications have grown and document fraud has become more sophisticated, the Teaching Council has been looking at better ways to verify overseas police checks.
A new six-month pilot is now testing a more secure verification process designed to strengthen the integrity of teacher registration while making the process simpler and faster for many applicants.
Protecting the integrity of teacher registration
The Teaching Council's role is to ensure everyone entering the teaching profession is fit to teach and meets the standards expected of registered teachers in Aotearoa New Zealand. Verifying an applicant's identity and good character is an important part of that requirement.
While most applicants provide genuine documentation, verifying overseas police checks has become increasingly challenging. Advances in technology have made fraudulent documents more convincing, and paper-based certificates can be difficult to authenticate.
The new verification process helps address this by confirming police check information directly with the issuing authority, providing greater confidence that the information relied on to make registration decisions is authentic and complete.
By strengthening how overseas police checks are verified, the Teaching Council is continuing to improve the systems that help protect learners, enhance child safeguarding, and maintain public confidence in the teaching profession.
Improving the experience for applicants
The pilot is not only about strengthening safeguards. It is also designed to make the process more efficient for applicants who need to provide an overseas police check.
Previously, applicants often needed to obtain paper police clearances, arrange certified copies, organise official translations where required, and submit those documents as part of their application.
Under the pilot, applicants from selected jurisdictions complete verification through AIS International, a New Zealand Ministry of Justice-accredited provider. Police check information is verified directly with the issuing authority, removing several manual steps from the process.
For many applicants, this means:
- faster verification, with most checks completed within 5–10 working days
- no need to arrange separate certified copies
- translations included where required
- fewer administrative steps
- lower overall costs in many cases, as translation and certification services no longer need to be organised separately.
Applicants have always been responsible for obtaining and paying for overseas police checks. Under the pilot, applicants pay AIS International directly for the verification service where it applies. The Teaching Council does not charge a fee for this service and does not receive any payment from the verification fees.
About the pilot
The pilot began on 4 June 2026 and will run until 4 December 2026.
AIS International was selected because it is a New Zealand Ministry of Justice-accredited provider with extensive experience in international police check verification. It is also the provider used by all Australian teacher registration authorities.
The pilot will allow the Teaching Council to evaluate whether third-party verification provides a more secure, efficient and consistent approach. Following the pilot, the Teaching Council will undertake a procurement process to determine any long-term arrangements.
Who does this affect?
The pilot only affects people who are required to provide an overseas police check because they have lived in another country for 12 months or more within the last 10 years. This includes overseas-trained teachers, as well as New Zealand-trained teachers who meet the overseas residence requirement.
Teachers who have not lived overseas during that period are not affected.
More information about overseas police check requirements, including the countries included in the pilot, is available on the Overseas police clearance page.
