REGISTRATION IN AUSTRALIA AND THE USA
New Zealand Registered Architects are entitled to be registered or licensed in Australia and some jurisdictions of the United States of America, subject to specific requirements, as below.
Australia
The governments of Australia and New Zealand are signatories to the Trans-Tasman Mutual Recognition Act 1997 (TTMRA). This means by law a person registered or licensed to practise an occupation in one country is entitled to practise an equivalent occupation in the other country, without further testing or examination.
Thus, New Zealand Registered Architects on application are automatically registered in Australia. Note that the Architect's New Zealand registration must be current, i.e. he or she must hold a current annual Certificate of Registration, so that his or her name is visible on the New Zealand Architects Register.
Process: New Zealand architects wanting to do this should apply to the relevant state or territorial registration authority, these being:
• NSW Architects Registration Board
• Architects Registration Board of Victoria
• Board of Architects of Queensland
• Architectural Practice Board of South Australia
• Architects Board of Western Australia
• Australian Capital Territory Architects Board
• Board of Architects of Tasmania
• Northern Territory Architects Board.
Some state or territorial boards may want further information from the New Zealand Registered Architects Board (NZRAB) regarding the applicant’s registration status, but they will advise.
United States of America
The national and federal architects' registration bodies of Australia, the USA and New Zealand are signatories to the Australia, United States of America, New Zealand Mutual Recognition Arrangement.
This means that an eligible New Zealand (or Australian) architect can apply for licensure in those participating US states and territories that have chosen to be parties to the arrangement.
To be eligible, an applicant from New Zealand must:
• be a New Zealand Registered Architect (ie hold a current Annual Certificate of Registration)
• be of good standing
• NOT have gained his or her New Zealand registration as a result of a foreign reciprocal licensing arrangement.
Process: The participating US state and territorial licensing authorities have agreed to issue a license to practise to eligible New Zealand Registered Architects that have been issued an National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) Certificate via this arrangement. NCARB is the US agency that represents US state licensing boards and authorities.
A New Zealand Registered Architect wanting to apply should fill out and provide to the NZRAB a Declaration of Professional Experience, and advise which participating US state or territory he or she wishes to be licensed in. The NZRAB will then prepare a Letter of Good Standing and a Credential/Evaluation Summary, and forward these and the Declaration of Professional Experience to NCARB. NCARB will then contact the applicant as required.
The NZRAB will not declare a New Zealand Architect to be of good standing if:
• he or she is currently subject to disciplinary proceedings
• he or she has been subject to a disciplinary penalty in the last three years
• he or she is currently being required to undertake a competence review as a result of a specific competence concern
• the NZRAB has some other fundamental concern about the architect.
NCARB will then issue the applicant's NCARB Certificate and forward it and the other documents to the participating state or territory nominated by the applicant. The applicant will then need to apply to be licensed with the licensing board in the participating state or territory where he or she wants to practise.
Some US states and territories may require an additional state-specific assessment, which has to be done by all applicants from other states in the US and elsewhere.