NZ and Australian CV Format: Length, Photo, Visa Status

Applying for jobs in New Zealand or Australia and unsure what a "CV" is supposed to look like? The sourced short answer: in both countries CV and resume are used interchangeably for the same document, New Zealand's government careers site (Tahatū) advises keeping it to two pages in a plain font, the no-photo and no-date-of birth advice you will read everywhere is documented on the Australian side — and no live New Zealand government page says anything about photos of yourself or visa status on a CV. This article separates what each named source actually says from what nobody's official page says, with a link on every claim. For the general format rules that apply everywhere, start with our ATS-friendly resume format guide.

CV or resume — what each country calls it

The naming overlap is real on every side. SEEK's New Zealand advice says "The terms CV and resumé are often used interchangeably, but 'resumé' is more common in private sector job applications", while "A curriculum vitae is typically used for academic, government, and medical roles" (SEEK NZ). The New Zealand government's own page is plainer: "CV is short for curriculum vitae. It's sometimes called a resume." (Tahatū, NZ Tertiary Education Commission) In Australia, SEEK says "a resume and a CV are often used interchangeably" (SEEK AU) and the University of Queensland agrees they usually have the same meaning (UQ Employability). One wording observation, ours rather than any source's: NZ government pages default to "CV" while SEEK's NZ pages lead with "resumé" — mirror whichever word the job ad uses.

How long should a CV be in New Zealand and Australia?

The clearest official number is New Zealand's: Tahatū says "keep your CV to 2 pages if you can" (Tahatū). SEEK NZ's dedicated length article says "The recommended resume length is usually one to two pages", with entry-level candidates aiming for "a shorter, one-page resumé" (SEEK NZ) — but SEEK NZ's own make-a-resume page says CVs can run "two to five pages long if you have extensive experience and are looking for senior positions", which conflicts with its length article, and we report the conflict rather than pick a winner (SEEK NZ). The old careers.govt.nz page reportedly said NZ CVs are "usually two to three pages", but that site is decommissioned and redirects to Tahatū, so the two-page figure is the citable one (from a search excerpt — page unreachable) (careers.govt.nz archive).

Two pages is therefore the defensible default on both sides of the Tasman for most private-sector roles, one page early-career, and academic or medical CVs run longer by convention. The underlying principle is the same one in our general guide to how long a resume should be: match length to relevant experience, and relevance density beats page count.

Photos and date of birth

Here the sourced advice is Australian, and the New Zealand official position is silence. SEEK NZ's page says "leave out your photo – it's not standard in Australian resumés" and to omit "any mention of your age, unless the position has age-related requirements" — note that even SEEK's NZ page frames the no-photo norm as Australian (SEEK NZ). SEEK AU says you generally don't need date of birth, age, marital status or nationality unless lawfully required (SEEK AU), and elsewhere quotes Australia's privacy regulator: "You should consider whether you need to include your address or date of birth in your resume" (SEEK AU, quoting OAIC). UTS Careers is the bluntest: "Photos of yourself and details about your date of birth, gender or marital status are not required for Australian resumes" (UTS).

For New Zealand specifically, Tahatū's only related instruction is "don't use images" — it says nothing explicit about photos of yourself or your date of birth (Tahatū). The parsing angle is vendor-documented and country-neutral: Greenhouse lists "photos" among its resume parse-failure causes (Greenhouse) — that is a documented parsing risk, not an automatic rejection, but it stacks the deck against photos regardless of convention.

Visa status and work rights

Australia has an explicit official recommendation; New Zealand's is an employer duty with no candidate-facing instruction we could verify. Study Australia (the Australian Government's site for international students) says "It's important to include your visa status on your resume" and "Write what type of visa you have, the expiry and your work restrictions (if any)" (Study Australia). SEEK AU's privacy guidance notes employers may later require "Evidence of your right to work in Australia such as visa documentation and proof of identity" — a later-stage request, not advice to put visa details on the resume (SEEK AU). For Australian Public Service roles, a non-citizen may be engaged only where an Agency Head considers it appropriate under s22(8) of the Public Service Act 1999, and must still be eligible to work in Australia (from a search excerpt — the APSC page timed out when we re-read it) (APSC).

For New Zealand, the documented rule runs employer-side: Immigration New Zealand guidance says employers must verify a candidate's work entitlement and can use INZ's VisaView service, and allowing an unentitled person to work is an offence under s350 of the Immigration Act 2009 (from a search excerpt) (Immigration NZ). The old careers.govt.nz migrant page reportedly suggested stating your current work status and availability on the CV, but that page is decommissioned and we could not read it — so no live NZ government source tells candidates what to write. In practice you will usually be asked directly in the application form: in the Enhancv 2025 sample, 84% of the 25 recruiters used knockout questions, most commonly on work authorisation (Enhancv). Whatever you do, never put passport numbers or visa numbers on the CV — SEEK's privacy advice warns against handing over "ID numbers" early in the process (SEEK AU).

Fonts and file format

Tahatū is unusually concrete for an official page: "use a plain black font, like Calibri 11" and "send it in a PDF format unless the employer asks for a Word document" (Tahatū). SEEK NZ agrees on the file: "Save your resumé as a PDF" (SEEK NZ), and UTS suggests body text at size 10–12 (UTS). We take each vendor's and career centre's position on PDF versus Word — including the ones that disagree with Tahatū — item by item in PDF or DOCX for ATS resumes.

What no official page says

Every guide below this line is a gap, not a rule. "Not published" means we searched for a public page and did not find one — absence of evidence, not evidence that the opposite is fine. If a blog sells you a firm "New Zealand requirement" on any of these points, ask for the page:

What to do

• Default to two pages in New Zealand (Tahatū) and one-to-two in Australia, one page early-career — relevance density decides the rest
• Leave the photo, date of birth, age, gender and marital status off Australian applications — that advice is documented (SEEK, UTS, OAIC via SEEK); for NZ, no official page says either way and Tahatū says "don't use images"
• Use a plain black font like Calibri 11 (Tahatū) at 10–12pt body size (UTS)
• Send PDF unless the employer asks for Word (Tahatū, SEEK NZ); check the vendor-by-vendor evidence in PDF or DOCX for ATS resumes
• In Australia, a one-line visa type, expiry and restrictions statement is government-endorsed for international students (Study Australia); in New Zealand, answer the work-rights question in the form accurately — the verification duty is the employer's
• Never include passport or visa numbers on the CV (SEEK)

How to check your own resume

Run your CV through the free resume checker to see what a parser extracts — your name, contact details, titles and dates should all survive — then paste in the target job description with the matcher to check keyword coverage on the extracted text. If you are moving countries, do this once per market: the same document parses the same everywhere, but the conventions above change what belongs on it.

Sources

• Tahatū (NZ Tertiary Education Commission) — How to write a CV
• SEEK NZ — CV vs resume
• SEEK NZ — How long should a resume be
• SEEK NZ — How to make a resume
• SEEK AU — Resume & CV advice
• SEEK AU — Protecting your privacy while job hunting
• Study Australia — The international student's guide to writing a great resume
• APSC — Citizenship and APS employment (search excerpt — page timed out)
• Immigration New Zealand — Check if someone can legally work for you (search excerpt)
• careers.govt.nz (decommissioned) — NZ-style CV tips (search excerpt — page unreachable)
• UTS Careers — Resume preparation checklist (PDF)
• University of Queensland — Resume tips (PDF)
• Auckland Economic Development — How to prepare a CV for Auckland employers
• Greenhouse — Unsuccessful resume parse
• Enhancv — Does ATS reject resumes? (2025 recruiter study)