Hmmm I'd go with his, as he's got the job offer and most of the paperwork required. Might be worth confirming with NZIS by phone that you do need them assessed, didn't you say they were on the list of recognised qulaifications anyway? And all your missing in the 1st year certificate?

As I understand it, it's both a pain and an expense to do the whole NZQA thing so if you can avoid it by just providing proof of qulaification, surely that would be sufficient?