I can attest to the accuracy of the post that extreme P just made. When transferring to an NZ license years ago, the letter I received from Transport was that I held a PPL but that they would not "verify" the flying record. That was almost 14 years ago. Interestingly, I received the same letter (almost word for word) from the NZCAA when I came home to Canada. It was straight forward, but I did have to play the games and jump through the hoops.