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Who is this factsheet for?

This factsheet is for people who are familiar with immigration terminology under the Immigration Act 1987 and who wish to become familiar with the new immigration terminology resulting from the new Immigration Act 2009. This factsheet provides explanations of new concepts and terminology.

What is changing?

The key changes are:

• Simplifying the visa and permit framework to just ‘visa’.
• The boarder process that allows non-New Zealand citizens entry to New Zealand, known as ‘entry permission’.
• Introduction of a new concept called ‘deeming’.

While some of the terms used to describe immigration processes have changed, the actual process of applying to travel to, enter, or stay in New Zealand remains the same.

The new visa framework

Under the Immigration Act 2009 (the new Act), a visa is an authority for an individual to travel to, or stay in New Zealand (under the Immigration Act 1987 a visa only allowed you to travel to New Zealand and a permit allowed you to stay).

A visa has conditions that indicate what the holder of the visa may do. For example, for workers, the right to work in a specific occupation for a specified employer, or for students, the ability study at a particular educational institute.

The new Act allows for the following types of visas:

• Residence class visas
  • Resident visas – holders are entitled to travel to New Zealand and stay indefinitely, but only enter New Zealand in line with their ‘travel conditions’. Resident visas may also be subject to other conditions, such as a requirement to invest a certain amount of money in New Zealand within a certain timeframe (for people approved under the Investor Category).
  • Permanent resident visas – holders are entitled to travel to New Zealand at any time and stay indefinitely without conditions.
• Temporary entry class visas
  • Temporary visas – there are a variety of temporary visas, for example, visitor visas, student visas and work visas (similar to the current temporary entry visas).
  • Limited visas – may be granted to people who wish to come to New Zealand for an express purpose (similar to a Limited Purpose visa under the Immigration Act 1987).
  • Interim visas – may be granted for the purpose of maintaining lawful status in New Zealand when an individual has applied for a further temporary visa and his or her application is being considered. Interim visas will come into effect in early 2011.
  • Transit visas – allows a passenger to remain in transit if he or she is travelling through New Zealand to another destination. There is no change to the requirements for obtaining a transit visa under the new Act.

Entry permission

Under the 1987 Act, visa holders applied for a ‘permit’ to enter and stay in New Zealand when they arrived by completing an arrival card. Under the 2009 Act, visa holders instead apply for ‘entry permission’ using the arrival card. Normally, a person holding a visa is granted ‘entry permission’ to allow him or her to enter and stay in New Zealand for the time period allowed by their visa. However, in some cases people may be denied entry permission, for example, if:

• They are carrying prohibited goods or substances into New Zealand.
• Adverse information about them has come to light since their visa application was approved.
• They have obtained their visa by fraudulent means or by making a false declaration.
  

Deemed visas

Visa or entry permission may be ‘deemed’ for certain specific classes of people where it is not possible or appropriate to physically grant a visa. In these situations there won't be a physical or electronic record of the visa.

Deemed visas are limited to classes of people determined by Immigration New Zealand and cannot be applied for. They are most commonly used for cruise ship passengers and travellers to the Ross Dependency in Antarctica, and in relation to members of visiting armed forces.

Deemed visas are also used for people who have an existing valid permit or visa. Existing visas and permits are deemed to be a visa of the corresponding type under the new Act. People do not need to apply for a new visa until their current visa or permit approaches its expiry date.

What happens to applications made before 29 November 2010 but not processed until, on or after 29 November 2010?

Applications that are lodged before 29 November 2010 but considered on and after 29 November 2010 continue to be assessed using the same criteria that applied on the day the application was accepted. If the application is approved, the visa granted has the same entitlement as any visa or permit that would have otherwise been granted under the 1987 Act, but the visa labels uses the new format to display those entitlements. For further information about visa labels see the visa label factsheet.

Disclaimer: Every care has been taken to ensure the information in this factsheet is accurate. While the use of the information in this factsheet may assist you in your application, applications will be assessed by Immigration New Zealand according to the requirements of the Immigration Act 2009.