If you have been in New Zealand on a work to residence visa for two years (or three years for Religious Worker work visa holders), you may be eligible for a residence class visa under our Residence from Work Category.
To be eligible for residence under this category, you and anyone else included on your application must meet our health, character and English language requirements, and you must meet the requirements for the category that your work visa was granted under. If you are including a partner in your application, you must also meet requirements for recognition of a partnership.
If you are including your partner in your application, you will have to submit evidence that you and your partner meet our partnership requirements.
When you apply for residence in New Zealand, you and everyone included in your application must meet our health requirements.
To show that you meet the requirements, each applicant must provide a completed General Medical Certificate (INZ 1007) PDF and Chest X-ray Certificate (INZ 1096) PDF. Pregnant women and children under the age of 11 years are not required to submit the chest X-ray certificate unless a special report is required. If you have already provided these certificates within the last 36 months you may not need to provide new certificates.
For full details on health requirements, see our guide Health Requirements (INZ 1121) PDF.
Everyone included in your application must meet our character requirements in order to get residence in New Zealand.
To show that you and your family members meet these requirements, you must provide police certificatepolice certificates for everyone 17 years and over included in your application for residence. We need certificates from:
Our pages on how to obtain a police certificate tell you more about this process.
If you are a principal applicant under Talent (Accredited Employers), Talent (Arts, Culture and Sports) and Long Term Skill Shortage List instructions you will not be required to meet any English language requirements when you apply for residence.
Principal applicants under Religious Worker instructions are required to meet a minimum standard of English.
Partners or dependent children who are 16 years or over included in any Residence from Work application will also need to meet our English language requirements.
To demonstrate a minimum standard of English, you must provide:
In all cases we may still require an IELTS certificate to confirm our English requirements are met.
If your partner and/or dependent children are not able to provide this evidence, you may choose to pre-purchase English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) tuition in New Zealand. Find out more about pre-purchasing ESOL tuition. This does not apply to principal applicants under Religious Worker instructions.
In addition to meeting the generic requirements, you must meet the requirements for the Residence from Work category you are applying under. Which category you apply under depends on the category that your visa was granted under.
If you were granted a temporary work visa to allow you to work for an accredited employer in New Zealand, you can apply for a residence class visa under Talent (Accredited Employers) Residence Category.
To be approved for residence you must:
Your employment must be:
If you were granted a temporary work visa to allow you to be actively engaged in your field in New Zealand, you can apply for residence under Talent (Accredited Employers) Residence Category.
You will also need to be sponsored for residence by a New Zealand organisation of national repute in your field. To do this you must provide a completed Talent (Arts, Culture and Sport) Sponsorship Form (INZ 1091) PDF from an organisation of national repute with your application for residence. The organisation must agree to sponsor you for residence, and the form must include an undertaking by an eligible personal sponsor to provide you with financial support and accommodation during the first two years of your residence, if this should be necessary.
If you were granted a temporary work visa to allow you to work for an employer in New Zealand in an occupation on the Long Term Skill Shortage List, you can apply for residence under Long Term Skill Shortage List Residence Category.
Your employment must be in the occupation for which you were granted a work visa under the Long Term Skill Shortage List Work Category, or another occupation which is on the list at the time your application for residence is made. See the Long Term Skill Shortage List for more details.
You employment must also be:
If you have held a work visa under the Religious Worker instructions for at least three years, you can apply for residence under Religious Worker Residence instructions.
You must provide a completed Sponsorship Form for Religious Workers (INZ 1190) PDF [234KB] and any evidence specified in the sponsorship form relevant to your application.
The sponsoring organisation must undertake to provide maintenance and accommodation (and costs to cover repatriation or deportation, if required) to you and anyone else included in your application for residence, for five years from your first day as a resident visa holder in New Zealand.
Find out how to apply under the Residence from Work categories.
Accredited Employers List
Essential Skills in Demand Lists
Office and fees finder
Panel Doctors
Application for Residence
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