Following the New Zealand borders reopening, the Government has announced the Samoan Quota will open for registrations from 3 October and will close on 2 November and the Pacific Access Category will open for registrations from 5 October and will close on 4 November.

The Government also agreed to allocate the unused places from the 2020 and 2021 ballots. For the Pacific Access Category, they will be re-allocated across the 2022 and 2023. The unused ballots under the Samoan Quota will be distributed across four years from 2022-2025.

Application fees for the Samoan Quota and Pacific Access Category will remain the same.

The Samoan Quota and Pacific Access Category are two longstanding visa categories that allow people from the Pacific to become permanent residents in New Zealand. Both schemes operate through an annual ballot.

Registrations for the annual ballot will now be made online. The move to online will be supported by an online guide to ensure applicants are well equipped to register online.

The resources are available on our website.

More information:

Samoan Quota Resident Visa

Pacific Access Category Resident Visa

We have guides and flyers available for both the Pacific Access Category Resident Visa and the Samoan Quota Resident Visa in several pacific languages. You can find these in our resource library.

Pacific Access Category and Samoan Quota guides & flyers | Resource library