.
Skilled occupations that New Zealand hasn't had enough people to do for a long time. These occupations are listed on the Long Term Skills Shortage List.
A programme of study that has a course value of 120 or more credits, and lasts at least 8 months or 2 semesters.
We accept the following tests:
An ‘acceptable’ investment is one that:
A manning agent that:
An acceptable qualification for a Post Study Work Visa, for applicants under 2022 transitional settings is:
New Zealand Qualifications Framework | NZQA website
The 2022 transitional settings may apply to:
Acceptable qualifications for a Post Study Work Visa (pre 12 May 2022)
A New Zealand government-owned organisation that provides fault-free insurance cover that may pay towards the cost of medical treatment for injuries resulting from accidents in New Zealand.
An employer approved by Immigration New Zealand to employ workers on the Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV). Only accredited employers can support an AEWV.
A company that has Immigration New Zealand’s approval to employ people from overseas to supply labour to third-parties. Labour hire companies providing labour to the construction sector in Christchurch must be accredited for work visas to be approved.
The amount of time you have left before you reach your maximum continuous stay. For example if you have a 5 year maximum continuous stay and are currently on a 3 year AEWV, you may be able to apply for the 2 year balance to take you up to 5 years.
The Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO) provides information we use to check:
A legal process that is used to review a decision. Appeals are made to the Immigration and Protection Tribunal, which is part of the Ministry of Justice. The result of an appeal can be for the decision to stay the same, for the decision to change or for a new decision to be made.
A visa application is approved in principle when we've recommended your application for approval, but need extra documents like a passport or receipt for tuition fees, to confirm you meet the visa requirements.
An application is not fully approved until we receive all the documents we ask for, and record in our computer system that we've granted the visa.
An arts or music festival hosted in New Zealand that has been formally approved by Immigration New Zealand (INZ). For INZ to ‘approve’ a festival its organiser must submit a formal proposal, showing that both:
Approved community organisations are eligible to sponsor applicants for a Community Sponsored Refugee Resident Visa. Immigration New Zealand has approved the following community organisations for the 2017/2018 pilot of this visa category:
Approved community organisations may either nominate mandated refugees directly, or request that the UNHCR refer candidates to Immigration New Zealand. Approved community organisations agree to sponsor approved refugees and provide travel, housing, settlement and employment assistance for two years.
A primary or secondary school, or tertiary education provider that has been approved by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority or New Zealand’s Ministry of Education to offer certain courses of study.
A promoter on Immigration New Zealand’s Approved Promoter List.
A scheme that has been approved by Immigration New Zealand and New Zealand’s Ministry of Education to allow overseas students to attend a school, or education or training institute in New Zealand.
Contact your school or exchange provider to see if they are an approved student exchange scheme for New Zealand.
Ang pagsasamantala ng migrante ay pag-aasal na nagsasanhi, o nagpapalaki ng panganib ng pinsala sa kagalingang pangkabuhayan, panlipunan, pisikal o pandamdamin ng manggagawang migrante. Kabilang dito ang mga paglabag sa minimum na mga pamantayan sa pagtatrabaho o mga paglabag sa mga batas ng kalusugan at kaligtasan at ng imigrasyon. Hindi kabilang dito ang di-malubhang mga paglabag na hindi palagian at madaling maremedyuhan.
A document authorising another person or organisation (for example a friend, family member, licenced immigration adviser or lawyer) to communicate with Immigration New Zealand on your behalf. This can be in the form of either:
Note that if you choose to have someone act on your behalf they will have access to information about you held by Immigration New Zealand including information such as your medical records and immigration history.
A basic qualification is a recognised certificate, diploma or degree that is at level four to eight of the New Zealand Qualification Framework.
Biometric information is physical information that distinguishes one person from another and can be used to establish a record of and confirm an individual’s identity. The most common forms of biometric information are photographs and fingerprints. Other forms of biometric information include iris scans and voice recognition.
Visitors coming to New Zealand for less than 3 months may be granted a Business Visitor Visa for any of the following reasons:
To carry out any other work activities, or stay longer than 3 months, you'll need to apply for a work visa.
Capped sector agreements cover these employment sectors:
Capped sector agreements are between employers and Immigration New Zealand. Employers in capped sectors:
Sector agreements and hiring migrants on an Accredited Employer Work Visa
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Enterprise's Carrier Relationship Team are Immigration New Zealand's connection between travel operators (carriers) such as cruise ships and airlines.
As well travel operators, the team also works with:
The team are supported in their work with airlines by a network of INZ Airline Liaison Officers (ALOs) based at ports across the world.
A certificate of identity is any document, other than a passport, issued by the government of any country that allows a person to travel. Certificates of identity confirm a person’s identity, but not their nationality and should only be used for travel when a passport is not available.
A photocopied or scanned document which has been stamped or signed by a person as a true copy of the original. The certifier must be authorised by law to take statutory declarations in your home country or in New Zealand – for example a lawyer, Notary Public, Justice of the Peace, or court official.
A decision to waive character requirements for a person who does not meet them, so we can grant them a visa.
We do not consider character waivers for people who have character issues described in section 15 or 16 of the Immigration Act 2009.
When we make a decision about whether we grant a character waiver, we take into account things like:
An accountant who is a member of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand, which is a professional body for accountants. Chartered accountants work under a code of ethics.
The vacation period between the end of the academic year, normally in November, and the start of the next academic year normally at the end of February or start of March.
You are usually automatically a citizen of the country in which you were born, but you may also hold citizenship for another country, if your parents or ancestors originally came from another country. Your citizenship will be listed in your passport.
A civil union has the same property and civil rights as a marriage. It may be between couples of the same sex or couples of different sexes.
You or your partner's adult brother or sister, adult child or parent.
Close relatives are people who are prohibited from:
A group of countries that INZ considers have a similar labour market, which is made up of Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Macau, Malta, Malaysia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, United Kingdom and the United States of America.
Work experience in a country not listed above will only be assessed as being in a comparable labour market if it was for a multinational entity domiciled in one of the countries listed above.
Education from the ages of 6 years to 16 years of age is compulsory in New Zealand.
A company involved in triangular employment that:
A person who's been given refugee status by the New Zealand Government.
Any country you have the right to live in permanently.
You also have the right to enter a country if:
In some countries and cultures parents may adopt children without going through a formal legal adoption process. If this applies to your family situation we will require evidence of this adoption.
A direct employer is the employer who is named on the employment agreement and is:
a. a legal entity including, but not limited to, an incorporated company or society; or
b. legal persons that comprise the employer organisation accredited under these instructions including, but not limited to, partners in a partnership, a sole trader in a sole trader organisation and trustees in a trust.
The direct employer that is named on the employment agreement is responsible for, but does not necessarily carry out, such things as payment of salaries, PAYE tax instalments, determining the hours the employee will work and determining conditions of employment.
If your passport or travel document is damaged in a way that compromises its integrity, you may not be able to travel to New Zealand.
Examples include:
A de facto relationship is between two people who usually live together as a couple, like a marriage or civil union. They are not married or in a civil union with each other.
Some people are deemed to hold a visa. This means they have been granted entry permission where it is not possible or appropriate for them to apply for a visa.
Deemed visas are most commonly used for cruise ship passengers, people travelling to the Ross Dependency in Antarctica and members of visiting armed forces.
We may defer the decision on your Skilled Migrant Category application and offer you a work visa to allow you to obtain skilled employment in New Zealand, if you:
Skilled Migrant Category Job Search Instructions
If you’re in New Zealand, the decision on your resident visa application will be deferred for nine months from the date your work visa is granted. If you’re outside New Zealand, the decision will be deferred for 12 months from the date your work visa is granted.
A legal document that notifies a person that they will be deported from New Zealand and explains:
A person is deported from New Zealand if the person leaves New Zealand (whether or not at the expense of the Government of New Zealand):
Students at schools and tertiary education institutes who have their fees partly or totally paid by the New Zealand Government. In certain circumstances defined by New Zealand’s Ministry of Education, international students can be treated as domestic students.
Any violence included in the meaning of domestic violence in section 3 of the Domestic Violence Act 1995.
A company is domiciled in the country where it is permanently located and legally registered. Multi-national companies are domiciled in the country where the head office or parent company is registered. For example, if company A has branches in New Zealand, Australia and Fiji, but the head office is in the United Kingdom it is considered to be domiciled in the United Kingdom.
People who are tax residents in New Zealand and another country can be taxed on the same income by both countries. Double tax agreements have been negotiated between New Zealand and many other countries to decide which country has the first or sole right to tax specific types of income.
This means having any involvement in the trading of illegal drugs.
Albania
Armenia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Belarus
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bulgaria
Croatia
Czech Republic
Estonia
Georgia
Hungary
Kazakhstan
Latvia
Lithuania
Moldovia
Poland
Romania
Russia
Slovakia
Slovenia
Ukraine
The Edmund Hillary Fellowship (EHF) gives visionary entrepreneurs, investors and startup teams a platform to incubate global impact ventures from Aotearoa New Zealand.
EHF is about creating and supporting a diverse community of entrepreneurs who push the boundaries of creativity and innovation, with fresh new ideas and different approaches to business.
A group of Pacific countries from which employers in the Recognised Seasonal Employer Scheme are allowed to recruit RSE workers. The nations are:
To be considered an eligible sponsor under the Refugee Family Support Category, sponsors must:
Immigration New Zealand’s online health processing system, which is used by panel physicians to send us chest x-ray and medical certificates.
A situation that requires someone to receive immediate medical treatment in New Zealand because:
A place of work that is outside Auckland attracts bonus points as we want to ensure all of New Zealand can benefit from the skills of people moving here. To qualify for points you will need to prove that your employment is outside the area covered by the Auckland Council.
If you are not providing an English language test result, you may be able to meet English language requirements by showing you have an English speaking background.
A translation of a document written in a language other than English, into English.
All documents provided with residence applications must be translated into English.
Someone who works as either:
Entry permission allows a visa holder to enter New Zealand.
Holding a visa doesn’t guarantee entry permission unless the person holds a:
A person travelling to New Zealand with an NZeTA (New Zealand Electronic Travel Authority) must apply for both a visa and entry permission when they arrive in New Zealand.
English for Speakers of Other Languages. See the Ministry of Education's website for information on ESOL and learning English in New Zealand, in several different languages.
This is English language tuition. If you’re applying for a Resident Visa, your partner and any children aged 16 and over may choose to buy ESOL tuition in New Zealand, instead of meeting the minimum standard of English. If applying through the Parent Category, all applicants (including the principal applicant) may choose to buy ESOL tuition. You’ll need to pay the tuition fee before the application can be approved.
A group of lists detailing the occupations that New Zealand doesn't have enough people to work in. They include the:
People who are qualified to work in an occupation on one of these lists, can apply for a work visa without their employer first having to check if any New Zealanders are ready and willing to do the work.
We’ll consider you have exceptional talent in your field of art, culture or sport if all of the following apply:
An executive or senior manager is a person who:
A reason for travelling to New Zealand on a Limited Visa, which may include any one of the following:
You may be able to come to New Zealand on a Limited Visa for a reason not on this list, if we think your reason justifies us granting you a visa.
Expungement of a criminal record is a legal process that can clear criminal convictions from a person's record.
This is anything that you tell us that is untrue in any way. If you provide false or misleading information, we may decline the Expression of Interest or application in which you provided this information.
The February 2023 median wage rate is NZD$29.66 an hour. This median wage was published by Stats NZ in June 2022.
Labour market statistics (income): June 2022 quarter — Stats NZ
We use this rate as an eligibility requirement for:
A claim for asylum is finally declined if it has been declined and appealed, and the result of the appeal is to uphold the decline decision.
Being totally or substantially dependant on a parent for financial support.
When we assess if child relies on an adult for financial support, we’ll look at whether:
A co-operative immigration forum made up of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States of America.
An overseas company that owns and operates a foreign chartered vessel (FCV) as part of a formal fishing charter partnership with a New Zealand Charter Party.
Any overseas crew working on a fishing vessel in New Zealand including workers who do work other than fishing, like processing the catch.
An international student who must pay the full cost of their study, without the financial support of the New Zealand Government. Not a domestic student.
An employer that pays a franchisor to use their pre-existing businesses system, including how they operate and their brand, advertising and trademarks.
A birth certificate that includes your full name, your date and place of birth and your parents’ full names.
We only accept full birth certificates as proof of your identity.
If you can't get your birth certificate, you'll need to provide official evidence of this from the authority responsible for registering births in your birth country, eg a ‘non-availability’ or ‘birth not registered’ certificate.
A job where you work at least 30 hours a week.
Your study is full time if you are studying:
When you nominate funds for an Investor 1 Resident Visa, Investor 2 Resident Visa, Parent Retirement Resident Visa, or Temporary Retirement Visitor Visa, you can include funds you’ve already invested in New Zealand, as long as:
If you already have funds invested in New Zealand, your investment period will start from the date we approve your application for your visa in principle, and not the date you invested the funds.
You must have at least NZ $1,000 per month, or NZ $400 per month if you’ve already paid for your accommodation.
Evidence can include:
If you are sponsored, your sponsor must provide evidence they can look after you in New Zealand. Evidence can include:
Funds that have been gifted to you unconditionally and legally, and have been been earned or acquired legally by the person gifting them.
Industries identified as having the potential to grow New Zealand’s economy. Current future growth areas are:
Note: Points for employment, work experience and qualifications in future growth areas are being removed from the Skilled Migrant Category from 28 August 2017 onwards. Unless you already have an application underway, or have been invited to apply before this date, you will not be able to claim these points.
A partnership is genuine if it has been entered into on a long-term and exclusive basis.
A partnership is stable if it is likely to continue for a long time.
A business that is operating and making a profit.
A music act promoted in New Zealand by a music promoter on Immigration New Zealand’s Approved Music Promoters List.
A university or other education provider that’s:
Information about the category of education organisations is available on NZQA’s website.
Find Education Organisations | NZQA website
Code of Pastoral Care for International Students
Remuneration at or above NZD $59.32 an hour (or the equivalent annual salary) which is:
Fruit and vegetable growing businesses.
A tradition in a culture where it’s normal for people other than those getting married to select the couple to be married, and make the marriage arrangements.
An identity document:
Examples of identity documents are:
The International English Language Testing System (IELTS), which tests how well you read, write, speak and listen in English.
An airport, port or other place designated by Immigration New Zealand to process people entering or leaving New Zealand.
Immigration instructions set out the rules and criteria that people coming to New Zealand from other countries must meet before we can grant them a visa or entry permission.
The immigration instructions published in our Operational Manual and are updated regularly to reflect changes in government policy.
Applicants are considered to have influence over a business if they exercise significant influence over the management and administration of the business. This includes, but is not limited to, when acting as a director or senior manager.
The New Zealand Government agency that collects tax.
A report from the New Zealand Qualifications Authority that:
The International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy (IVL) is a fee of NZD $35 that some tourists, anyone with working holiday visas, and people with certain student and work visas must pay when entering New Zealand. The IVL is invested in projects that will help to create tourism growth that supports our environment.
An acronym for Immigration New Zealand.
The government agency that gave you the document (for example, your passport or birth certificate).
A unique number that represents one of the jobs an accredited employer is approved to hire migrants for.
A job token is also known as a ‘unique link’ because it is the link sent to migrants to apply for an Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV). A job token is used to track the status of a job. For example, when a migrant opens the link and accepts the request, the job token is marked as ‘in progress’.
A joint Agreement to Recruit (ATR) is when RSE employers work together to recruit RSE workers.
Joint ATRs can help when:
All employers who work together in a joint ATR must:
One employer must be responsible for bringing the workers into New Zealand.
Na lawaki ni curuvanua e dua na itovo e vakavuna, se vakalevutaka na rivarivabi ni leqa vakailavo, bula veimaliwai, ituvaki ni bula kei na vakacegui ni yalodra na tamata cakacaka e ra lako mai vanua tani. Oqo e okati kina na basuki ni lawa me baleta na isau duadua e ra e dodonu me saumi, se basuki na lawa me baleta na ituvaki ni nomu bula kei na veitaqomaki kei na lawa ni curuvanua. E sega ni okati kina na leqa lalai eso ka sega ni bibi sara ka sega ni dau yaco vakawasoma ka rawarawa talega na kena iwali.
The official Indonesian family registration document.
People who can influence an organisation's compliance with employment and immigration law, including directors of a company, partners in a partnership, and school principals.
A visa issued electronically and without a physical label in your passport.
You can use your eVisa to travel to enter and remain in New Zealand for the period allowed by your visa.
A company that:
The Labour Inspectorate is part of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Enterprise's Employment Services department.
In the Labour Inspectorate are a team of 5 inspectors who only work in the Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) Scheme. Their task, set by Immigration New Zealand (INZ), is to make sure employers comply with RSE policy, specifically, pastoral care, accommodation and employment standards.
A test to establish whether:
When we carry out a labour market test, we’ll look at things like:
We need to see proof of adoption. If you have adopted your child through legal means we need to see the original adoption papers from the country in which you adopted the child.
A New Zealand Government service that helps people who can’t afford a lawyer to pay for legal help.
For more information about legal aid, visit:
A person who is legally responsible for providing for the education, health and wellbeing of a child and is that child’s natural or adoptive parent, or a person who has legal custody of the child.
Funds or assets (or a combination of both) that you either earned or acquired in a way that:
Licensed immigration advisers (LIAs) are licensed by the Immigration Adviser’s Authority (IAA) to provide specialist immigration knowledge.
Licensed immigration advisers must:
Code of Conduct
Competency Standards
The IAA keeps a register of LIAs. If an adviser doesn’t appear on the register, then they are unlicensed.
A limited medical examination checks for conditions which are the most expensive and place the most demand on New Zealand’s health system and special education services. We cannot grant you a medical waiver if you or anyone included in your application has one of these conditions.
When you apply for a visa that has qualification requirements, you may need to get an International Qualification Assessment for your overseas qualification.
Not all international qualifications need to be assessed. Those are in the List of Qualifications Exempt from Assessment (LQEA). Search the list to see if you need an IQA for your qualification.
Check if you need to apply for an International Qualification Assessment
An occupation classified as skill level 4 or 5 on the Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO).
O le fai faatautala o tagata fai mai o amioga nei e mafua ai, pe faatupulaia ai foi lamatiaga, ma afaina ai tulaga tau tamaoaiga, agafesootai, tulaga faaletino po o le mafaufau o tagata faigaluega fai mai. E aofia ai le solia o tulaga maualalo tau galuega po o le solia o tulafono mo tulaga faalesoifua maloloina, saogalemu ma femalagaiga. E lē aofia ai faaletonu laiti ma tulaga e lē afaina tele ai ona o tulaga ua solia ma e lē tupu soo ma e faigofie ona teuteu.
Funds that are invested in either:
For us to accept managed funds as an investment, managed funds must be invested only in New Zealand companies. Managed funds with international exposure are acceptable only for the part of the investment that is invested in New Zealand companies.
A mandated refugee is someone protected under the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) International Protection Mandate and recognised as meeting the definition of refugee under the 1951 Refugee Convention.
UNHCR International Protection Mandate
A material change in circumstances is any change that may affect our decision to grant you a visa, or to grant you entry permission. This could include changes in your health, employment or partnership status.
The total time you can be on the Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV) in New Zealand before you must spend time outside New Zealand to be eligible for another AEWV.
The maximum continuous stay and the time you must spend outside New Zealand depends on your role and if you are paid at least NZD$29.66 an hour (the February 2023 median wage).
You can have multiple shorter AEWVs that add up to your maximum continuous stay.
For example, if you earn above the February 2023 median wage and your maximum continuous stay is 5 years, it can be made up of a 3-year visa and a 2-year visa. After 5 years you have to leave New Zealand for 12 months in a row before you can be eligible for another AEWV.
The median wage we use is NZD$31.61 an hour.
We update the median wage in February each year. The median wage we use comes from the 'median hourly earnings from wages and salaries' published by Stats NZ in the previous year.
However, Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV) applications made after 28 February 2024 use the February 2023 median wage.
Wage rate requirements for visas
Labour market statistics (income): June 2023 quarter — Stats NZ
This is a salary amount we use to calculate entitlements for the Parent Resident Visa. It is currently NZD $65,748.80 (based on a 40-hour week).
This figure is based on the New Zealand median wage.
For more information about how we use the median wage to calculate entitlement to visas:
Wage rate requirements for visas
This is a document you get from a medical practitioner after you have completed a medical examination. The certificate tells us the results of that examination which we then use to determine whether you have an acceptable standard of health.
A decision to waive health requirements for a person who doesn’t meet them, so that we can grant a visa.
We don’t consider medical waivers for people who:
We also don’t consider medical waivers for people who were eligible to be included in an earlier application for a residence visa as a partner or dependent child; and
When we make a decision about whether we’ll grant a medical waiver, we take into account things like:
A levy we used to charge to help fund settlement programmes for new migrants. The migrant levy has been replaced by the immigration levy.
Migrant exploitation is behaviour that causes, or increases the risk of, material harm to the economic, social, physical or emotional well-being of a migrant worker. This includes breaches of minimum employment standards or breaches of health and safety and immigration laws. This excludes minor and insignificant breaches that are not constant and easily remedied.
The minimum threshold is the lowest number of points you need to score for your Expression of Interest to enter the Expression of Interest Pool. This threshold is set at 100 points. You also need to have scored points for either recognised qualifications or work experience to meet the threshold.
Expressions of Interest in the Pool are ranked from highest to lowest and the greater your score the greater your chance of being invited to apply for residence.
The least amount someone working in New Zealand can be paid by law. Minimum wage rates are reviewed every year and are available on the Employment New Zealand website.
Travel conditions that allow a visa holder to enter and exit New Zealand multiple times while their visa is valid, however the holder must not exceed any maximum stay conditions on their visa (if applicable).
Visa holders with multiple entry travel conditions still need to apply for entry permission each time they return to New Zealand.
The New Zealand government agency responsible for setting the standards for New Zealand qualifications and recognising overseas qualifications. It administers the New Zealand Qualifications Framework and assesses overseas qualifications against it.
For more information visit:
New Zealand Qualifications Authority
The New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) handles the NZQCF. The framework lists all the New Zealand qualifications and credentials approved by NZQA. On the framework, each qualification or credential has a level of between 1 and 10, based on the learning complexity. The framework helps individuals and organisations understand the level of skill and knowlege someone with a qualification or credential has. It makes it easier to compare qualifications across countries and regions.
The framework used to be known as the New Zealand Qualifications Framework (NZQF).
Students who have a New Zealand Scholarship receive funding from the New Zealand Government through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT). There are 4 different schemes:
A record held by us that shows you're able to travel to, or stay in New Zealand. The kind of visa you have affects how long you can stay and what you can do. A visa may or may not be endorsed in your passport.
A New Zealand visa holder is a person who has been authorised for entry or residence in New Zealand and has been issued a New Zealand visa by the New Zealand government. This visa is not valid until you are in New Zealand.
If you are applying for a visa as the partner or dependent child of a New Zealand visa holder, you can apply at the same time as they apply for their visa.
Anyone included in a visa application who is not the principal applicant, ie the principal applicant’s partner, the principal applicant’s dependent children, the principal applicant’s partner’s dependent children.
A New Zealand organisation that is nationally recognised for its record of excellence in either:
Registration with a New Zealand registration authority that allows you to work in a particular occupation in New Zealand. New Zealand law requires you to have New Zealand registration before you can work in some occupations in New Zealand.
A job offer from a New Zealand employer made to you. The job offered must meet our definition of skilled employment.
All offers of employment must be genuine and sustainable, and contain the following information:
A government issued work record that is a legal requirement for workers in some countries.
If you need to demonstrate work experience in a country that uses an official workbook, you should provide a copy if you are applying for a work, visitor or student visa, or the original or a certified copy if you are applying for a resident visa.
Ordinarily resident in New Zealand is defined as having been lawfully present in New Zealand for more than 183 days in the last 12 months.
A registered company, incorporated society or charitable trust.
A doctor or radiologist who has been approved by New Zealand Immigration to complete medical and chest x-ray certificates.
A person you are legally married to, or in a civil union or de facto relationship with, and who you live with in a genuine and stable partnership. Partners can be of the same or opposite sex.
A passport establishes the holder’s identity and nationality, and confirms their right to enter the country that has issued the document.
If you're coming to New Zealand temporarily, your passport should be valid for at least 3 months after you plan to leave New Zealand.
If your government has consular representation in New Zealand that is able to issue and renew passports, your passport must be valid for at least 1 month after you plan to leave New Zealand.
Ko hono ngaohi kovia ‘o e kakai hiki fo‘ou maí ko ha tō‘onga ia ‘okú ne fakatupunga, pe fakatupulaki ‘a e tu‘u lavea ngofua ‘a hono uesia ‘a e tu‘unga lelei fakapa‘anga, fakasōsiale, fakaesino pe fakaeloto ‘o e tokotaha ngāue toki hiki fo‘ou maí. ‘Oku kau ki heni ‘a hono maumau‘i ‘o e ngaahi tu‘unga fakangāue tefitó pe maumau‘i ‘a e ngaahi lao ki he mo‘ui lelei mo e malú mo e ‘imikuleisoní. ‘Oku ‘ikai fakakau ai heni ‘a e ngaahi maumau iiki mo ma‘ama‘a ‘a ia ‘oku ‘ikai ke hoko ma‘upē mo faingofua hono fakalelei‘í.
The following persons are exempt from the requirement to be licensed:
Positioning crew fly as passengers to New Zealand so they can join a plane or cruise ship as a working crew member.
A qualification at level 8, 9 or 10 on the New Zealand Qualifications Framework.
When we assess a visa application we may find information that may affect our decision. This is potentially prejudicial information (PPI).
Before we make a decision we send a PPI letter to the applicant asking them to respond.
A report from the New Zealand Qualifications Authority that assesses your qualification based on the information you supply.
A group of industries that grow animals or plants for food or other uses, or take minerals from the ground to sell to production industries in the secondary sector (for example, manufacturers).
The primary sector includes the farming, mining, fishing, and fruit, vegetable and flower-growing industries.
The main person we assess against the criteria for a Resident Visa.
A person who is given a Resident Visa in New Zealand because they will be seriously harmed or tortured, or they risk inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment if they return to their resident country. This person is said to have protected person status.
A form of secure online identification that allows you to use a wide range of New Zealand Government digital services using a single username and password.
For us to recognise your business experience:
When we assess applications for Investor 2 Resident Visas, we only award points for business experience that meets this criteria.
A certificate, degree or diploma that is officially sanctioned based on:
For the purposes of Skilled Migrant Category bonus points for New Zealand qualifications, Immigration New Zealand considers "two years" of study to be study undertaken for at least 16 months over four or more semesters.
An employer who has Immigration New Zealand's approval under the Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme to recruit workers from overseas to work in our fruit and vegetable growing industries when they need extra workers.
A person granted New Zealand residence for one of the following reasons:
Refugee and protected person status is a legal status. Refugees are people who meet the definition of a refugee provided in the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, as amended by the 1967 Protocol.
A refugee
A refugee is a person who:
A protected person
A protected person is a person:
Cruel treatment is defined in the Act as cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
If a person can obtain effective protection from the authorities of their country or a third country, New Zealand is not obliged to protect them.
A person may be excluded from refugee status if there are serious reasons for considering that he or she has committed serious crimes such as war crimes or crimes against humanity.
We use two tiered queues to help us select people to invite to apply for residence under the Refugee Family Support Category.
To join a queue, family members have to be sponsored by a person who has been granted New Zealand residence because they were a refugee or protected person, and are an eligible sponsor.
Different criteria apply for sponsors to register for tier one and tier two queues. Tier one sponsor registrations are selected in the order they are received until the annual quota is met. If there are any places left after this, we fill the remaining places from the tier two queue.
An organisation authorised by New Zealand law to give occupational registration.
Paid or unpaid work that’s in one or more of the following activities:
A request further information (RFI) is when we ask visa applicants for more information to make a decision on their application.
The Residence from Work Category includes:
For the Recognised Seasonal Employer Scheme, a residential house is a self-contained house, flat, unit, townhouse or apartment designed to accommodate a household — a home for families or individuals living in New Zealand on a more permanent basis. If a house is advertised online — for example, through holiday or peer-to-peer websites — it is still considered to be a residential house.
A residential house is not transitory accommodation used to temporarily accommodate people who would normally live outside New Zealand.
If a child under the age of 16 is travelling with just one parent, we need to be satisfied that the accompanying parent has the right to bring the child to New Zealand with them.
Evidence of the right to remove a child includes:
Employers in the Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) Scheme get an RSE allocation based on the RSE Cap numbers available. The allocation is how many workers they can hire and bring into New Zealand on the RSE Limited Visa.
The Government sets the total number of RSE workers who can work under the RSE scheme. It is called the RSE Cap and is currently 19,500. The RSE Cap is the total amount of RSE workers that can arrive into New Zealand over a season. For the purposes of the RSE Scheme a season starts from 1 July one year and ends 30 June the following year.
If there is an increase to the RSE Cap, then a decision is made by Immigration New Zealand (INZ) around allocations and RSE employers are advised.
When setting the RSE Cap, consideration is given to the horticulture and viticulture industries' assessment of its needs, production growth forecasts, employer demand, and RSE Cap growth trends from recent years.
An employer that has INZ approval under the Supplementary Seasonal Employer Scheme (SSE) to recruit temporary visa holders already in New Zealand to plant, maintain, harvest or pack crops when there are not enough New Zealanders available to do the work.
A country that has agreed to allow the free movement of citizens within the Schengen Area.
Seasonal activity is work that:
The work cannot include:
Roles can include, but are not limited to:
A person employed by the horticulture and viticulture industries to find people to do seasonal work in New Zealand, including for approved Supplementary Seasonal Employers.
Planting, maintaining, harvesting or packing crops in the horticulture or viticulture industries.
Sometimes visas are subject to extra conditions under section 49(1) of the Immigration Act 2009. We call these section 49 conditions. For example, if you’re granted residence under the Skilled Migrant Category a section 49 condition could be that you take up an offer of skilled employment within 3 months of arriving in New Zealand.
An agreement between Immigration New Zealand and a certain sector, for example the Meat Processing sector or Tourism sector.
Sector agreements may allow certain roles in that sector to be paid below NZD$29.66 an hour (the February 2023 median wage) as part of an Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV).
A sharing ID is a code used to share most types of visitor visa applications online.
To give people access to your application, you will need their sharing ID.
Sharing your online application
If you have a sponsor, you will need your sponsor's sharing ID to use in your application.
A person is single if they are not living with a partner in a genuine and stable partnership.
Skilled residence applications include the:
A report from New Zealand’s Work and Income that detailed if any New Zealanders were available to work in a particular occupation.
A Skills Match Report was required for most Essential Skills applications for work that paid below the median wage.
A person who has the primary responsibility for the day-to-day care of a dependent relative or relatives in New Zealand, on an ongoing basis.
A visitor visa that allows people who aren’t tourists to visit New Zealand for a short time. You may be eligible for a visitor visa in a special category, if you have a specific reason for your visit. Examples include:
A decision made by New Zealand’s Immigration Minister (or his or her delegate) to waive an immigration requirement for, or impose an immigration condition on a person, visa, or document. Special directions are only made in very special circumstances.
Specialist personnel are employees who:
A guarantee from a person, organisation or government agency to look after you while you visit, study, work or settle in New Zealand. If you're coming temporarily, your sponsor will also guarantee the cost of your return home .
A written statement of facts, signed by you declaring the facts you wrote are true. Declarations have to be signed in front of an authorised person, such as a Justice of the Peace, a barrister or solicitor, a Notary Public who also signs the statement to confirm it was signed by you.
Full fee paying students must provide evidence they have enough money to live on while they are in New Zealand.
Evidence can include:
Funds held by or on behalf of the student must be from a genuine source (such as the salary of the student’s parents) and be available to the student throughout their stay in New Zealand.
People whose job it is to support sports events and tours, such as:
The level 4 support workers' minimum wage rate from 1 July 2022 is $28.25 per hour.
The Sydney Accord is an international mutual recognition agreement for qualifications in the fields of engineering technology.
Sydney Accord accredited undergraduate degrees are recognised under the Skilled Migrant Category.
List of signatories on International Engineering Alliance website
Instructions on a visa that give the visa holder permission to enter a country for a certain amount of time. The instructions also state that the visa holder can enter the country either once (a single entry visa) or many times over a stated period of time (a multiple entry visa).
A New Zealand university, institute of technology, polytechnic or wānanga.
An eligible sponsor who has registered as a sponsor under the Refugee Family Support Category and either:
An eligible sponsor who has registered as a sponsor under the Refugee Family Support Category and both:
A tour escort travels with and provides support for a tour group in New Zealand. They are responsible for logistical and organisational support, such as arrival and departure formalities and translation, rather than leading activities or providing in-depth local knowledge.
A tour escort may be granted a visitor visa to carry out their duties in New Zealand.
A tour guide leads a tour group in New Zealand, is employed by a New Zealand employer and provides in-depth local knowledge of New Zealand society, history, geography, etc.
A person performing some or all of the role or duties of a tour guide must apply for a specific purpose work visa.
A passenger who arrives by plane into New Zealand while on their way to another country, and for the whole time they are in New Zealand stays:
The time a passenger spends in transit will be less than 24 hours.
A country whose citizens do not have to apply for a visa before passing through New Zealand as a transit passenger. Travellers must request a New Zealand Electronic Travel Authority (NZeTA).
A triangular employment arrangement involves three parties:
An acronym for Transitioning to Recognised Seasonal Employer, a visa we used to grant to allow people to do seasonal work in the horticulture and viticulture industries. It’s been replaced by the Seasonal Supplementary Employment (SSE) Work Visa.
Uncapped sector agreements cover these employment sectors:
Uncapped sector agreements are between employers and Immigration New Zealand. Employers in uncapped sectors can:
Sector agreements and hiring migrants on an Accredited Employer Work Visa
Funds that are free from mortgages, liens, charges, loans, bonds and creditor claims.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is the United Nations refugee agency.
A person who is neither licensed under the Immigration Advisers Licensing Act 2007 to operate as an immigration adviser or exempt under section 11 from the requirement to be licensed.
Bóc lột người di cư là hành vi gây ra hoặc làm tăng nguy cơ gây tổn hại đáng kể đến phúc lợi kinh tế, xã hội, thể chất hoặc tinh thần của người lao động di cư. Điều này bao gồm vi phạm các tiêu chuẩn làm việc tối thiểu hoặc vi phạm luật về sức khỏe, an toàn và nhập cư. Điều này không bao gồm các vi phạm nhỏ và không đáng kể, không xảy ra thường xuyên và dễ dàng khắc phục.
A change to the conditions of a student, work or visitor visa. You may apply for a variation of conditions to allow you to:
A fund that invests capital in an early-stage or start-up (or seed) company in exchange for an equity stake in that company.
A country or territory whose citizens do not have to apply for a visa before travelling to New Zealand, when:
Grape-growing businesses.
You must not expect or receive gain or reward for the volunteer work you do.
Gain or reward is any payment or benefit that can be valued in terms of money.
Examples include:
If your intention is to receive gain or reward, you are not considered to be a volunteer and should consider applying for a work visa.
Note that WWOOFing (Willing Workers on Organic Farms in New Zealand) is considered to be work, as WWOOFers receive food and accommodation. WWOOFers must hold a work visa.
The Washington Accord is an international accreditation agreement for professional engineering academic degrees, between the bodies responsible for accreditation in its signatory countries.
Washington Accord accredited undergraduate degrees are recognised under the Skilled Migrant Category.
Washington Accord signatories on the International Engineering Alliance website
An activity which you are paid to do, either in salary or wages, or another benefit like accommodation, food or transport.
Work doesn’t include:
The Work to Residence Category of visas includes the: