The Talent (Arts, Culture and Sports) Work to Residence Visa allows you to attract and support people from overseas who have exceptional talent in a field of art, culture or sport.
The New Zealand organisation of national repute supporting the candidate’s application doesn’t have to be the same organisation:
A representative of the New Zealand organisation of national repute that’s supporting your candidate’s application, must complete section B of the ‘Talent Sponsorship Form’ as evidence of their support.
Talent (Arts, Culture and Sports) Sponsorship Form (INZ 1091) PDF 291KB
If you meet the requirements for acceptable sponsors, you may sponsor your candidate.
What sponsors must do – responsibilities and obligations
But your candidate can be sponsored by a person or organisation other than:
Your candidate’s sponsor must complete a ‘Talent Sponsorship Form’ as evidence of their sponsorship.
Talent (Arts, Culture and Sports) Sponsorship Form (INZ 1091) PDF 291KB
Providing an employment agreement or contract for services isn’t a requirement of this visa, but it is a requirement of New Zealand employment law.
You don’t need to provide evidence of your job offer unless we ask you to.
For your candidate to be able to work for you, they’ll first need to apply for a work visa.
For us to accept your candidate’s application, they must send us all the information we ask for, including evidence they have the support of a New Zealand organisation of national repute and an acceptable sponsor.
Talent (Arts, Culture and Sports) Sponsorship Form (INZ 1091) PDF 291KB
We make a decision about your candidate’s application as soon as we can. You can view our historic visa timeframes below.
As soon as your candidate’s been granted a work visa, they can come to New Zealand to start working for you.
They will have 3 months to arrive in New Zealand. If they don’t arrive in time, they may have to apply for another visa.
After your employee has been working for you for 24 months they can apply for residence. If they’re granted residence, they can work and live in New Zealand indefinitely.
Residence applications can take several months to process.