Changing the conditions of a visitor visa

Visitor visas come with conditions or rules about studying, working or travelling in and out of New Zealand. Find out if you can change these conditions.

Finding your visa conditions

If you applied for your visitor visa before you came to New Zealand, your conditions are recorded in your eVisa, on the visa label in your passport, or explained to you in a letter we sent you.

The conditions for all people who come to New Zealand on a Visa waiver visitor visa — that is, you did not apply for your visa before you arrived here — are the same.

Visa waiver visitor conditions

Conditions you can change

On a visitor visa you can apply to:

• study part time for longer than 3 months
• take up seasonal work in the horticulture or viticulture industries, or
• work up to 20 hours per week, if you are a dependent child included in a 2021 Resident Visa application, or
• change how often you can travel to another country and return to New Zealand before your visa expires.

Even if you change the conditions of your visa, it will still expire on the same date. If you want to stay longer you need to apply for a new visa.

You want to study

You can study part time for up to 3 months without varying your visitor visa. 

Apply for a variation of conditions if you want to study part time:

• for longer than 3 months, or
• study consecutive courses that last for more than 3 months in total.

If you want to study full-time, you must apply for a student visa.

Explore student visa options

You want to do seasonal work

You can apply for a variation of conditions to do seasonal work in the horticulture and viticulture industries if the Ministry of Social Development declares a seasonal labour shortage in a region of New Zealand. Seasonal work includes planting, maintaining, harvesting and picking crops in the horticulture and viticulture industries.

This means you can work for up to 6 weeks. You can only apply for a variation of conditions once on each visit to New Zealand.

You want to work up to 20 hours per week

You can apply for a variation of conditions to work up to 20 hours per week if you are:

• included in a 2021 Resident Visa application as a dependent child; and
• aged 18 years or older; and
• have left school.

You want to travel to another country and return to New Zealand

Your visitor visa expires when you leave New Zealand.

If you need to travel in and out of New Zealand more than once you must apply for multiple entry travel conditions. You will need to explain why you need to do this when you apply.

You are the legal guardian of a student

If you hold a Guardian of a student visitor visa, you can apply for a variation of conditions to work part time, study or go home in an emergency.

How to apply for a variation of conditions

Most people need to apply for a variation of conditions on paper.

If you applied for a visitor visa using enhanced Immigration Online you can normally apply for a variation of conditions online – the approval letter we sent you will tell you if you can and how to apply.

If you are using a paper form

Follow these steps.

1. Download, print and complete the application form for a variation of conditions.
2. Use our online tool to find out where to send your application and how much it costs.
3. Send in your application with the fee and any supporting evidence.

Application for a Variation of Conditions or a Variation of Travel Conditions (INZ 1020) PDF 268KB

Our online tool also tells you how long it normally takes us to make a decision.

Fees, decision times and where to apply

Assessing your application

Before we approve your application we check that:

• the new conditions you are asking for align with the reason your visa was originally granted
• you have met the conditions of your current visa, and
• you still have a genuine intention to visit New Zealand.

Genuine intentions to visit, study or work in NZ