Domestic Staff of a Diplomat Work Visa

Apply if you are a domestic worker for diplomatic, consular or official staff posted in New Zealand. Your employer and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade must support your application.

Length of stay
Same length of stay as

Your employer’s NZ posting

Age range

18 or older

Cost
From
NZD $700
Processing time
80% within
5 weeks
With this visa you can
  • Do domestic work for your employer while they are in New Zealand on a diplomatic, consular or official posting.
  • Leave and come back into New Zealand.
Things to note
  • You can only apply on paper, not online. Complete the form in the section: Process and costs.
  • You cannot include a partner or dependent children in your visa application.
  • You cannot work in an administrative or technical role, or do any other work in New Zealand.
  • You have to leave New Zealand if your employment ends before your employer’s posting does.
  • People who are already in New Zealand on a working holiday visa are not eligible for this visa.

What you need to apply

Check if you are eligible to apply for this visa and what supporting documents and information you need to provide.

View All Evidence

You must provide proof of your identity:

Acceptable photos

You may provide your original passport, or a certified copy when you submit your application. If you provide a certified copy we may request your original passport to complete your application.

Tips

Your passport must be valid for at least 3 months after you plan to leave New Zealand.

Also provide a copy of your Identity card.

Also provide your:

  • Hukou (household registration book)
  • Chinese identity card.

If you are a citizen of China and you submit a paper application form in China, you must also complete a supplementary form.

Supplementary form for Chinese citizens (INZ 1027) PDF 338KB

If you are submitting a paper application form, you must provide a supplementary form for Hong Kong and Macao visitors, workers and students.

Supplementary form for Hong Kong and Macao visitors, workers and students (INZ 1220) PDF 240KB

We may ask you to have a chest x-ray, a medical examination or both as proof of your good health.

If you are staying less than:

  • 6 months you do not normally need a chest x-ray. 
  • 12 months you do not normally need a medical certificate. 

Who needs an x-ray or medical examination

When we process your application we let you know if we need you to have a chest x-ray or medical examination.

Acceptable standard of health criteria for visa approvals

Please only provide medical certificates if requested

Tips

You must provide a chest x-ray completed in the last 3 months, even if you've provided one to us previously, if:

  • you have spent 6 consecutive months in China since the last x-ray certificate was issued, and
  • you are now coming to NZ for more than 6 months.

If you have a criminal conviction or are a security risk to New Zealand we may not be able to grant you a visa.

Good character for temporary visas

You must provide police certificates if your total time in New Zealand will be 24 months or longer across all visits. This includes any time you have spent in New Zealand in the past on other visas, even if you have been out of the country since then.

You also must provide police certificates if we ask for them.

If you are 16 years old or younger you do not need to provide police certificates.

Providing police certificates

How to get a police certificate

If you have already sent us Police Certificates with a previous visa application and they are less than 24 months old, you do not need to send them again.

Police certificates must be less than 6 months old when you submit your application. They must be from any country you are a citizen of, or have spent more than 5 years in since you turned 17.

When we decide if your intentions are genuine, we consider all the information:

  • you provide to support your application
  • we have about your personal circumstances, and
  • you provided in any previous applications.

Genuine intentions to visit, study or work in NZ

We check your identity documents — for example, your passport — to confirm your age.

You must provide a ‘Statement of Undertaking’ completed by your employer, agreeing to:

  • employ you only for domestic work
  • pay for your accommodation, living costs and return home.

Statement of Undertaking

Tips

You can only do domestic work, like working as a cook, nanny, driver or gardener. You won’t be able to work in an administrative or technical role, or do any other work in New Zealand.

Your employer is responsible for explaining the conditions of your employment in New Zealand.  You must provide a signed ‘Declaration of Acceptance’ to as evidence you understand and accept the conditions.  We may also ask to interview you.

Declaration of Acceptance

Tips

Your employer has to explain the conditions of your employment in writing, and in your own language.

We’ll check with The Protocol Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade that:

  • your employer is allowed to bring domestic staff with them 
  • they don’t object to your visa application.

We’ll check our records to see if you’ve been granted a Domestic Staff of Diplomatic, Consular and Official Staff Work Visa before.

Tips

If you want to work for the same employer, you don’t have to wait 3 years to apply.

Process and costs

The information below will help you understand the process, timeframes and costs involved in applying for this visa, so you can plan ahead and have the best chance of submitting a complete application.

Notes

We cannot display any process or costs information until you have provided your country details. Enter your country details in the panel above to view information relevant to your situation.

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How to submit

Payment methods and receiving centre details if applicable.

Notes

We cannot display any receiving centre or payment method information until you have provided your country details. Enter your country details in the panel above to view information relevant to your situation.

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Conditions

These are the conditions that you must meet once you have your visa.

Entry permission

You must apply for entry permission when you arrive in New Zealand. You can do this by completing a digital New Zealand traveller declaration (NZTD), or an NZTD paper declaration.

New Zealand Customs and Biosecurity also check that you meet their entry requirements.

Arriving in New Zealand

Notes

You can be refused entry permission if:

  • you don’t meet our character requirements
  • your circumstances have changed since you were granted a visa
  • you refuse to let us to take your photo, or provide us with your fingerprints or an iris scan, if we ask you for them.

Travel

After you arrive, you can travel in and out of New Zealand as many times as you like before your visa expires.

Notes

If applying from inside New Zealand, we will normally give multiple entry travel conditions when we grant a visa.

If there are no multiple entry travel conditions and you leave New Zealand the visa will expire.

The travel conditions will be listed on the visa label or in a visa letter.

Work

You can only do domestic work for your specific diplomatic, consular or official employer in the location recorded in your visa.

Notes

If your employment with your diplomatic, consular or official employer ends before your visa expires, you must leave New Zealand.

Study

You may not study in New Zealand.

Visa expiry

You must leave New Zealand before your visa expires.

Notes

Visa expiry dates are printed on a visa label or included in a visa letter.