Meeting the criteria

• 1 acceptable photo of your child if you apply online, or 2 photos if you use a paper application.
• Your child’s passport or certificate of identity.
• A copy of your child’s full birth certificate if you apply online, or their original, full birth certificate or a certified copy if you use a paper application form.

Acceptable photos

If you apply online, you must upload a copy of your child’s passport. After you’ve applied, we’ll tell you when to send us your child’s passport.

If you use a paper application form, you may provide us your child’s passport, or a certified copy. If you provide a certified copy, we’ll tell you when to send us your child’s passport.

If your children are 17 or older, they must provide a police certificate from:

• their country of citizenship
• any other country where they have spent 12 months or more over the last 10 years.

Good character

How to get a police certificate

Your children must have a medical examination as proof of good health. Any children 11 years and over must have a chest x-ray too.

Getting an x-ray or medical examination

For us to consider your children to be dependent, they must be:

• 17 or under
• 18-24 with no children of their own.

We’ll ask your children to sign a declaration that they’re single when they complete their residence application.

We’ll use the documents you provide as proof of your children’s identity to confirm their age.

Dependent children

When we assess if your children need financial support, we’ll look at whether they:

• are working, if the work full-time or part-time, and how long they’ve been working
• are able to support themselves
• live with a family member and how much support is provided 
• are studying and if they study full-time or part-time.

We may ask for evidence that your children are financially dependent.

You must provide evidence that confirms your relationship to your child, which  may include:

• full birth certificates 
• adoption papers, or if the adoption was customary, a written declaration stating you’ve adopted the children and the date and country the adoption took place
• any other documents that confirm your relationship to each other.

If you’re separated or divorced, you must provide legal documents that show that one of the following applies:

• you have the sole right to decide where your children live
• you have the right to remove your children from their home country
• you have custody of the children and your children’s other parent agrees they can move to New Zealand if their application is approved.

If your children’s other parent has died, you must provide their death certificate.

You must provide an original or certified copy of your:

• New Zealand passport, birth certificate or certificate of citizenship, or
• New Zealand Resident Visa, or
• Australian passport.

You must provide evidence that you live in New Zealand, which may include:

• letters addressed to you, including rates or utility bills
• employment records
• records of benefit payments from Work and Income, or tax payments from Inland Revenue
• mortgage or rental agreements
• documents showing your belongings have been moved to New Zealand
• any other documents that show you live in New Zealand.

Children aged 16 and over must meet an English language requirement, if they were eligible to be included in your residence application under one of the following:

• the General Skills Category
• the Skilled Migrant Category
• the Business Immigration Instructions
• the Business Investor Category.

You must provide evidence that children aged 16 and over who were eligible to be included in a General Skills or Skilled Migrant Category residence application speak English. This may include:

• an acceptable English language test result
• evidence they have an English speaking background
• evidence they can speak English for other reasons.

You must provide evidence that children aged 16 and over who were eligible to be included in a residence application under the Business Immigration Instructions or Business Investor Category speak English. This may include:

• an acceptable English language test result
• evidence they have an English speaking background
• evidence can speak English for other reasons.

Acceptable English language test results