General information

To be granted permanent residence, you need to show us you're committed to living in New Zealand permanently. There are five ways you can show your commitment.

If children are single, financially dependent and the right age, they can be included in their parent’s visa application. Or they may be able to apply for a visa based on their relationship to their parent, if their parent already has or is applying for a visa, or is a New Zealand citizen.

Applying online is often faster and less expensive than applying manually. Find out which visas can be applied for online and what other requirements you'll need to meet.

If you’re pregnant when you apply for your temporary visa you’ll need to know the costs involved in your maternity health care while you’re here, especially if you’ll be having your baby in New Zealand.

The areas used as international airports that have been designated as Immigration Control Areas.

The conditions of your interim visa will depend on the kind of visa you had before we granted your interim visa, and the kind of visa you applied for.

For non-principal applicants to be eligible for a permanent resident visa, the principal applicant must hold a permanent resident visa. In some circumstances however a non-principal applicant can be granted permanent residence on their own.

A list of countries that are part of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation. If you have an APEC Business Travel Card and you're from one of these countries, you'll have access to streamlined travel processes.

Partners of people who are already in New Zealand, and partners who are applying for a visa to come to New Zealand together, may be eligible for visas based on their partnership.

You’re not allowed to stay in New Zealand after your visa expires. If you do this, you’ll be unlawfully in New Zealand, under a legal obligation to leave New Zealand, and be liable for deportation. If there are very special reasons why you’re still in New Zealand, we may be able to grant you a visa under section 61 of the Immigration Act 2009.

A person who remains in New Zealand after their visa expires becomes unlawfully in New Zealand and is therefore liable for deportation. Liability for deportation can also arise in other situations. In many cases, a person can appeal against their liability, within certain timeframes.

When individuals or organisations sponsor visa applications they take on significant obligations and responsibilities that are legally binding.

There are some countries whose citizens do not have to apply for a visa before travelling New Zealand as a transit passenger.

Immigration New Zealand sets the rules for who can travel to and enter New Zealand. We carry out a number of checks to help us decide which passengers can travel to and enter New Zealand. We do this both at check-in and again when you arrive in New Zealand.

You can apply for a variation of conditions if you want to change the conditions of your work, visitor or visitor visa.

You can stay in New Zealand on a resident visa indefinitely, but you need travel conditions to leave and return as a resident. If your travel conditions expire before you're eligible to apply for a Permanent Resident Visa, you can apply for a variation of travel conditions, to allow you to leave New Zealand and return as a resident.

A country whose citizens don’t have to apply for a visa before coming to New Zealand for a short visit.

We offer streamlined visitor visa processing arrangements for people who are members of certain programmes.

You will need to provide evidence about your circumstances in China, and your reasons for coming to New Zealand to show you are a genuine visitor.