Acceptable standard of health criteria for visa approvals

How we use the acceptable standard of health criteria when assessing residence and temporary visa applications.

Before we can approve your residence or temporary visa application we check you meet the visa’s criteria. The criteria helps us decide if we should decline or approve your application. With the acceptable standard of health criteria, we look to see if:

• you are a risk to public health
• you are going to add significant cost to, or demands on, New Zealand's health services
• you are going to qualify for Ongoing Resourcing Scheme (ORS) funding
  Ongoing Resource Scheme
• your health may stop you working or studying, if this is what the visa is for.

When we consider if you meet the criteria, we cannot include:

• the ability of a person or organisation to pay for health services, pharmaceuticals, or residential care
• your ability to access the private health system
• any health insurance
• the ability of family, friends, or a charitable organisation to care for you.

Note:
If entry to New Zealand is needed for the purpose of medical treatment or consultation, then the acceptable standard of health criteria may not apply to you

Assessing acceptable standard of health

You may need to get a medical examination as part of your application. We use this to determine if you meet the acceptable standard of health criteria.

Who needs a chest x-ray or medical examination

Results in your medical examination may mean we either:

• continue with your application as you meet the acceptable standard of health criteria
• ask one of our medical assessors for their medical opinion. Our medical assessors are registered New Zealand medical practitioners, and provide their medical opinion on whether the acceptable standard of health criteria are met.

The medical assessor's opinion may mean we:

• request further medical information from you to complete an assessment
• continue processing your visa application as you meet the acceptable standard of health criteria
• see if you are eligible for a medical waiver assessment as you have not met the acceptable standard of health criteria 
• decline your visa application as you have not met the acceptable standard of health criteria — we only do this when we cannot issue a medical waiver.

Medical waivers for visa applications

Residence visas and meeting the acceptable standard of health criteria

We may decline your residence visa if you, or somebody else on your application, have any of the following conditions:

• Hepatitis B-surface antigen positive and meeting criteria for anti-viral treatment in New Zealand.
• Hepatitis C-RNA positive and meeting criteria for anti-viral treatment in New Zealand.
• Malignancies of organs, skin (such as melanoma) and haematopoietic tissue, including past history, or currently under treatment. Exceptions are:
  • treated minor skin malignancies
  • malignancies where the interval since treatment is such that the probability of recurrence is below 10%. 
• Requirement for organ transplants (with the exclusion of corneal grafts), or following organ transplant when immune suppression is required (with the exclusion of corneal grafts).
• Severe, chronic or progressive renal or hepatic disorders.
• Musculoskeletal diseases or disorders such as osteoarthritis with a high probability of surgery in the next 5 years.
• Severe, chronic or progressive neurological disorders, including but not limited to:
  • any dementia including Alzheimer's disease
  • poorly controlled epilepsy
  • complex seizure disorder
  • cerebrovascular disease
  • cerebral palsy
  • paraplegia, quadriplegia
  • poliomyelitis
  • Parkinson’s disease
  • motor neurone disease, Huntington’s disease, muscular dystrophy
  • prion disease
  • relapsing or progressive multiple sclerosis or both.
• Cardiac diseases, including but not limited to:
  • severe ischaemic heart disease
  • cardiomyopathy
  • valve disease with a high probability of surgical and or other procedural intervention in the next 5 years
  • aortic aneurysm with a high probability of surgical or other procedural intervention or both in the next 5 years.
• Chronic respiratory disease, including but not limited to:
  • severe or progressive restrictive (including interstitial) lung disease or both
  • severe or progressive obstructive lung disease or both
  • cystic fibrosis.
• Significant or disabling hereditary disorders, including but not exclusive to:
  • hereditary anaemias and coagulation disorders
  • primary immunodeficiencies
  • Gaucher’s disease.
• Severe autoimmune disease which may require treatment in New Zealand with immune-suppressant medications other than Prednisone, Methotrexate, Azathioprine or Salazopyrin.
• Severe (71-90 decibels) hearing loss or profound bilateral sensori-neural hearing loss after best possible correction at country of origin, where significant support is required, including cochlear implants.
• Severe vision impairment with visual acuity of 6/36 or beyond after best possible correction at country of origin, or a loss restricting the field of vision to 15-20 degrees where significant support is required.
• Severe developmental disorders or severe cognitive impairments where significant support is required, including but not exclusive to:
  • physical disability
  • intellectual disability
  • autistic spectrum disorders
  • brain injury.
• Major psychiatric illness or addiction or both, including any psychiatric condition that has required hospitalisation or significant support or both.
• A history, diagnostic findings or treatment for MDR-TB or XDR-TB, unless cleared by a New Zealand Respiratory or Infectious Diseases specialist upon review of any file or applicant according to the New Zealand Guidelines for Tuberculosis Treatment.

We may also decline your visa application if in the medical assessor’s opinion your health services costs are likely to be more than NZ$81,000 (NZ$41,000 if you applied for a visa before 4 September 2022).

Temporary visas and meeting the acceptable standard of health criteria

We may decline your temporary visa application if we think during your stay you are likely, because of your health, to need:

• hospitalisation
• residential care
• high-cost pharmaceuticals
• high-cost disability services.

Medical waivers for visa applications