Bringing family if you have a work visa
Most types of work visas allow you to support visas for your partner and dependent children, but there are some restrictions.
Visas your family can apply for
With your work visa, you can normally support the following visas for your partner and dependent children:
- a work visa for your partner
- a visitor visa for your partner or your children
- a student visa for your children.
Visas for your partner and children expire at the same time as your work visa.
Who cannot support visas for family
You cannot support a work, visitor or student visa for your partner or dependent child if you have any of the following visas:
- a Fishing Crew work visa
- a working holiday visa
- a limited visa under the Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) or Supplementary Seasonal Employer (SSE) schemes
- a Silver Fern Job Search visa
- a Domestic Staff of a Diplomat work.
If you have an Accredited Employer Work Visa
If you have an Accredited Employer Work Visa you can support:
- a work visa for your partner, if you are paid the median wage or above
- visitor or student visas for dependent children, as long as you meet the income requirement, which is currently NZD $43,322.76 a year.
If you are paid under the median wage, you can only support a visitor visa for your partner.
Check your visa or approval letter to find out the remuneration level for your job.
Partner of a Worker Visitor Visa
From 31 May 2023
Partners of Accredited Employer Work Visa holders who apply for a new work visa will, if approved, have the following conditions placed on their visa:
- They must work for an accredited employer and be paid at least the median wage.
- If they work in a role covered by an un-capped sector agreement, they can be paid less than the median wage but must be paid the wage threshold for their role.
AEWV roles exempt from paying the median wage
Other things to note:
- This change will not affect your partner’s current work visa. These conditions will only be applied to new applications.
- If you work in a role on our Green List, or you are paid at least twice the median wage your partner will have open work rights and these visa conditions will not apply to them.
- If you are paid under the median wage, your partner will not be eligible for a partnership-based work visa.
- If your partner works in a role that is covered by a sector agreement, stand-down periods will not apply to them.
- Your partner cannot work in a role covered by a sector agreement if a cap applies to that role. At the moment this includes meat processing workers and seafood processing workers.
If you have an Essential Skills Work Visa
If you have an Essential Skills visa you can support:
- visitor visas for partners
- visitor or student visas for dependent children, as long as you meet the income requirement, which is currently NZD $43,322.76 a year.
If you are paid at or above the median wage, you can also support a work visa for your partner.
Check your visa or approval letter to find out the remuneration level for your job.
From 31 May 2023
Partners of Essential Skills Work Visa holders who apply for a new work visa will, if approved, have the following conditions placed on their visa:
- They must work for an accredited employer and be paid at least the median wage.
- If they work in a role covered by an un-capped sector agreement, they can be paid less than the median wage but must be paid the wage threshold for their role.
AEWV roles exempt from paying the median wage
Other things to note:
- This change will not affect your partner’s current work visa. These conditions will only be applied to new applications.
- If you work in a role on our Green List, or you are paid at least twice the median wage your partner will have open work rights and these visa conditions will not apply to them.
- If you are paid under the median wage, your partner will not be eligible for a partnership-based work visa.
- If your partner works in a role that is covered by a sector agreement, stand-down periods will not apply to them.
- Your partner cannot work in a role covered by a sector agreement if a cap applies to that role. At the moment this includes meat processing workers and seafood processing workers.
If you applied before 27 July 2020
If you applied for an Essential Skills Work Visa before 27 July 2020 and we assessed you as high or mid-skilled, you can support a work visa for your partner. Check your visa or approval letter to find out which skill-band your job is.
If we assessed your job as lower-skilled, you can only support a work visa for your partner if:
- your partner held a visa on 28 August 2017 that is based on their relationship to you, and you have not been subject to a stand-down period, or
- you completed study in New Zealand and your student visa let you support your partner for a work visa. You then worked here on a post-study work visa and supported them for visas based on your relationship with them.
If you earn below the median wage and your partner wants to work, they will have to apply for their own work visa.
Making an application for a visa based on your relationship to an existing Essential Skills work visa holder or applicant (partners and dependent children)
The requirement to provide medical and police certificates has been removed for partners and dependent children who are in New Zealand and:
- are applying for a work, student or visitor visa based on their relationship to an existing Essential Skills visa holder or applicant, and
- provided medical and police certificates to Immigration New Zealand with a previous visa application.
If you have already obtained medical or police certificates for your visa application, you can choose to still submit them.
You can apply using the paper forms for a partner (Partnership-Based Temporary Visa Application, INZ 1198) or for a dependent child (Student Visa Application INZ 1012, or Visitor Visa Application INZ 1017).
If you use a paper form, use the most recent version of the form to avoid processing delays.
Student Visa Application (INZ 1012) PDF 450KB
Visitor Visa Application (INZ 1017) PDF 397KB
Partnership-based Temporary Visa Application (INZ 1198) PDF 332KB
Visas that allow you to join family
How family members can apply for a visa
If you cannot support your partner or dependent children to apply, they can apply for a visa in their own right.