Pacific Access Category Resident Visa

If you are from Kiribati, Tuvalu, Tonga or Fiji you can register for a ballot. If your registration is drawn from the ballot we may invite you to apply for residence.

Length of stay

Indefinitely

Age range
Between

18 – 45 years

Quota
Each year

See below

Cost
From
NZD $1389
With this visa you can
  • Live, work and study in New Zealand.
  • Include your partner, and dependent children aged 24 and under, in your residence application — if you first included them in your ballot registration.
Things to note
  • You or your partner must have a job offer that pays enough to support you and your family in New Zealand.
  • You must be able to read, write and speak English.
  • The visa quotas have been increased for the 2022 and 2023 ballots. They are now up from 75 to 150 Kiribati citizens, 75 to 150 Tuvaluan citizens, 250 to 500 Tongan citizens and from 250 to 500 Fijian citizens.
Closed

The Pacific Access Category ballot is closed. It will reopen in 2025.

The 2024 successful ballot numbers were announced on 2 August 2024:
Pacific Access Category Resident Visa ballot results

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 register your Pacific Access Category ballot using the online form.

Your ballot registration must include:

  • a copy of your birth certificate
  • copies of birth certificates for your partner and dependent children.

Partnership
Dependent children

Tips

Don’t send original birth certificates, as we may not be able to return them to you.

If you don’t include your partner or children in your ballot registration, they won’t be included in an invitation to apply for residence later.

We’ll use the birth certificate you send with your ballot registration to confirm your age.

If invited to apply for residence, you must apply within 8 months of being invited to apply.

Acceptable photos

Note

You can provide either 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

You don’t need to provide proof of your identity until you’re invited to apply for residence.

You must have a chest x-ray and a medical examination as proof of your good health.

Getting an x-ray or medical examination

Tips

You don’t need to have an x-ray or medical examination until you’re invited to apply for residence.

If you, or anyone else included in your application, are aged 17 or older you must provide a police certificate from:

  • all the countries you are a citizen of, and
  • any other country you have stayed in for 12 months or more over the last 10 years, even if it was not all in the same stay.

How to get a police certificate

Good character for residence visas

Tips

Police certificates must be less than 6 months old at the time you apply.

You don’t need to provide any Police Certificates until you’re invited to apply for residence.

If you’re invited to apply for residence, you’ll need to provide a valid passport from your country of citizenship.

If you were born in the country you are a citizen of, you must provide your birth certificate.

If you were born overseas, you must provide the following documents for your parent:

  • their birth certificate
  • their passport or certificate of identity showing they share your country of citizenship.
Tips

You don’t need to provide any evidence until you’re invited to apply for residence.

Any documents that prove where you’re living. Examples include:

  • letters sent to your home address
  • references from your employer.
Tips

You can also apply from Fiji.

If invited to apply for residence, we’ll test your English by talking to you about yourself, your family and your background.

Tips

You’ll need to be able to read and answer questions in English to pass the test.

If you’re invited to apply for residence, you must provide evidence of a current offer of full-time work that is for 12 months or more.  

Evidence must include certified copies of your:

  • job offer
  • job description
  • employment agreement
  • registration, if it’s work you need to be registered to do.

We can’t grant a visa if your employer is included on the list of non-compliant employers maintained by the Labour Inspectorate.

Employment agreements and rights

List of non-compliant employers

Tips

The job offer can be for you or for your partner.

If invited to apply for residence, you must provide evidence:

  • of your relationship with your partner and dependent children
  • that your partner and dependent children meet the health, character and identity requirements for this visa.

Partnership
Dependent children

Tips

If your partner or dependent children have, or applied for, a New Zealand temporary entry visa based on their relationship with you, you must include them in your residence application.

If you are invited to apply for residence, you need to provide evidence, such as employment agreements, that you and your partner will earn NZD$53,515.28 or more between you each year.

We review minimum incomes each year.

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 New Zealand traveller declaration (NZTD).

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 do not meet our character requirements
  • your circumstances have changed since you were issued 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.

Arriving in New Zealand

When we grant your visa, you’ll have 3 months to come to New Zealand.

Your partner and dependent children will have 12 months to come to New Zealand.

If you and your family are unable to come to New Zealand by these times, your visa will expire and you’ll have to apply for a new visa.

Notes

Your family must have been included in your resident visa application for them to come to New Zealand.

Keep your visa in a valid passport

If you want to travel, your visa must be in a valid passport.

If your passport expires, you must apply to transfer your visa to a new passport before you can travel.

Transferring my visa to a new passport

Notes

To transfer your visa, you must:

  • send us your old and new passports
  • complete an ‘Application for Transfer or Confirmation of a Visa’
  • pay a transfer fee.

Application for transfer or confirmation of a visa

Application for Transfer or Confirmation of a Visa (INZ 1023) PDF 375KB

Fees, decision times and where to apply

Travel

You can travel in and out of New Zealand as often as you like until your travel conditions expire — normally 2 years from the date you first arrive in New Zealand as a resident.

Alert

If you are outside New Zealand when your travel conditions expire, your visa will expire as well.

 

To travel in and out of New Zealand after your travel conditions expire, you need to apply for:

  • a variation to your travel conditions, or
  • a Permanent Resident Visa.

Extending the travel conditions of a resident visa

Resident to permanent resident

Notes

Your travel conditions will expire 2 years from the date you first arrive in New Zealand as a resident.

If you are outside of New Zealand when your travel conditions expire, your visa will expire as well.