Parent and Grandparent Visitor Visa

• 1 acceptable photo if you apply online, or 2 photos if you use a paper application form.
• your passport or certificate of identity.

Acceptable photos

If you apply online, you must upload a copy of your passport when you apply. We will let you know if you need to send your passport after you have applied.

Providing your passport for online applications

If you submit a paper application, provide your original passport or a certified copy.  We can usually process your application faster if you provide your original passport.

We may ask you to have a chest x-ray, a medical examination or both as proof of your good health.

If you are staying less than:

• 6 months you do not normally need a chest x-ray. 
• 12 months you do not normally need a medical certificate. 

Who needs an x-ray or medical examination

When we process your application we let you know if we need you to have a chest x-ray or medical examination.

Acceptable standard of health criteria for visa approvals

Please only provide medical certificates if requested

If you have a criminal conviction or are a security risk to New Zealand we may not be able to grant you a visa.

Good character for temporary visas

You must provide police certificates if your total time in New Zealand will be 24 months or longer across all visits. This includes any time you have spent in New Zealand in the past on other visas, even if you have been out of the country since then.

You also must provide police certificates if we ask for them.

If you are 16 years old or younger you do not need to provide police certificates.

Providing police certificates

How to get a police certificate

If you have already sent us Police Certificates with a previous visa application and they are less than 24 months old, you do not need to send them again.

Police certificates must be less than 6 months old when you submit your application. They must be from any country you are a citizen of, or have spent more than 5 years in since you turned 17.

When we decide if your intentions are genuine, we consider all the information:

• you provide to support your application
• we have about your personal circumstances, and
• you provided in any previous applications.

Genuine intentions to visit, study or work in NZ

To be eligible to sponsor you (and your partner), your sponsor must:

• be a New Zealand citizen or resident 
• be your child or grandchild, or their parent
• be 18 or over 
• meet our requirements for acceptable sponsors, and
• not be sponsoring anyone else.

Criteria to sponsor a visa applicant

Process to become a sponsor

What sponsors must do while a visa holder is in New Zealand

You must provide an original or certified copy of your sponsor’s:

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

You must provide evidence of your family relationship to your sponsor.

If your sponsor is the parent of your child or grandchild, but not your child, you must provide evidence of the sponsor’s relationship to your child or grandchild.

Evidence can include:

• birth certificates 
• adoption papers
• any other documents that confirm your relationship to the sponsor, or the sponsor’s relationship to your child or grandchild.

You must declare in your visa application that you will pay the costs of any health care or medical assistance you receive in New Zealand.

To bring your partner, you must provide evidence:

• of your relationship with your partner, like a marriage certificate
• that your partner meets the identity, character and health requirements for this visa.

Partnership