You can apply for this visa if you have experienced family violence from a New Zealand citizen or resident. It allows you to live and work in New Zealand permanently.
Indefinitely
NZD $0
Provide your details to make the experience more relevant to you.
Check if you are eligible to apply for this visa and what supporting documents and information you need to provide.
You must provide proof of your identity
You may provide 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.
You must be in good health
You must have a chest x-ray and a medical examination as proof of your good health.
You must be of good character
If you, or anyone else included in your application, are aged 17 or older you must provide a police certificate from:
Police Certificates must be less than 6 months old when you apply for residence.
If police certificates are not available from your home country, you must provide a separate statutory declaration in both English and your own language (if it is not English). These must:
You must be a victim of family violence
You must provide specific evidence that you have experienced family violence.
You must have been in a partnership with a New Zealand citizen or resident, which has ended
If your partnership with a New Zealand citizen or resident has not previously been assessed by us, you may be required to provide evidence of your relationship. You can find more details of how we assess relationships and evidence examples on our partnership page.
Your abuser must be a family member or someone close to you, and they must have been living with you
You need to provide evidence showing that:
Evidence can include:
Professionals who can make statutory declarations for a family violence visa
You must be unable to return to your home country
You must provide evidence you are unable to return to your home country because:
Evidence could include:
Your children must be single and 24 or under
For us to consider your children dependent, they must be single and either:
We will ask you to sign a declaration that your children are single when you complete your residence application.
We will use the documents you provide as proof of your children’s identity to confirm their age.
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.
You must complete a Residence Application form. You will need to send it to us with all supporting documents.
Application cost – There is no fee.
Your application for a Victims of Family Violence Resident visa will be determined by an immigration officer who has received specialist training in this category.
We will contact you if you need to do anything else.
You must hold a valid visa while you are in New Zealand. If your current temporary visa will expire before we make a decision on your residence application, you should apply for a further temporary visa if you wish to remain in New Zealand.
Interim Visas are not granted to people who have made an application for a residence class visa.
90% of applications are currently completed within this time.
Timeframes are in weekdays. We use the median value to find the average.
Payment methods and receiving centre details if applicable.
Postal address
Immigration New Zealand
PO Box 76895
Manukau City
Auckland 2241
New Zealand
Courier address
Immigration NZ
DX Box: EP71514
20 Fairfax Avenue
Penrose
Auckland 1061
New Zealand
These are the conditions that you must meet once you have your visa.
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.
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:
Your travel conditions will expire 2 years from the date you first arrive in New Zealand as a resident. Your visa label and approval letter will detail the date that your travel conditions expire.
If you are outside of New Zealand when your travel conditions expire, your visa will expire as well.
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.
You can work in any occupation for any employer in New Zealand.
You can study in New Zealand.