VISITOR
New Zealand has no separate tourist visa: the general Visitor Visa covers tourism, family visits, partner and dependent child stays. Up to 6 or 9 months, from NZD $441. How to apply, how to extend, and how the bona fide visitor test works.
Yes. New Zealand does not issue anything called a tourist visa. The category that covers holidays, sightseeing, and visiting friends or family is the general Visitor Visa, and it is the same visa whichever of those is your reason for coming (immigration.govt.nz). If you have been searching for a New Zealand tourist visa, this is the visa you want.
Two things are commonly mistaken for it:
Australian citizens travelling on an Australian passport need neither.
Most people apply online through Immigration Online, and INZ sets out four steps: gather your documents, submit your application and pay the fee, wait for the decision, and check your application status (immigration.govt.nz). The visa costs from NZD $441, INZ targets 80% of decisions within 2 weeks, and it grants a stay of up to 6 or 9 months depending on the variant.
In practice the work sits in the preparation, not the form:
Applying at least 6 to 8 weeks before you travel is sensible year-round and necessary between October and February, when application volume rises sharply.
Many visitor visa applications are for family reasons rather than tourism. The standard Visitor Visa above covers most short family visits, and where partners or dependent children travel with you they are added using the Additional Dependants for Visitor Visa form (INZ 1205). Three family scenarios come up most often:
If you are the partner of a New Zealand citizen or resident, the visitor-category variant of the partnership pathway is the Partner of a New Zealander Visitor Visa. It allows shorter stays without work rights while you build relationship evidence, and it still has to satisfy the bona fide visitor and genuine intentions tests. If your goal is to live and work in NZ, review the Work and Resident partnership variants before lodging.
Dependent children can be included on a visitor application via INZ 1205, or apply in their own right to visit family. The usual visitor rules apply to each person: sufficient funds (NZD $1,000 per month if self-funded, or NZD $400 per month if accommodation is pre-paid), evidence of ability to leave, and the bona fide visitor test.
Parents can apply for a visitor visa to visit family in New Zealand, subject to the same core rules: sufficient funds (or sponsorship by a NZ citizen or resident using INZ 1025), a confirmed onward or return ticket, and the bona fide visitor test, which weighs home-country ties against NZ family connections. For longer-term parent options, see the separate Parent Resident Visa pathway. If your parents plan extended or repeated stays, talk to a licensed adviser, because repeated visits add up against the 9 months in 18 months cumulative cap.
There is no renewal in the New Zealand system. You apply for a new visitor visa from inside New Zealand, and if it is approved it replaces your current one with a single-entry visa. Apply before your current visa expires: an onshore application lodged in time usually triggers an interim visa that keeps you lawful while INZ decides, whereas letting the visa lapse first puts you out of status.
Three things decide these applications:
If you want to stay long term, an extension is the wrong tool. Look at the work, study, partnership, or resident category that matches what you actually intend to do, because a string of visitor extensions can itself become evidence against you.
The Visitor Visa above is the general-purpose short-stay pathway. Two adjacent visa categories serve specific use cases that don’t fit the standard Visitor Visa:
For people arriving in and visiting New Zealand together for the same purpose, on the same travel arrangements: organised tours, performance groups, sports teams, short-term study tours. It costs from NZD $271, normally grants a stay of up to 1 month, and one administrator submits and pays for the whole group. The group application does not replace the individual assessments, because INZ still needs a Visitor Visa application from every member.
Group and Tour Escort applications moved to INZ’s enhanced Immigration Online system on 24 August 2026, and drafts started on the old form must be submitted by 7 October 2026. Our Group Visitor Visa guide covers the group roles, the costs, and when a tour escort needs a work visa instead.
For someone employed outside New Zealand who travels in and out with a tour group and provides day-to-day assistance to it. From NZD $441, normally up to 3 months, and it requires a letter from your employer confirming the role before you apply. A tour escort is not a tour guide: leading the group or providing in-depth local knowledge of New Zealand is work, and needs a Specific Purpose Work Visa. The group and tour escort guide sets out where that line falls.
Distinct from the Visitor Visa entirely, the Working Holiday Visa is a youth-targeted visa (typically ages 18–30 or 35 depending on country agreement) that permits a combination of travel and incidental work over a defined period (typically 12 months, extendable in some cases).
Working Holiday is NOT a visitor visa; it carries different work rights, eligibility (country-of-citizenship + age), and immigration conditions. If you’re considering a working-holiday-style stay, confirm whether your country has a Working Holiday Scheme with NZ and what the current cap and annual lottery (where applicable) requires.
Some visitor categories people still search for no longer exist. The Critical Purpose Visitor Visa was a COVID-era border-exception visa and closed to new applications on 31 July 2022; there is no direct replacement, and what you apply for now depends on your purpose. A Limited Visa is a different instrument again: it is granted for an express purpose with no right to apply for a further visa onshore, so it is not something to accept casually.
| Your situation | Right pathway |
|---|---|
| Tourism, family visit, or business meetings | Visitor Visa |
| Citizen of a visa-waiver country, short trip | NZeTA, not a visa application |
| Organised group travelling together | Group Visitor Visa |
| Escorting a tour group, employed overseas | Tour Escort Visitor Visa |
| Aged 18 to 30 or 35, combining travel and work | Working Holiday Visa |
| Partner of a New Zealand citizen or resident | Partner of a New Zealander Visitor Visa |
| Retiring to New Zealand for an extended stay | Temporary Retirement Visitor Visa |
| Passing through to another country | Transit visa |
INZ must believe you will leave New Zealand at the end of your stay. The decision-maker weighs your employment, family, property, and other commitments in your home country against any reason you might want to remain in New Zealand. Thin home-country ties combined with NZ family or partner connections will be scrutinised.
Separate from the bona fide test, INZ assesses whether you genuinely intend to visit for the stated purpose, comply with visitor conditions (no work, limited study), and depart on time. Stated purpose must be corroborated by your itinerary, bookings, return ticket, and home-country ties documentation.
NZD $1,000 per month if self-funded, or NZD $400 per month if accommodation is pre-paid. Sponsorship by a New Zealand citizen or resident (INZ 1025 Sponsorship Form) can substitute for personal funds. Funds must be in addition to onward travel costs.
Confirmed onward or return ticket to a country you have the right to enter, or evidence of funds sufficient to purchase one. Money for the ticket is counted separately from money to live on during your stay.
Police certificates required if you are 17 or older and your total time in New Zealand will be 24 months or more. Chest X-ray certificate required for stays of 6 months or longer from non-low-TB countries. Medical certificate required for stays of 12 months or longer or where INZ requests one.
INZ application fee: Standard Visitor Visa starts from NZD $441. The International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy (IVL) of NZD $100 may also apply. NZeTA (for visa-waiver country citizens) is significantly cheaper than a visitor visa and faster to process. Confirm current fees at immigration.govt.nz before applying; INZ fees change without notice.
ProVisas advisory fee: ProVisas advisory fee for visitor visas is NZD $2,500 plus GST. Paid via weekly direct debit.
Pacific Island passport holders may qualify for fee reductions and longer-stay (up to 24 months multiple-entry) variants. Australian citizens travelling on an Australian passport require neither a visa nor an NZeTA. Visa-waiver country citizens should consider NZeTA as a cheaper, faster alternative for short visits.
INZ targets 80% of standard visitor visa decisions within 2 weeks. Processing slows during the summer surge (October to February, especially around Christmas) when application volume rises sharply, so applicants travelling in peak season should submit at least 6 to 8 weeks ahead. Cases with complications (prior declines, character matters, complex evidence stacks) take longer. An interim visa is issued automatically if you apply onshore for a new visitor visa and your current visa expires while the application is being decided.
Multiple-entry visitor visas allow up to 6 months per visit within a 12-month period. Single-entry visitor visas allow up to 9 months in an 18-month period. The 9 months in 18 months total stay cap applies cumulatively, so repeated short visits add up. Pacific Island passport holders have a longer 24-month multiple-entry variant. Check the conditions stamped on your specific visa before booking onward travel.
Employment in New Zealand is not permitted on a visitor visa. Remote work for an overseas employer is generally allowed; NZ-side business activity (meetings, conferences, negotiations) requires a Business Visitor Visa, not a standard visitor visa. Study is allowed up to 3 months in any 12-month period; longer study requires a Student Visa.
NZeTA (Electronic Travel Authority) is for citizens of visa-waiver countries plus cruise passengers and transit travellers. It is not a visa; it works alongside your passport to permit visa-free entry. Visa-waiver citizens get a visitor visa on arrival under specific conditions. For longer stays, repeated visits, or where visa-waiver does not apply, a full visitor visa application with the complete evidence stack is required.
Sometimes. Extensions are not automatic; INZ assesses each application against current policy and your reason for needing more time. Approval results in a single-entry visa that replaces your current one. The 9 months in 18 months cumulative stay cap still applies. Repeated extensions, or extensions where home-country ties have weakened, attract closer scrutiny. Talk to a licensed adviser before applying for an extension if your case has any complicating factors.
These are two separate tests. The bona fide visitor test asks whether you have the ties, means, and intent that would compel you to leave at the end of your visit. The genuine intentions test asks whether you genuinely intend to comply with visitor conditions: visit for the stated purpose, depart on time, no work, no de facto residence. INZ can decline on either ground. A return ticket alone does not satisfy either test; the full evidence stack matters.
Yes. The partner of a New Zealand citizen or resident can apply for a Partner of a New Zealander Visitor Visa, the visitor-category variant of the partnership pathway. It allows shorter stays without work rights while you build relationship evidence. Like any visitor application it must satisfy the bona fide visitor and genuine intentions tests, and a return ticket alone does not satisfy either test. If your goal is to live and work in NZ with your partner, the Work or Resident partnership variants may suit better, so review the partnership pathway before lodging.
Partners and dependent children can be included using the Additional Dependants for Visitor Visa form (INZ 1205). Each person on the application still has to meet visitor requirements: sufficient funds (NZD $1,000 per month if self-funded, or NZD $400 per month if accommodation is pre-paid, in addition to onward travel costs), evidence of ability to leave, and the bona fide visitor and genuine intentions tests.
Yes, parents can apply for a visitor visa to visit family in New Zealand. The same core rules apply: sufficient funds (or sponsorship by a NZ citizen or resident using INZ 1025), a confirmed onward or return ticket, and the bona fide visitor test, which weighs home-country ties against NZ family connections. Multiple-entry visitor visas allow up to 6 months per visit within a 12-month period, with a 9 months in 18 months cumulative cap. Longer-term parent options are assessed separately, so talk to a licensed adviser if your parents plan extended or repeated stays.
Yes; a decline is not a ban, and there is no stand-down period. But a reapplication with the same evidence usually gets the same answer. Read the decline letter for the actual reasons: most family-visit declines turn on the bona fide test, meaning INZ was not satisfied the visitor would leave at the end of the stay. A stronger application addresses that directly, with employment, property, dependants and other home-country ties plus past travel compliance, and corrects anything inconsistent in the first attempt. A declined or refused application must be declared in future applications, so accuracy matters more than speed.
You cannot work in New Zealand on a visitor visa, but attending interviews and receiving a job offer breaks no rule. If an accredited employer offers you a role, you can usually apply for an Accredited Employer Work Visa while you are in New Zealand lawfully. The hard line: do not start work before the work visa is granted. Working in breach of visitor conditions jeopardises the work visa application and every application after it.
PARTNERSHIP
Partnership Work Visa NZ and the wider Partner of a New Zealander pathway (Visitor, Work, Resident): who qualifies, costs, and the evidence INZ requires.
View Partnership Work Visa NZ: Partner of a New ZealanderAEWV
The Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV) is New Zealand's primary skilled work visa, tied to an accredited employer. Substantial 2025 reforms apply.
View Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV)WORKING-HOLIDAY
Working Holiday Visa for young adults from agreement countries. Standard 12 months; extended schemes for Canada (23) and the UK (36). Once per lifetime.
View Working Holiday Visaguides
A Group Visitor Visa covers people arriving in New Zealand together for the same purpose, from NZD $271 with a stay of about 1 month. How the group roles work, what changed on 24 August 2026, and when a tour escort needs a work visa instead.
Read articleguides
A Limited Visa admits you for one express purpose and strips the usual fallbacks: no onshore switching, no Section 61, no appeal rights. What it is, why INZ offers it instead of a visitor visa, and when to accept one.
Read articleguides
Aged 66+ with NZD 750,000 to invest? The Temporary Retirement Visitor Visa allows renewable two-year stays. Investment, income, and funds thresholds.
Read articleguides
The Critical Purpose Visitor Visa closed to new applications on 31 July 2022 when the border fully reopened. Here is what it was, why it ended, and which visa now covers each purpose it used to serve.
Read articleLast reviewed 2026-08-28. Source of truth: Immigration New Zealand →
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