Work Visas

f you have specialised skills and have a qualification that meets New Zealand standards, you’ll find that there are great career opportunities for you here. New Zealand is a fantastic place to have work life balance and enjoy what the country has to offer on your time off.

There are a few accelerated pathways for migrants who have the skills New Zealand desperately needs. These are known as our Skill Shortage Lists:

You can apply for this temporary visa if you have a job offer from an accredited employer, the skills and qualifications for the job.

• Work in New Zealand for an accredited employer who has offered you at least 30 hours work a week.
• Study for up to 3 months in any 12 month period, or do any study required as part of your employment.
• Your visa will be valid for up to 3 years if you are paid at or above the New Zealand median wage of NZD $29.66 an hour, and for up to 2 years if you are paid below the median wage.
• This visa ties you to the employer who offered you the visa application for the length of your visa ⁠— if your situation changes you will need to vary the conditions of your visa or apply for a new visa.
• You may be able to support a work visa for your partner and visitor or student visas for your dependent children. You can only support your dependent child’s visitor or student visa if you earn at least NZD $43,322.76 each year.
• In some cases, be eligible for a Straight to Residence Visa, or after 2 years in the role a Work to Residence, Highly Paid Residence Visa or Care Workforce Work to Residence Visa.

ALERT: Applications from outside New Zealand for most working holiday visas are currently suspended unless you are applying from a Quarantine-free travel zone for certain citizenships.

Working holiday visas are available to young people, usually aged 18 to 30, but 18 to 35 in a select few countries. They let you travel and work in New Zealand for up to 12 months, or 23 months if you are from the UK or Canada.

You need to have enough money to pay for a return ticket, and be coming mainly to holiday, with work being a secondary intention. Each country working holiday visa has specific conditions.

This visa is for people who need to come to New Zealand for a specific purpose or event. To apply you’ll need to have skills related to your specific purpose or event and be able to define the time you’ll need to complete your specific purpose or event. Examples of people who may be able to apply include business people on secondments, sports players, professional coaches, specialist installers or services, and Philippines nurses seeking occupational registration.

You can’t include your partner or dependent children in your visa application, but they can apply for visas based on their relationship to you.

If you have acceptable qualifications(s) that you completed in New Zealand, you can apply for a visa to work here. Depending on your qualification and where you studied, you can work for any employer for between 1 and 3 years, and do almost any work.

On this visa you can work for any employer in almost any job and can be self employed.

Your partner may be eligible to apply for a work visa and your dependent children can study fee-free as domestic students.

If you wish to change your circumstances, employer, job or area you may be eligible to apply for a variation of conditions or you may need to apply for a new work visa.  There is strict criteria for each specific type of work visa you are currently on to be able to apply for a variation of conditions.