Partners and families
New Zealand Partnership Visas
Planning to join your partner in New Zealand starts with two questions: what immigration status does your partner hold, and what evidence demonstrates your shared life together?
Enquire About a Partnership Visa
Temporary partnership visas and residence are different
A Partner of a New Zealander Work Visa may allow an eligible person to live and work in New Zealand with the support of their New Zealand citizen or resident partner. The couple must be living together in a genuine and stable partnership and meet the category's other requirements.
A Partner of a New Zealander Resident Visa is a separate residence application. It generally requires at least 12 months of living together. A marriage certificate alone does not establish all the partnership requirements.
Partners of temporary work or student visa holders come under different categories. The supporting partner's visa, employment or study can affect eligibility and work rights; do not use the New Zealander-partner rules for every couple.
Tell the relationship story accurately
Prepare a date-based summary of when you met, when you began living together and any periods apart. Keep documents that genuinely demonstrate the household and relationship rather than collecting large quantities of unrelated material.
Useful preparation includes organising housing records, shared financial arrangements and correspondence about everyday life. Where circumstances changed, explain the change clearly. Do not manufacture joint documents, backdate records or omit a previous relationship to make an application look simpler.
Plan the family's applications together
The temporary Partner of a New Zealander Work Visa does not include dependent children in the same application. Their visa options must be checked separately. Residence applications can have different family-inclusion rules.
Keep a separate timetable for each family member's passport, current visa, intended travel and school or work plans. An application by one person does not automatically extend another person's permission to stay.
Common questions
Must we be married?
Marriage is not the only recognised form of partnership. The applicable immigration definition and evidence of a genuine, stable relationship and living together are central.
Can a visitor visa give me permission to work?
Do not assume that it does. Work rights depend on the visa granted and its conditions. Check the appropriate partnership work category where employment is part of your plans.
What should an initial enquiry include?
Explain your current locations, your partner's citizenship or visa, how long you have lived together and any approaching visa deadline. Avoid sending sensitive relationship documents before an appropriate channel is agreed.
General information checked 18 September 2026. Official sources: Partner of a New Zealander Work Visa and Partner of a New Zealander Resident Visa. Personalised advice requires a licensed or legally exempt person.