Partner Visa
A visa based on your relationship.
A partner visa is a visa or residence based on a relationship with a New Zealand citizen or resident. Partners of some work and student visa holders can apply too.
One thing decides the route more than any other: how long you have been living together. Under 12 months, the way in is a temporary visa. At 12 months or more, residence opens up. Everything after that is evidence.
The relationship is not in question between the two of you. It is in question on paper, in front of an immigration officer who has never met you. That is the work.
The visas
Four routes, depending on where you are.
Partnership visitor visa
For a partner who wants to be here with their New Zealand partner and does not need to work. Where you have lived together for less than 12 months, an initial visa of 12 months may be granted, and a further 12 months after that.
Partnership work visa
The same basis, with the right to work. This is the usual route for a partner who needs to support themselves while the relationship reaches 12 months.
Partnership residence visa
Once you have lived together for 12 months or more in a partnership that is genuine and stable, residence is open to you. This is what the temporary visas are usually building towards.
Partner of a work or student visa holder
If your partner holds certain New Zealand work or student visas, you may be eligible for a visa running for the same period as theirs.
We also act on culturally arranged marriage visitor visas, and on general visitor visas for family and social visits.
What is being tested
Living together, genuine and stable.
A partnership means a legal marriage, a civil union or a de facto relationship. None of the three is taken as read. Each has to be evidenced.
Two questions decide most applications
Whether you are living together, and whether an immigration officer accepts the partnership is genuine and stable. Both are answered from your documents, not from the relationship itself.
Your New Zealand partner has to qualify too
They must be an eligible partner, support the application, meet the character requirement for supporting partners, and meet the minimum requirements for recognition of partnerships. An application can fail on their position alone.
The general requirements still apply
Health and character, for everyone included in the application. Police certificates are normally required for residence, and for temporary visas where the stay is longer than 24 months.
Where it goes wrong
Four ways these applications fail.
Partnership applications are rarely declined because the relationship is not real. They are declined on the file.
- A requirement that was not obvious: most of them sit inside definitions in Immigration New Zealand’s operational manual rather than on the application form.
- The wrong evidence, or not enough of it: volume is not the point. What is filed has to speak to the two questions being asked.
- Evidence that does not line up: gaps and inconsistencies between documents are read as a credibility problem, even when the explanation is ordinary.
- Something wrong or left out: usually by accident. It is treated as false, misleading or withheld information, and it is hard to recover from.
How we can help
We can assist with the following.
- Eligibility and timing: which visa you can apply for now, and when residence becomes available to you.
- Your partner’s position: whether they are an eligible partner, and whether anything in their history affects the application.
- Relationship evidence: a relationship timeline, support letters, and the joint documents that carry the most weight — chosen for your circumstances rather than from a standard list.
- Living apart: where you have spent time in different countries, how that is explained and evidenced.
- Health, character and police certificates: what is required for each person included, and how long to allow for it.
- Evidence of funds: what has to be shown, and by whom.
- Preparing and filing: the application itself, checked before it goes.
- Responding to Immigration New Zealand: requests for further information, and potentially prejudicial information letters.
- Children: including dependent children in the application.
If it has already gone wrong
A declined application is not always the end.
If Immigration New Zealand has raised concerns about your application, declined it, or you are in New Zealand unlawfully, get advice quickly. Several of these routes have short deadlines.
Character and medical waivers
Where you or someone included in the application does not meet the health or character requirement.
Reconsideration
For a temporary visa application declined while you are in New Zealand.
Section 61 requests
For people who are in New Zealand unlawfully.
Special direction requests
To the Minister of Immigration, where there is no other way to apply.
Appeals to the Immigration and Protection Tribunal
Where a residence application has been declined, or a person has become liable for deportation.
Questions
Frequently asked questions.
How long do we need to have lived together?
Twelve months or more opens residence. Less than that, the route is a temporary visa — a visitor or work visa of 12 months, with the possibility of a further 12.
We are married. Is that enough on its own?
No. Marriage, civil union and a de facto relationship all count as a partnership, and none of the three is taken as read. The test is that you are living together in a partnership that is genuine and stable, and that is proved with documents.
What if we have spent time in different countries?
It does not end the application, but it has to be explained and evidenced rather than left as a gap. Periods apart are one of the things an immigration officer looks at most closely.
Does my New Zealand partner have to do anything?
Yes, and this is where applications quietly fail. They must be an eligible partner, support the application, meet the character requirement for supporting partners, and meet the minimum requirements for recognition of partnerships.
Can our children be included?
Dependent children can be included in the application. They will need to meet the health and character requirements too.
What evidence actually matters?
A relationship timeline, support letters, and joint documents that show the two of you running one household — chosen for your circumstances rather than taken off a standard list.
Volume is not the point. What is filed has to answer the two questions being asked.
Immigration New Zealand has written to us with concerns. What now?
Get advice before you reply. A letter raising potentially prejudicial information is a chance to answer, and what you say at that point carries a great deal of weight.
Our application was declined. Is that the end?
Not always. Depending on the circumstances there may be a reconsideration, a section 61 request, a special direction request, or an appeal to the Immigration and Protection Tribunal. Several of these have short deadlines, so move quickly.
This page summarises the requirements as they stand in October 2026. Immigration instructions change, sometimes part-way through an application. We confirm the current settings before anything is filed, and tell you where a change affects your position.