Looking for a retirement visa? New Zealand doesn't run one — its routes are built around employer sponsorship or active investment, not a pension-based stay. See other countries' guides
Working in New Zealand: do you qualify?
Routes range from a working holiday to employer-sponsored skilled work and two actively managed investor tiers.
When rules change mid-way, the date your application is filed is what often decides which rules apply to you. Where are you right now?
Two ways in, and New Zealand checks them differently
An employer, a government nomination or an approved body puts its name behind the application.
- Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV)
- New Zealand Skilled Migrant Category Resident Visa
- New Zealand Straight to Residence Visa (Green List Tier 1)
You qualify on your own record — skills, points or capital — with no sponsor standing behind you.
- Active Investor Plus BalancedNZ$10,000,000
- Active Investor Plus GrowthNZ$5,000,000
- Working Holiday VisaNZ$4,200
The conditions behind the routes above
Your degree, work experience or occupation has to clear a bar set for that specific route.
An employer, a government nomination, or an approved endorsing body has to stand behind the route.
Pick a route, see the real commitment
Every official figure below is what Immimaps has verified for that route against New Zealand's official programme rules — not a marketing minimum. Service fees are what independent firms publish for the route, shown only once five or more are on file.
The main employer-sponsored route — the employer's own accreditation with Immigration New Zealand is checked before the worker's application is.
The broader of the two investor tracks — it accepts a wider range of asset types, including property development, in exchange for a longer hold.
The narrower, business-focused investor track, with a shorter hold than Balanced and mandatory investment checkpoints along the way.
Single status: not living with a partner in a genuine and stable partnership, irrespective of duration (F5.5.1).
Up to NZ$1,000,000 placed as capital, exposed until the 4 years hold period ends.
The New Zealand partner (sponsor) must be a citizen or resident, meet Partnership-Category character requirements, not be liable for deportation, not have a family-violence-related residence grant against them, and not exceed the sponsorship limit of one partner supported to residence per 5 years and two partners in total (F2.10).
Current or offered skilled employment must be with an employer holding valid Immigration New Zealand accreditation (not suspended), full-time, and either permanent, fixed-term for at least 12 months, or a qualifying contract-for-services arrangement. Applies identically on all three pathways — each pathway additionally layers its own pay floor and skill-category test (see the pathway-specific entries). (Operational Manual, SR3.15.)
Current employment or a job offer in a Green List occupation -- Tier 1 for Straight to Residence; Tier 2 plus the 24-month work-experience prerequisite for Work to Residence -- with an accredited employer, meeting every occupation-specific pay, qualification or registration condition set out for that occupation in Appendix 13. Where the occupation's entry sets no pay rate, the job must pay at least NZD 35.00 an hour (the median wage, effective 9 March 2026); where the entry sets its own rate, that rate applies instead — for example NZD 45.50 an hour, or NZD 94,640 a year on a 40-hour week, for an External/Internal Auditor. For Tier 2 (Work to Residence): the wage floor is set per occupation as a multiple of the median wage, assessed retrospectively over the 24-month qualifying-work period, using the rate in force when each stretch of qualifying work began. Example multiples: 1.15x the median wage for Telecommunications Technician, 1.3x for Crane Operator, and 1.5x for Building Construction Supervisor. No single dollar figure is published for these multiples; the current rate for the specific occupation is in Appendix 13.
A temporary stay for younger travellers, not a residence pathway — it doesn't lead toward permanent status the way the other three do.
What each route costs, stage by stage
Added up from the official figures on file for each route — split into money spent for good, money locked and returned later, and money shown but never transferred. Not a modelled estimate.
Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV)▾
At application
Decision — reported: 2 months.- Spent for goodGovernment fees on file: NZ$1,540, paid to the government for the initial application.
Active Investor Plus Balanced▾
At application
Decision — reported: 4 months.- Spent for goodOfficial fees: NZ$21,590 – NZ$27,470, paid to the government for the initial application.
- LockedNZ$10,000,000 placed as capital — recoverable in principle, exposed in practice.
Active Investor Plus Growth▾
At application
Decision — reported: 4 months.- Spent for goodOfficial fees: NZ$21,590 – NZ$27,470, paid to the government for the initial application.
- LockedNZ$5,000,000 placed as capital — recoverable in principle, exposed in practice.
New Zealand Dependent Child Resident Visa (Family: Dependent Child Category)▾
At application
Decision — reported: 7 months.- Spent for goodOfficial fees: NZ$3,230, paid to the government for the initial application.
New Zealand Parent Resident Visa▾
At application
Decision — reported: 4 months.- Spent for goodGovernment fees on file: NZ$6,260 – NZ$13,300, paid to the government for the initial application.
- Shown, never leaves youNZ$109,200 shown as proof of means every year — nothing is transferred.
3 ways to qualify — shown: the cheapest. Alternatives: NZ$450 + NZ$109,200 + NZ$5,810 (shown) / NZ$60,000 + NZ$1,000,000 + NZ$12,850 + NZ$500,000 / NZ$450 + NZ$145,600 + NZ$5,810.
New Zealand Partner of a New Zealander Resident Visa▾
At application
Decision — reported: 7 months.- Spent for goodGovernment fees on file: NZ$5,360, paid to the government for the initial application.
New Zealand Skilled Migrant Category Resident Visa▾
At application
Decision — reported: 4 months.- Spent for goodOfficial fees: NZ$5,430 – NZ$6,450, paid to the government for the initial application.
New Zealand Straight to Residence Visa (Green List Tier 1)▾
At application
Decision — reported: 3 months.- Spent for goodOfficial fees: NZ$5,430 – NZ$6,450, paid to the government for the initial application.
Working Holiday Visa▾
At application
Decision — reported: 0 months.- Spent for goodGovernment fees on file: NZ$770, paid to the government for the initial application.
- Shown, never leaves youNZ$4,200 shown as proof of means — nothing is transferred.
The order New Zealand Skilled Migrant Category Resident Visa follows
- 2026-06-01From 1 June 2026, Active Investor Plus Growth applicants can count philanthropic giving toward part of their required investment, capped at 20% of the total, alongside the existing business and fund options. source
Strategy Path takes your occupation, your situation and whether you have an employer, and lays the route out step by step — cost, milestone and wait on each leg.
This page sets out the published rules. It does not read your documents or check your figures: advice on your own application should come from a licensed immigration adviser or a lawyer.
To check that an adviser is registered, use the Immigration Advisers Authority's register of licensed advisers.
Verify them on the official register before you sign anything. Registration confirms a licence — it does not by itself guarantee good advice.
- Immigration Advisers Authority register — Confirm the adviser holds a current licence and read any conditions attached to it — some licences are provisional or limited.
Every official figure on this page is checked against New Zealand's official immigration sources. Service fees are what independent firms publish for a route — not an official figure, and never any one firm's price. Immimaps does not publish success rates, approval odds or any probability score — here or anywhere else.
Don’t take a life-changing move on someone else’s word.
Immimaps is not an agency and takes no placement fees. We show the real figures on every route, show the working, and tell you what it actually costs.
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