Want your partner to live and work in New Zealand with you?

The Partner of a New Zealander Work Visa is a temporary visa that lets your partner live and work in New Zealand for up to three years, based on their relationship with you as a New Zealand citizen or resident.

Unlike the Partner of a New Zealander Resident Visa, which requires you to have lived together for at least 12 months, this work visa has no defined minimum period of living together. You must, however, be living together in a genuine and stable relationship. That is why this visa is often the right first step for couples earlier in their journey, with residence coming later once the 12-month requirement is met.

A partnership application involves two people: you, the New Zealand citizen or resident supporting the application, and your partner, who is the one applying for the visa. The requirements are split between you, so it helps to see them separately.

Your relationship

You and your partner must be in a genuine and stable relationship, and you must be living together. This is the foundation of every partnership visa.

Your partner (the applicant)

Your partner must meet Immigration New Zealand’s health and character requirements. These are the standard checks that apply to the person receiving the visa.

You (the supporting partner)

You must be eligible to support the application. There are limits on how many partners you can support over time, and rules about how recently you may have supported someone else. You must not have acted as a partner in a successful residence visa application more than once before. You can only support your partner for a Partner of a New Zealander Work Visa if you last acted as a partner in a residence application more than four years ago. For example, if you obtained residence in New Zealand and a previous partner was included in that application as a secondary applicant, you are considered to have acted as a partner, so you would need to wait four years before you can support your current partner for a Partner of a New Zealander Work Visa.

Since 20 April 2026, the Partner of a New Zealander Work Visa carries an “any work” condition. In practice, that means your partner can:

• Work for any employer, in almost any role, anywhere in New Zealand.
• Be self-employed, work as a sole trader, or own and actively operate their own business.

There are limits. Your partner cannot employ other people, either directly or through a business they own. They also cannot provide, or invest in a business that provides, commercial sexual services. Beyond that, the flexibility is broad, and it is one of the real advantages of this visa.

The Partner of a New Zealander Work Visa is generally granted for up to three years. Because you are a New Zealand citizen or resident, your partner’s visa is not tied to anyone else’s visa expiring, which makes this one of the more stable partnership work visas. When it is time to think about residence, the Partner of a New Zealander Resident Visa is usually the next step.

At the heart of every partnership application is one question: is the relationship genuine and stable? Immigration New Zealand needs to be satisfied that it is.

They look at whether you and your partner live together, how long you have been together, whether you share your lives in the ways couples usually do, and whether the people around you recognise you as a couple. They assess the credibility of your evidence, and they may ask questions, request more information, or in some cases interview you both.

What counts as strong evidence, and how to present your particular circumstances, is where good advice makes a real difference, especially if your relationship does not fit the conventional pattern.

Yes, for many couples it is the pathway to residence. Once you have lived together for at least 12 months in a genuine and stable relationship, your partner may be able to apply for the Partner of a New Zealander Resident Visa, which gives them the right to live, work, and study in New Zealand indefinitely. Our Partnership Visa Guide explains how the work, visitor, and resident pathways fit together.

From what we see, applications tend to run into trouble for a few recurring reasons.

1. The relationship evidence does not meet the standard:

The relationship may be completely genuine, but the evidence does not show it clearly enough for INZ. This is rarely about honesty. It is about knowing what INZ needs to see.

2. The living together requirement is not clearly met or evidenced:

You must be living together, and gaps or unclear evidence here cause problems.

3. Inconsistencies across the application

Dates, addresses, and details that do not line up between you and your partner raise questions, even in genuine applications.

Each of these is avoidable with the right preparation.

Immigration New Zealand charges an application fee for this visa, and fees are reviewed periodically. Because fees change, we do not list a figure here. You can check the current fee on the Immigration New Zealand fees page. Processing times vary with how complete the application is and INZ’s workload at the time.

Is a spouse visa the same as this?

In New Zealand there is no “spouse visa”. The correct term is a partnership visa, and it covers married couples, civil unions, and de facto partners equally. If you have been searching “spouse visa NZ”, this is very likely what you are looking for.

How is this different from the Partner of a Worker Work Visa?

The difference is your status. This visa is for when you are a New Zealand citizen or resident. The Partner of a Worker Work Visa is for when the New Zealand-based partner holds a work visa rather than being a citizen or resident, and it has an extra income threshold that partner must meet. See our Partner of a Worker Work Visa guide.

Can we both work?

Yes. Your partner works under this visa’s open work rights, and you work or live here as a New Zealand citizen or resident.

Can my partner study on this visa?

It is a work visa, so it is for working. Short courses are possible, but if study is their main goal, another visa may suit them better.

What happens if the relationship ends?

Your partner’s visa is granted on the basis of your relationship, so if it ends, their situation needs care. Our Partnership Visa Break-up Guide explains the main scenarios.

Can our children be included in the application?

Dependent children need to apply for their own visas. If your partner applies for a Partner of a New Zealander Visitor Visa instead, your children can be included in that application.