Your New Zealand Visa Was Declined — What Happens Next
Immigration New Zealand publishes exactly two routes after a decline. A declined temporary visa can be sent back to INZ for reconsideration, decided by a different officer, for NZ$220. A declined residence class visa can be appealed to the Immigration and Protection Tribunal for NZ$964. Which route exists depends entirely on the visa you applied for.
Quick Facts
| Reconsideration | IPT residence appeal | |
|---|---|---|
| Applies to | Declined temporary entry class visas (visitor, student, work, most partner work and visitor visas) | Declined residence class visas |
| Who decides | A different INZ immigration officer | The Immigration and Protection Tribunal, an independent judicial body |
| Fee | NZ$220 | NZ$964 including GST |
| How many attempts | One only | One appeal per decision |
| Fee waivable | No | No — "the fee cannot be waived" |
| Eligibility gate | You applied in New Zealand, are still in New Zealand, and hold a valid visa | You received a residence class visa decline (unless declined as an excluded person) |
| Published timeframe | 80% within 5 weeks | Generally determined within 10 to 12 months |
| Deadline | Set in your decision letter and on INZ's review page — confirm it the day you receive the decision | Set in your decision letter and in the Ministry of Justice guide for your appeal type |
Fees and timeframes as published by INZ and the Ministry of Justice, checked 20 August 2026.
The structural fact almost nobody is told
A declined temporary visa has no right of appeal to a tribunal. None. Not to the Immigration and Protection Tribunal, not to a court sitting as a merits body.
This surprises people, and it surprises them at the worst possible moment. Many other countries give applicants a tribunal appeal against a refused visitor or student visa. New Zealand does not. If you applied for a visitor visa, a student visa, an Accredited Employer Work Visa or almost any other temporary visa, and it was declined, the only formal review mechanism INZ offers is reconsideration — an internal second look by another officer inside the same agency.
Residence is different. A declined residence class visa carries a genuine external appeal to an independent tribunal chaired by a District Court Judge. That is the one part of the New Zealand system with real outside review of the merits.
Everything else on this page follows from that split.
Route 1: Reconsideration of a declined temporary visa
Reconsideration asks INZ to look at the same decision again, through a different officer's eyes.
Who can ask
INZ publishes four conditions, and all four must apply:
- The application was made while you were in New Zealand.
- You are still in New Zealand when you make the request.
- You hold a valid visa — including an interim visa.
- INZ receives your request within the time limit that runs from when you received the decision.
Read condition 1 and condition 2 again, because together they close the door on a large share of the people who land on this page.
If you applied from outside New Zealand, you cannot request reconsideration at all.
Reconsideration is only available to onshore applicants who still hold a valid visa. An applicant who applied from Lagos, Islamabad, Dhaka, Mumbai or anywhere else offshore has no review route. Neither does someone whose visa has already expired. For those readers, the only remaining option is a fresh application, if they are eligible to make one.
This is the single most important thing to establish about your own situation, and it takes ten seconds. Where were you when you lodged the application, where are you now, and do you currently hold a valid visa? If the answer to any of those does not fit, reconsideration is closed and the rest of this section does not apply to you. See offshore vs onshore applications for what those terms mean in New Zealand law.
What it costs and how long it takes
The fee is NZ$220. It appears both on INZ's review page and on the INZ 1028 fee schedule dated May 2026, as "Reconsideration of decision to decline temporary visa: 220" — two sources that agree. INZ publishes a processing measure of 80% within 5 weeks. Checked 20 August 2026.
There has been no general visa fee or levy increase in 2025 or 2026. INZ's fee page still carries the "as of 1 October 2024" date stamp.
What actually happens
A different immigration officer reviews the file. They do one of two things: grant the visa, if the first decision was incorrect; or maintain the decline, if the first decision was properly made.
The grounds INZ publishes are narrow. Either your circumstances have genuinely changed since the decision, or you believe the original decision was wrong. Reconsideration is not a chance to submit the application you wish you had submitted the first time, and it is not an appeal on fairness or sympathy.
You get one
INZ's wording is blunt: "You cannot ask us to consider our decision a second time." One reconsideration per decline. If it is maintained, a fresh application is the only route left, assuming you are eligible to make one.
Requesting reconsideration also does not extend your current visa. Your existing visa continues to expire on the date it always was going to expire. INZ does say that deportation proceedings will not commence while a reconsideration is pending, which is a narrower protection than it sounds.
Full detail is on the dedicated page: reconsideration of a declined temporary visa.
Route 2: Appeal to the Immigration and Protection Tribunal
If your residence class visa application was declined, you have an appeal to a real tribunal.
The Immigration and Protection Tribunal is administered by the Ministry of Justice, chaired by a District Court Judge, and has 18 appointed members. It operates under the Immigration Act 2009. It is not part of INZ.
What the Tribunal hears
Five things:
- Decisions about residence class visas
- Decisions about the recognition of a person as a refugee or protected person
- Liability for deportation
- Decisions to stop recognising a person as a refugee or protected person
- Decisions to cancel the recognition of a New Zealand citizen as a refugee or protected person
Notice what is absent: temporary visas. The Tribunal has no jurisdiction over a declined visitor, student or work visa.
What a Residence Appeal covers
A Residence Appeal covers INZ or the Minister declining a residence class visa application, cancelling a resident visa, and refusing entry permission to a resident visa holder. It also covers a decision to deny a visa based on classified information.
There is one published exclusion: you cannot appeal if the application was declined on the basis of being an excluded person.
The fees
| Appeal type | Fee |
|---|---|
| Residence Appeal | NZ$964 |
| Refugee and Protected Person Appeal | No fee |
| Deportation Appeal by a Resident or Permanent Resident | NZ$964 |
| Deportation Appeal by a Non-Resident | NZ$964 |
| Deportation Appeal – Cancelled Refugee and Protected Person | NZ$964 |
Ministry of Justice published fees, including GST, checked 20 August 2026.
Three rules attach to those fees, and each one has caught people out:
- "The fee must be paid or your appeal will not be accepted. The fee cannot be waived." There is no hardship exemption.
- Dependent children under 18 included in the appeal cost nothing extra. The $964 covers them.
- Withdrawing your appeal does not get your fee back. A refund is only available "if the appeal is not accepted or is dispensed with under section 194(6)(a) or 195(7)(b) of the Immigration Act 2009".
How long it takes
The Tribunal publishes that residence appeals are generally determined within 10 to 12 months, and deportation appeals by non-residents generally within 8 to 10 months. Those are the Tribunal's own published expectations, checked 20 August 2026, not guarantees for any individual file.
The step-by-step lodging process, the postal trap and the leaving-New-Zealand trap are covered on how to appeal a declined residence application and appealing to the Immigration and Protection Tribunal.
The deadline — the one thing you must confirm today
Every route on this page has a deadline, and missing it usually ends the route permanently.
The only deadlines that bind you are the ones written in your own decision letter, and the ones published for your route by INZ or the Tribunal. Read the letter now. If it names a date or a period, that is your date.
For reconsideration, INZ publishes a limit of 14 calendar days running from receipt of the decision, not from the date printed on it. That figure is verified against INZ's review page and is the one appeal-related day count on this site that is stated as fact. Even so, confirm it against your own decision letter and INZ's "how to get a temporary visa decision reviewed" page before you rely on it.
For the Tribunal routes, this site deliberately publishes no day count. The reason is that the periods live in the Ministry of Justice guide PDFs for each appeal type, the calendar-versus-working-day basis is not settled across the sources we checked, and the consequence of publishing the wrong number is that a reader loses their appeal rights permanently. The Ministry of Justice itself says that "each of the guides contains information on how to calculate the timeframe in which you can appeal". That instruction is the correct answer. Read the guide for your appeal type at justice.govt.nz/tribunals/immigration/immigration-and-protection/make-an-appeal/forms-and-fees/, and read your decision letter alongside it.
Two practical points that follow from the Tribunal's own rules:
- The Tribunal must receive the appeal and the fee inside the period. A lodged form with an unpaid fee is not an accepted appeal.
- Do not treat a delivery method as a filing date without checking. The Tribunal treats an emailed appeal as filed on the day it receives the email, but ordinary post to its street address is not delivered at all.
Route 3: Section 61, if you are already unlawful
There is a third mechanism, and it is not an appeal.
If your visa has expired and you are in New Zealand unlawfully, reconsideration is closed to you — condition 3 above requires a valid visa. What remains is a section 61 request: asking INZ to grant a visa in special circumstances despite your unlawful status.
Three things about it are commonly got wrong:
- It is not free overall. There is no fee to make the request. If INZ decides in principle to grant a visa, the fee then payable is NZ$640 for a temporary entry class visa or NZ$1,510 for a residence class visa, per INZ 1028 (May 2026).
- It does not stop deportation. INZ states plainly: "Making a section 61 request does not automatically stop deportation."
- It closes. "You cannot be granted a visa under section 61 if a deportation order has already been issued to you."
There is no published timeframe for a section 61 assessment. The mechanism is explained in full on section 61 requests, and the comparison across all three routes is on reconsideration vs IPT appeal vs section 61.
Step 1: Read the decision letter properly
The letter is the primary document, not a formality. It contains the ground or grounds INZ relied on, the date of the decision, and the review or appeal information for your visa type. Note the date you actually received it, because reconsideration runs from receipt.
If the letter is unclear about which route applies to you, that is a question for a licensed immigration adviser or a New Zealand lawyer, not for a forum.
Step 2: Establish which class of visa you applied for
Temporary entry class or residence class. That single classification decides whether you have a tribunal or an internal review. If you are unsure, temporary vs resident visas sets out the two families.
Step 3: Check the eligibility gates for your route
For reconsideration: were you in New Zealand when you applied, are you here now, and do you hold a valid visa including an interim visa. For a Residence Appeal: was the decline based on being an excluded person, in which case no appeal exists.
Step 4: Confirm your deadline from your own letter and the official page
Your letter first. Then INZ's review page for reconsideration, or the Ministry of Justice guide for your Tribunal appeal type. Do not rely on a day count from any third-party site, including this one, for the Tribunal routes.
Step 5: Decide whether you need licensed help
Preparing a reconsideration request or a Tribunal appeal for a named person is immigration advice under New Zealand law. Giving it without a licence carries penalties of up to NZ$100,000 and seven years' imprisonment, and the Immigration Advisers Licensing Act 2007 applies "whether or not for gain or reward" — so a friend doing it free is not exempt either.
Two groups can lawfully help: licensed immigration advisers, searchable on the Immigration Advisers Authority register at app.mbieregisters.govt.nz/iaa/ui/start/searchForAnOccupationalRegistration, and New Zealand lawyers holding a current practising certificate, who are exempt from IAA licensing. Community Law Centre employees and volunteers are also exempt where a lawyer is on the employing body or supervising the work.
See how to check an adviser's licence and immigration adviser vs immigration lawyer.
What a decline costs you financially
The money is generally gone. A visa fee is not refunded once an application has been processed, even if the outcome was a decline. The International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy is never refunded. Refunds are limited to narrow circumstances set out on NZ visa fee refunds explained.
That matters for planning. A declined visitor application costs NZ$441 up front ($300 application fee + $41 immigration levy + $100 IVL). A reconsideration adds $220. A declined residence application under the skilled route costs NZ$6,450, and a Tribunal appeal adds $964 on top.
What is not an option
There is no paid fast-track. New Zealand does not sell expedited processing at any price, and an offer to buy one is a reliable marker of a scam. See immigration scams to avoid and paid priority visa processing.
A second reconsideration does not exist. Nor does an appeal against a maintained reconsideration.
Reapplying is not a review. A fresh application is a new application, assessed on its own merits against the rules in force when it is lodged — which may not be the rules that applied to the declined one.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I appeal a New Zealand visitor visa decline?
Not to a tribunal. A visitor visa is a temporary entry class visa and carries no right of appeal to the Immigration and Protection Tribunal. The only review route is reconsideration by INZ, and that requires you to have applied in New Zealand, to still be in New Zealand, and to hold a valid visa. See visitor visa declined.
Why was my New Zealand visa declined?
The decision letter states the ground. The published requirement strands INZ assesses are health, character and identity, finances, skills and qualifications, and duration of intended stay, plus genuine intentions, which is assessed separately for visit or work and for study. Common reasons New Zealand visa applications are declined explains each one and where it is written.
How much does it cost to appeal a New Zealand visa decision?
Reconsideration of a declined temporary visa is NZ$220. A Residence Appeal to the Immigration and Protection Tribunal is NZ$964 including GST, and that fee covers dependent children under 18 included in the appeal. Refugee and protected person appeals carry no fee. Checked 20 August 2026.
Can I get my visa fee back if I am declined?
No. A fee is not refunded once the application has been processed, whatever the outcome, and the IVL is never refunded. Refunds apply only in the narrow circumstances INZ publishes.
How long does a New Zealand visa appeal take?
The Tribunal publishes that residence appeals are generally determined within 10 to 12 months, and deportation appeals by non-residents generally within 8 to 10 months. INZ publishes 80% of reconsiderations completed within 5 weeks. These are published expectations, not commitments on any individual case.
Does a decline affect future New Zealand visa applications?
INZ does not publish a rule that a previous decline is itself a bar. What it does publish is that character requirements apply to every applicant, and that false or misleading information in a previous application is treated as a character matter and as a ground for deportation liability. A decline recorded for a reason such as health or funds is a different thing from a decline recorded alongside a character finding.
Can I apply again straight away after a decline?
There is no published general waiting period after a temporary visa decline. A fresh application is assessed against the rules in force when it is lodged, and you pay the fee again. Whether you are eligible to reapply, and whether anything has changed in your circumstances, is a question about your own case — which is exactly the kind of question a licensed adviser or lawyer can answer and a website cannot.
Is section 61 an appeal?
No. It is a separate discretionary request to INZ for a visa while you are unlawfully in New Zealand. It is not a review of the declined decision, it does not automatically stop deportation, and it is unavailable once a deportation order has been issued.
