The Acceptable Standard of Health for New Zealand Visas
The acceptable standard of health is the health test a New Zealand visa applicant must meet. Immigration New Zealand may decline an application where a medical assessor considers your likely health service costs would exceed NZ$81,000, assessed over five years or over the predicted course of your condition. The threshold has been NZ$81,000 since 4 September 2022.
Quick Facts
| Item | Detail (as at August 2026) |
|---|---|
| What it is | The health standard an applicant must meet for a New Zealand visa |
| Cost threshold | INZ may decline where likely health service costs are assessed as exceeding NZ$81,000 |
| Assessment period | Five years, or the predicted course of the applicant's condition |
| When it changed | Rose from NZ$41,000 to NZ$81,000 on 4 September 2022; stable since |
| Who assesses it | An INZ medical assessor, on the evidence supplied by a panel physician |
| Waiver | INZ publishes a "Medical waivers for visa applications" page |
| Waiver exception | Not available for the Parent Boost Visitor Visa |
| Checked on | 20 August 2026 — verify before relying on the figure |
What the standard actually is
New Zealand does not ask visa applicants to be healthy. It asks whether admitting them is likely to impose a particular kind of cost on the public health system, or to present a danger to public health.
The mechanism is a cost threshold. INZ may decline an application where a medical assessor considers that your likely health service costs would exceed NZ$81,000. That assessment is made over a five-year period, or over the predicted course of the applicant's medical condition — whichever framing fits the condition being assessed.
Two features of that sentence do most of the work, and both are routinely lost in summary:
- "May decline", not "will decline". The threshold triggers a discretion, not an automatic outcome.
- "Likely health service costs", not "your diagnosis". The test is about projected cost to the health system, not about whether a condition sounds serious. Conditions that sound minor can be expensive; conditions that sound alarming can be cheap.
The NZ$81,000 figure and its history
| Date | Threshold |
|---|---|
| Before 4 September 2022 | NZ$41,000 |
| From 4 September 2022 | NZ$81,000 |
The threshold has been stable for four years. That is precisely why it is worth date-stamping: a number that has not moved is a number people stop checking, and it is exactly the kind of figure that changes quietly.
The position above was checked on 20 August 2026. Before you rely on the figure for anything that matters, confirm it on INZ's own health requirements pages.
Why this concept is worth understanding before you apply
The acceptable standard of health is the least explained high-consequence concept in New Zealand immigration. INZ publishes the rule but not much interpretation of it. Almost everyone else who explains it properly does so inside a paid consultation, which is a legitimate business model but leaves a large gap for anyone trying to understand their position before deciding whether to pay for advice.
So it is worth being clear about what this page is doing. It sets out what the published instructions say and where the primary source is. It does not, and cannot lawfully, tell you whether a particular condition meets the standard.
Where in the process the standard applies
The standard is applied to the health evidence you supply, which means it is applied after — and only after — you have been required to supply some.
Whether you must supply health evidence at all depends on the visa type, how long you intend to stay, what country you are from, and whether you gave INZ a medical certificate with an earlier application. INZ does not publish general duration thresholds for this. See medical examinations for New Zealand visas and chest x-rays.
The sequence, in short:
Step 1: The visa determines whether health evidence is required
Some visas require a medical examination and a chest x-ray as standard — the Skilled Migrant Category is one, the Parent Boost Visitor Visa is another. Others require nothing unless a trigger applies.
Step 2: A panel physician conducts the examination
Not your own doctor. INZ panel physicians enter results into the eMedical system, and those results reach INZ directly.
Step 3: A medical assessor reviews the results
Where something is identified, an INZ medical assessor considers whether the applicant meets the acceptable standard of health, including the likely cost of health services over the assessment period.
Step 4: The result feeds into the visa decision
Meeting the standard is one requirement among several. Not meeting it does not necessarily end the application — which is where waivers come in.
Medical waivers
INZ publishes a dedicated page, "Medical waivers for visa applications", within its health requirements section. A medical waiver is a decision to grant a visa notwithstanding that the applicant does not meet the acceptable standard of health.
Two things are firmly established and worth stating:
- A waiver process exists, and it is INZ's own published mechanism rather than an informal accommodation.
- Medical waivers are not available for the Parent Boost Visitor Visa. That is an explicit exclusion on INZ's Parent Boost material, and it matters because Parent Boost applicants are, by the nature of the category, older than average.
What we will not do is publish the waiver test, the factors weighed, or any account of what makes a waiver request succeed. INZ's waiver page contents were not established to the standard this site publishes at, and inventing the criteria would be worse than useless to someone deciding what to do. Read INZ's waiver page, and see medical waivers for NZ visa applications.
The parts of this that are commonly stated and are not verified
Three, all of which you will find asserted elsewhere with more confidence than the evidence supports.
The General versus Limited Medical Certificate distinction. Which certificate type applies to which visas was not established from a primary source. It is a real distinction in the system; the mapping is what we cannot verify.
INZ medical form numbers. Numbers such as 1007, 1096 and 1201 circulate as the certificate names. None appears on the current INZ health pages.
Condition-specific outcomes. You will find lists purporting to name conditions that do or do not meet the standard. Because the test is a cost projection made by a medical assessor on individual evidence, a general list cannot be right in the way it presents itself as being right.
The line this page will not cross
New Zealand regulates immigration advice under the Immigration Advisers Licensing Act 2007. Publishing general information is expressly outside the regime. Giving tailored advice without a licence carries up to NZ$100,000 and seven years' imprisonment, and the Act applies whether or not for gain or reward — being free is not a defence.
Applied to this topic, that means:
- We explain what the standard is, what the threshold is, and where the primary source lives.
- We do not say whether a named condition will or will not meet the standard.
- We do not estimate anyone's likely health service costs.
- We do not tell you how to present a health history or a waiver request.
If your health history might engage this standard, that is precisely the situation in which a person needs advice rather than information. Speak to a licensed immigration adviser or a New Zealand lawyer. You can check anyone's licence on the Immigration Advisers Authority public register at https://app.mbieregisters.govt.nz/iaa/ui/start/searchForAnOccupationalRegistration, reached from www.iaa.govt.nz. See also how to find a licensed immigration adviser and immigration adviser versus immigration lawyer.
How this connects to the rest of an application
Health is one of the eight branches of supporting evidence INZ publishes, alongside translations, genuine intentions, character and police certificates, identity and biometrics, English language, and student funds. The framework is on documents you need.
For residence applications specifically, health requirements are set out at health requirements for New Zealand residence. If an application has already been declined on health grounds, the routes that exist are described on visa application declined — what next.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is an acceptable standard of health for New Zealand immigration?
It is the health standard a visa applicant must meet. In cost terms, INZ may decline an application where a medical assessor considers likely health service costs would exceed NZ$81,000, assessed over five years or over the predicted course of the condition.
What is the significant cost health threshold in New Zealand?
NZ$81,000, as at August 2026. It rose from NZ$41,000 on 4 September 2022 and has not changed since. Confirm it on INZ's health pages before relying on it.
Is the NZ$81,000 assessed per person or per family?
The assessment is of an applicant's likely health service costs. Where several people are included in one application, each is assessed against the health requirements that apply to them.
Does a medical condition automatically mean my visa is declined?
No. The threshold gives INZ a discretion to decline, not an obligation, and a medical waiver process exists for most visa categories. How any particular case is assessed is a matter for INZ and for a licensed adviser, not for a general information page.
Can I get a medical waiver?
INZ publishes a medical waivers page for visa applications, so the mechanism exists. It is not available for the Parent Boost Visitor Visa. Whether a waiver is available and appropriate in an individual case is advice, and requires a licensed immigration adviser or a lawyer.
Who decides whether I meet the standard?
An INZ medical assessor, working from evidence supplied by an INZ panel physician through the eMedical system. Your own doctor's opinion is not the assessment.
Does the five-year period mean my costs are only counted for five years?
INZ's published wording is that the assessment is made over a five-year period, or over the predicted course of the applicant's medical condition. For a long-term condition, the second framing is the operative one.
Where is the official source for this?
INZ's health requirements section on immigration.govt.nz, including its pages on why health evidence is needed, who needs an x-ray or medical examination, and medical waivers for visa applications.
This page explains published rules. It is general information, not immigration advice, and it does not assess any individual's circumstances. Anyone who needs their own situation assessed should speak to a licensed immigration adviser or a New Zealand lawyer.
