Documents You Need for a New Zealand Visa Application
Immigration New Zealand groups supporting evidence into eight branches: translations, health, genuine intentions for visiting or working, genuine intentions for studying, character and police certificates, identity including biometrics, English language, and student funds. Which of the eight apply, and what each requires, is set by the visa you are applying for.
Quick Facts
| Item | Detail (as at August 2026) |
|---|---|
| Universal checklist | There is none. Requirements are set per visa product |
| INZ's framework | Eight branches of supporting evidence (listed below) |
| Language | Applications are lodged in English; non-English documents need a translation |
| Longest lead times | Police certificates and medical evidence — start these first |
| Police certificate trigger | Staying 24 months or longer; must be less than 6 months old at submission |
| Chinese applicants | Extra form (INZ 1027 mainland / INZ 1220 Hong Kong and Macau) for everyone 17 and over, plus translation and scanned original |
| Where the definitive list lives | The individual visa's own page on immigration.govt.nz |
| Cost of getting it wrong | A processed application is not refunded, even if declined |
What documents does an NZ visa application need?
There is no single answer, and any site that gives you one is guessing. A Visitor Visa, an Accredited Employer Work Visa and a Skilled Migrant Category resident application ask for materially different things.
What is constant is the framework. INZ organises all supporting evidence into eight named branches. Every document you will ever be asked for sits inside one of them:
- English translations
- Health requirements
- Genuine intentions (visit / work)
- Genuine intentions (study)
- Character requirements, third-party checks and police certificates
- Identity information, including biometrics
- English language requirements
- Student fund requirements
Use that as the structure. Then open your own visa's page on immigration.govt.nz and read the definitive list from it. This page explains what each branch is for and what tends to go wrong inside it — it is not a substitute for the visa page.
Branch 1: English translations
Applications are lodged in English. Anything not already in English needs a translation supplied alongside it. INZ's own instruction in its step-by-step summary is to "allow enough time for you to get any official documents we ask for, and to get them translated into English if they are not already."
Applicants from mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau have a stricter version of the rule: the translation and the scanned original, for every non-English document.
Paying someone to translate your documents is expressly not immigration advice under New Zealand law, so a translator does not need an immigration licence. More on translation requirements.
Branch 2: Health
Health evidence is one of two items with a long lead time, and it is the one people leave latest.
What you must provide depends on four things, in INZ's own words: the type of visa, 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 a general duration table, and the widely circulated "over six months means an x-ray, over twelve means a full medical" rule cannot be confirmed on the current INZ site. Do not plan around it — check your visa's page.
Verified, visa-specific examples:
| Visa | Health evidence published |
|---|---|
| Accredited Employer Work Visa | Chest x-ray for applicants from high-TB-incidence countries staying more than 6 months |
| Skilled Migrant Category | Medical examination and chest x-ray |
| Parent Boost Visitor Visa | Both, less than 3 months old when INZ receives them, plus a year-three offshore re-check |
| Working Holiday | Evidence within 15 days of submitting and less than 3 months old |
Medical examinations are done by INZ panel physicians through the eMedical system, not by your own doctor. Separately, INZ may decline an application where a medical assessor considers likely health service costs would exceed NZ$81,000. See medical examinations and the acceptable standard of health.
Branch 3 and 4: Genuine intentions
INZ keeps two separate genuine-intentions branches — one for visiting and working, one for studying. This is a distinct assessment strand, sitting alongside health, character, funds and English. It is not part of the funds test, and satisfying the funds test does not satisfy it.
What INZ says it assesses is set out on proving genuine intentions. What no honest page can give you is a checklist of documents that "proves" it, because the instruction is about what your evidence shows taken as a whole, not about a fixed list of files.
Branch 5: Character, third-party checks and police certificates
The general published rules are narrow but hard:
- If you plan to stay in New Zealand for 24 months or longer, you must provide a police certificate with your application.
- The certificate must be less than 6 months old when you submit.
- You may not need to provide one if you supplied it in a previous application.
Some visa categories add their own rules. The Dependent Child Resident Visa, for example, requires certificates from applicants aged 17 and over, covering countries of citizenship and any country where the applicant spent 12 months or more in the past decade. Skilled Migrant Category and Business Investor applications require certificates less than 6 months old.
Be careful with the rules you find elsewhere. The commonly repeated "everyone 17 and over, for every country you lived in for five years since age 17" is verified for particular categories, not as a general rule, and INZ's own police certificates page does not state it that way.
Since 2026 this branch has become the highest-consequence one in the whole application. An application lodged without a required police certificate may be declined without INZ contacting you first. Only Fiji, Hong Kong and Israel are named as places where proof of application is accepted instead. See police certificates and the upfront police certificate rule.
Branch 6: Identity, including biometrics
Identity evidence starts with your passport and extends to biometric information. INZ's published statement is that it "collects and uses biometric information, like photographs and fingerprints to establish and verify your identity, and to help us make immigration decisions."
Whether you personally will be asked to attend in person is driven by where you are and what you are applying for, not by your nationality. INZ publishes no nationality list for biometrics, and any site showing you one has invented it. See biometrics.
Photographs are collected as part of this branch. INZ maintains the current photo specification on its own site and it should be read there rather than taken from a third party — what the photo requirement is for explains why.
Branch 7: English language
There is no single English requirement across New Zealand visas. It varies sharply by product, and for some products there is no requirement at all.
For the Accredited Employer Work Visa, jobs at skill level 1 or 2 need no English evidence; jobs at skill level 3, 4 or 5 do. Residence categories set their own standards. Because the accepted tests and score thresholds vary and change, read the requirement from your visa's page and from INZ's English language requirements page rather than from a summary. See English language requirements.
Branch 8: Student funds
Student applications have their own funds branch with published figures. As at August 2026, a Fee Paying Student Visa requires evidence of NZ$20,000 per year for tertiary or English language study, or NZ$1,667 per month for courses under 12 months; NZ$17,000 per year for compulsory schooling in Years 1–13, or NZ$1,417 per month — plus the ability to pay tuition for at least a year, or for the length of the course if it is shorter.
Non-student visas have their own funds tests, which are not part of this branch. All of them are collected on proof of funds.
Extra forms for applicants from China, Hong Kong and Macau
Two named forms are mandatory and are easy to miss because they sit outside the eight branches:
| Where you are applying from | Form | Who must complete it |
|---|---|---|
| Mainland China | INZ 1027 | Every applicant aged 17 and over |
| Hong Kong and Macau | INZ 1220 | Every applicant aged 17 and over |
Both come with the translation-plus-original rule described above. Full detail on INZ 1027 and INZ 1220.
The order to do things in
The sequence matters more than the list, because two items are outside your control and everything else can be produced in an afternoon.
Step 1: Order your police certificates first
Issuing times vary from days to several months depending on the country, and the certificate must still be under 6 months old when you submit. Starting here is what keeps the rest of the timetable honest.
Step 2: Book any medical examination or chest x-ray
Panel physician availability, and the time INZ's eMedical system takes to pass results through, are both outside your control. Some visas also cap how old the evidence may be when INZ receives it, which means booking too early is its own problem.
Step 3: Gather identity, funds and purpose evidence
Passport, evidence of funds, job offer or enrolment, relationship evidence. These are the documents you already hold or can obtain quickly.
Step 4: Get non-English documents translated
Translation is the last step for the documents themselves, because you cannot translate a certificate you have not received yet.
Step 5: Attach everything in Immigration Online and submit
Enhanced Immigration Online asks only for evidence relevant to your answers and your visa type, so the upload list you see is generated rather than fixed. See uploading evidence.
What INZ does if something is missing
Normally INZ contacts you. Its published position after lodgement is that you do not need to do anything else and it will get in touch if it needs more. That contact usually takes the form of a Request for Further Information — see RFI letters.
Do not treat that as a guarantee. Under the 2026 upfront police certificate rules, a missing certificate can produce a decline with no request at all. And a processed application is not refunded even when it is declined, so an omission costs the fee as well as the outcome.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is needed for a New Zealand visa?
At minimum, a valid passport, evidence of who you are, and evidence that you meet the specific requirements of the visa you are applying for. Beyond that, requirements are set per visa product across INZ's eight evidence branches, and the definitive list is on your visa's own page.
Do New Zealand visa documents need to be certified?
For online applications, documents are normally uploaded as scans or photographs. Certification requirements appear in specific processes — a variation of conditions applied for on paper, for example, names a certified passport copy. Check your own visa's instructions rather than certifying everything by default.
How recent do my documents need to be?
It depends on the document. Police certificates must be less than 6 months old at submission. Several visas require health evidence to be less than 3 months old when INZ receives it. INZ does not publish a general recency rule that covers all supporting documents.
Do I need to send my passport to Immigration New Zealand?
Not for a normal online application — visas are issued as eVisas, and no sticker is needed for the visa to be valid. You only send your passport if you separately apply for a physical visa label. See eVisas and visa labels.
What happens if I forget a document?
Usually INZ contacts you and asks for it. The important exception since 2026 is a missing police certificate, which can result in the application being declined without further contact.
Can I add documents after I submit?
Yes, but the normal route is in response to a request from INZ rather than an unsolicited upload. INZ's stated position is that you do not need to do anything else after submitting unless it asks.
Do children need their own documents?
Children included in an application still need identity evidence, and depending on the visa may need their own health evidence. Police certificate requirements in the categories where they are published start at age 17.
Is there a document checklist I can download?
INZ generates the required-evidence list inside the application form itself, based on your answers and the visa type. That generated list, not a downloaded checklist from a third party, is the one that governs your application.
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.
