Medical Examinations for New Zealand Visa Applications
Whether you need a medical examination for a New Zealand visa depends on four things Immigration New Zealand names directly: 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. Examinations are done by INZ panel physicians through the eMedical system.
Quick Facts
| Item | Detail (as at August 2026) |
|---|---|
| Who decides if you need one | INZ, based on visa type, length of stay, country, and prior medical certificates |
| Published duration table | INZ does not publish one. Check your own visa's page |
| Who performs it | An INZ panel physician — not your usual doctor |
| System | eMedical, INZ's electronic health-results platform |
| Cost | Set by the panel physician, not by INZ. It is separate from the visa fee |
| Reference numbers | INZ publishes a page on finding your eMedical and INZ health case reference numbers |
| Evidence age (some visas) | Parent Boost and Working Holiday both require evidence less than 3 months old |
| General validity period | Not published. Do not rely on a figure from a third party |
Do I need a medical for a New Zealand visa?
INZ's own answer is deliberately non-committal, and it is worth quoting because so many sites replace it with something more confident and less true. INZ says what you need to provide depends on:
- the type of visa you are applying for
- how long you intend to stay in New Zealand
- what country you are from
- whether you have provided a medical certificate to INZ with an earlier application
That is the whole of the published general rule. INZ does not publish threshold durations on that page.
You will find, on many sites, a clean table saying that a stay over six months means a chest x-ray and a stay over twelve months means a full medical examination. That rule could not be confirmed on the current INZ site, and we are not going to publish it. If it is wrong, or is now wrong, it costs a reader a booking, a fee and possibly a timeline.
What we can give you is the set of visa-specific requirements INZ does publish, and the process that applies once you know you need one.
What INZ publishes, by visa
These are the health requirements verified from the individual visa pages as at August 2026. Read them as examples of how the requirement is expressed, and then read your own visa's page.
| Visa | Published health requirement |
|---|---|
| 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 both required |
| Parent Boost Visitor Visa | Both required; evidence must be less than 3 months old when INZ receives it; mandatory year-three offshore health and insurance re-check; no medical waivers available |
| Working Holiday | Chest x-ray if you spent more than 3 months in the last 5 years in a TB-endemic country, or you are staying longer than 12 months, or you are applying onshore. Evidence within 15 days of submitting and less than 3 months old |
Two things stand out from that table. The triggers are not uniform, and the evidence-age rules are not uniform either. A three-month rule on Parent Boost is not a general three-month rule; it is a Parent Boost rule.
Chest x-rays have their own set of triggers and are covered separately on chest x-ray requirements.
What INZ does not publish — and what we will not invent
Three gaps are worth naming, because they are where third-party guidance most often fills in with fiction.
A general medical certificate validity period. A figure of 36 months circulates widely. It is not published on the current INZ health pages and we will not state it. The three-month figures above are visa-specific rules about how old evidence may be when INZ receives it — they are not a general validity period, and generalising them is its own error.
INZ medical form numbers. Numbers such as 1007, 1096 and 1201 appear across the internet as the names of the medical certificate and chest x-ray forms. None of them appears on the current INZ health pages, which no longer surface form numbers in that section. Ask the panel physician what INZ has requested for your case rather than turning up asking for a form by number.
The General vs Limited Medical Certificate distinction. Which visas trigger which type of certificate could not be established from a primary source. If a page tells you confidently which one you need, check that against INZ before you rely on it.
Step 1: Find out what your visa requires
Open your own visa's page on immigration.govt.nz. Health requirements are stated there, in that visa's terms. INZ's health requirements section then holds the sub-pages on who needs an x-ray or medical examination, how to get one, and which doctors can perform them.
If you are applying online, Enhanced Immigration Online generates the evidence list from your answers and the visa type — and reduced upfront medical certificate requirements are one of the published features of that build, so the list you see may be shorter than you expect. See the Immigration Online account guide.
Step 2: Find a panel physician
New Zealand does not accept a medical examination from any doctor. Examinations must be done by a physician on INZ's panel, and INZ publishes a page listing doctors who can perform x-rays and medical examinations.
Availability varies enormously by country and city. In some places there are several panel physicians; in others there is one, with a waiting list. That is why this step belongs near the start of your timetable rather than the end.
Step 3: Attend the examination
The panel physician conducts the examination and enters the results into eMedical, INZ's electronic health-results system. In most cases the results go to INZ directly from the clinic rather than passing through your hands.
The cost is the physician's, not INZ's. It is not part of the visa fee, not covered by it, and not refunded if the application is declined.
Step 4: Record your reference numbers
INZ publishes a dedicated page titled "Finding your eMedical and INZ health case reference numbers", which tells you where those numbers appear and what they are for. Keep them. They are how a medical already sitting in eMedical is matched to your application, and how a query about a missing result is resolved.
Step 5: Watch the evidence-age rules
Where your visa sets one — Parent Boost's three months, Working Holiday's three months plus a 15-day submission window — the clock is running from the point the evidence is produced, not from when you decide to lodge.
That makes the ordering counter-intuitive. For those visas, booking a medical too early is as much of a problem as booking it too late.
What happens after the results reach INZ
Most applicants hear nothing further about health. Results go into the assessment alongside everything else.
Where a medical assessor identifies something, the question becomes whether you meet the acceptable standard of health. That is a defined test with a published cost threshold — 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. It is explained in full on the acceptable standard of health.
A separate waiver process exists — INZ publishes a page called "Medical waivers for visa applications" — with the important exception that medical waivers are not available for the Parent Boost Visitor Visa. See medical waivers.
Where the legal line sits on this page
Explaining what INZ requires is information. Telling you whether a particular diagnosis will meet the standard, or how to present a health history, is advice — and giving immigration advice without a licence in New Zealand carries up to NZ$100,000 and seven years' imprisonment, whether or not anyone is paid for it.
So this page will not assess a condition. Anyone with a health history that might engage the standard should speak to a licensed immigration adviser or a New Zealand lawyer. Licences can be checked on the Immigration Advisers Authority public register at https://app.mbieregisters.govt.nz/iaa/ui/start/searchForAnOccupationalRegistration, reached from www.iaa.govt.nz.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a medical examination for a New Zealand visa?
It depends on the visa type, how long you intend to stay, what country you are from, and whether you supplied a medical certificate with an earlier application. INZ does not publish a general duration threshold, so the answer comes from your own visa's page.
Can my own doctor do the medical?
No. INZ requires the examination to be done by a panel physician, and it publishes the list of doctors who can perform x-rays and medical examinations for immigration purposes.
What is eMedical?
eMedical is the electronic system INZ uses to receive and hold immigration health results. The panel physician enters your results into it, and INZ retrieves them against your health case reference number.
How much does a New Zealand visa medical cost?
The panel physician sets the price, and it varies by country and clinic. It is not part of the visa application fee and is not refunded if the application is declined.
How long is a New Zealand immigration medical valid for?
INZ does not publish a general validity period on its current health pages, and we will not repeat the figures that circulate elsewhere. Some visas set their own rule about how old evidence may be — Parent Boost and Working Holiday both require it to be less than 3 months old.
What medical tests are done?
The examination content is set by INZ and administered by the panel physician, and it varies with what INZ has requested for your case. Ask the clinic what has been requested rather than working from a generic list.
What happens if the medical finds something?
The results are assessed against the acceptable standard of health. Where likely health service costs are considered to exceed NZ$81,000, INZ may decline the application — but a medical waiver process exists for most, though not all, visa categories.
Do children need a medical?
Requirements for children are set by the visa category, like everything else in this area. Check the visa's own page, and be careful with the exemptions circulating online for children and for pregnant applicants — those could not be verified against a primary source and should be checked with INZ directly.
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.
