How to Vary Travel Conditions on a Resident Visa
A variation of travel conditions changes the expiry date on your right to re-enter New Zealand as a resident. It costs NZ$320 under fee bands A and C, and NZ$260 under Band B. There is no immigration levy and no IVL. You can include your partner and dependent children in the same application, and it is lodged online.
Quick Facts
| What it does | Changes the travel conditions on a resident visa you already hold |
| Who it is for | Resident Visa holders whose travel conditions have expired or are about to |
| Fee — Band A (in New Zealand) | NZ$320 |
| Fee — Band B (specified Pacific countries) | NZ$260 |
| Fee — Band C (rest of world) | NZ$320 |
| Immigration levy | None on this application type |
| IVL | None. Resident visa holders are exempt |
| Family | Partner and dependent children may be included in one application |
| How to apply | Online, through Immigration Online |
| Fee waiver countries | Austria, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Turkey — onshore and offshore |
| Not the same as | A variation of conditions on a temporary visa, which costs NZ$325 |
The answer first, because you are probably in a hurry
If your travel conditions have expired, or expire before you can get back to New Zealand, this NZ$320 application is one of the three published routes back to a working right of re-entry. The other two are a Second or Subsequent Resident Visa at NZ$275 and, if you meet the requirements, a Permanent Resident Visa at NZ$315, which removes the expiry for good.
Your residence status has not been cancelled by the date passing. What has lapsed is the travel permission attached to it. The distinction is set out in full in Resident Visa travel conditions, explained.
Which of the three applications suits a particular set of facts depends on how long you have held residence, where you are now and what you can evidence. That is a judgement about an individual case, and under the Immigration Advisers Licensing Act 2007 only a licensed immigration adviser or a New Zealand lawyer may make it for you.
What "travel conditions" means here
Every New Zealand Resident Visa carries two separate things:
- The indefinite right to live, work and study in New Zealand.
- Travel conditions — a dated permission that lets you leave and return as a resident. On a first Resident Visa these are typically valid two years.
A variation of travel conditions touches only the second. It does not re-open your residence category, and it does not change your work or study rights.
Step 1: Confirm your current travel-condition date
Sign in to Immigration Online and open your visa details. New Zealand issues all visas as an eVisa, so there may be no stamp in your passport. A physical label is optional and never required for validity.
Note the exact expiry date and where it is measured from. Some categories run travel conditions from the grant date and some — the Dependent Child Resident Visa, for example — from first arrival.
Step 2: Decide whether this is the right application
Use the comparison below rather than guessing. All three are cheap. Choosing the wrong one costs you time you may not have.
| Variation of travel conditions | Second or Subsequent Resident Visa | Permanent Resident Visa | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fee, Band A / B / C | NZ$320 / NZ$260 / NZ$320 | NZ$275 / NZ$250 / NZ$275 | NZ$315 / NZ$260 / NZ$315 |
| Immigration levy | None | None | None |
| Effect on travel conditions | New dated conditions | A new resident visa with new conditions | No expiry, permanently |
| Requires meeting commitment requirements | No | No | Yes |
| Can include partner and children | Yes | — | Each person applies in their own right |
Step 3: Gather what supports the application
INZ's published application sequence is the same for every visa: choose the type, review the requirements, gather and prepare documents, submit and pay, then wait. Documents that are not in English must be translated — see document translation requirements.
INZ's own advice is to allow enough time to obtain official documents. That advice is worth taking seriously here, because the people who need this application are usually already against a deadline.
Step 4: Lodge online and pay
Variations of travel conditions on resident visas are handled through Enhanced Immigration Online, the current build of INZ's application platform, alongside the Permanent Resident Visa and the Second or Subsequent Resident Visa. Sign-in uses RealMe, the New Zealand Government identity service. See the Immigration Online account guide.
You pay at submission. Fees are not refunded if the application is declined, and INZ does not refund because you changed your mind or withdrew after lodging. Refunds are available in narrower situations — you paid a fee you did not need to pay, you paid the wrong fee, the application was not accepted and was returned, or it had not been processed. See NZ visa fee refunds, explained.
Who you can include
You may include your partner and dependent children in one variation of travel conditions application, and pay a single application fee for everyone included. This is the same rule that applies to residence class visa applications, visitor visas, limited visas to visit New Zealand and transit visas. For most other application types, partners and children must apply separately and pay their own fee.
"Partner" here means a spouse, civil union partner or de facto partner who has been living with you for 12 months or more. Same-sex couples are included.
Dependent children may be included if they are:
- aged 17 or under and single; or
- aged 18 to 20, single, with no children of their own; or
- aged 21 to 24, single, with no children of their own, and totally or substantially reliant on you or your partner for financial support.
The countries whose citizens pay nothing
New Zealand has bilateral fee-waiver agreements that cover variation of travel conditions on a resident visa, both onshore and offshore, for citizens of:
Austria · Finland · Greece · Iceland · Israel · Italy · Japan · Turkey
Finland and Iceland hold the broadest agreements, covering any type of visa, endorsement or variation of travel conditions except transfers. Japan's agreement covers any type of visa offshore, and travel-condition variations, the Permanent Resident Visa and second or subsequent resident visas both onshore and offshore.
Two limits apply to every waiver. They never cover the IVL, and they never cover the fee for replacing or transferring a visa label into a new passport, which is NZ$225 under Band A. More in visa fees, levies and fee bands, explained.
Do not confuse this with a variation of conditions
Two applications with almost the same name do completely different jobs.
| Variation of travel conditions | Variation of conditions | |
|---|---|---|
| Applies to | A resident visa | A temporary visa — work, student, visitor |
| Changes | Your right to re-enter New Zealand | Your employer, role, work location, or study allowance |
| Fee, Band A | NZ$320 | NZ$325 |
| Processing | Not separately published by INZ | Average 1.5 weeks, 80% within 2 weeks (work visas, as published 20 August 2026) |
Searching for the wrong one wastes days. If you hold a work visa and want to change employers, you want variation of conditions, explained, not this page.
How long it takes
INZ does not publish a separate wait time for variations of travel conditions on its resident visa wait-times page. For context, the neighbouring applications are quick: the Permanent Resident Visa averages 1.5 weeks with 80% completed within 2 weeks, as published on 20 August 2026.
INZ publishes two figures for the visas it does cover — an average, which is the 50% mark, and a "most completed within" figure, which is the 80% mark. Both are updated weekly and neither page carries a last-updated stamp. There is also an online processing-times tool that estimates a decision date from your submission date, though INZ states it "does not currently have all visa processing times available".
Published averages are not a commitment about your application. Applications take longer where information is missing, where INZ needs to ask for more, or where third-party checks are needed — and INZ says it has limited control over how long those take. See how long New Zealand residence applications take.
There is no paid fast track. INZ sells no priority, expedited or premium processing at any price, and no such fee exists in its published fees guide. Anyone offering to speed up your application for money is not selling an INZ service. See paid priority visa processing in New Zealand.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I extend travel conditions on a New Zealand resident visa?
By applying for a variation of travel conditions through Immigration Online. The fee is NZ$320 under bands A and C and NZ$260 under Band B, with no immigration levy and no IVL. Your partner and dependent children can be included in the same application.
How much does a variation of travel conditions cost in New Zealand?
NZ$320 if you are in New Zealand (Band A) or applying from most countries (Band C), and NZ$260 under Band B, which covers citizens of specified Pacific countries. Dual citizens pay the band matching the passport used in the application. Citizens of Austria, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Japan and Turkey pay nothing.
Can I apply to vary my travel conditions from outside New Zealand?
The fee schedule sets rates for both Band A, which is for applicants inside New Zealand, and Band C, which is for applicants outside it, so the application type is priced for offshore applicants. Whether an offshore application is the right step in a particular case, and what evidence it needs, is an individual question for a licensed adviser or a lawyer.
What is the difference between a variation of travel conditions and a variation of conditions?
Travel conditions sit on a resident visa and control re-entry to New Zealand; varying them costs NZ$320. Conditions sit on a temporary visa and control things like your employer and job; varying those costs NZ$325.
Can my partner and children be included in my application?
Yes. A variation of travel conditions on a resident visa is one of the application types where partners and dependent children can be included, with one application fee covering everyone. Dependent children can be included up to age 24 where the dependency tests are met.
What happens if my application is declined?
The fee is not refunded. Declining a residence-class visa application, cancelling a resident visa and refusing entry permission to a resident visa holder are all matters the Immigration and Protection Tribunal can hear as a Residence Appeal, for a fee of NZ$964 that cannot be waived. Confirm your own appeal deadline from your decision letter and from the Tribunal, and do not rely on a day count you read online. See how to appeal a residence visa decline.
Should I apply for a variation or go straight to a Permanent Resident Visa?
That depends on whether you can meet the commitment requirements for a Permanent Resident Visa, which are set by INZ and assessed on your own facts. This site does not rank options for individual readers. What we can say is that the Permanent Resident Visa is the only one of the three that ends the problem permanently, and at NZ$315 it costs slightly less than a variation.
This page is general information, not immigration advice. Under the Immigration Advisers Licensing Act 2007 we explain what the published rules require; we do not assess whether any individual meets them. For advice on your own circumstances, use a licensed immigration adviser or a New Zealand lawyer, and check the licence on the Immigration Advisers Authority register.
