How Much Money You Need for a New Zealand Visitor Visa
New Zealand requires visitors to show NZ$1,000 per person for each month of their stay, or NZ$400 per person per month if accommodation is already paid for. A sponsor may demonstrate the financial capacity to support you instead. The requirement applies to Visitor Visa applicants and, on request, to visa-waiver travellers arriving on an NZeTA.
Quick Facts
| Standard rate | NZ$1,000 per person, per month of stay |
| With prepaid accommodation | NZ$400 per person, per month of stay |
| Alternative | A sponsor may demonstrate financial capacity instead |
| Who it applies to | Visitor Visa applicants; NZeTA travellers on request at the border or before boarding |
| Also applies to | The Guardian Visitor Visa, on the same $1,000 / $400 figures |
| Separate from | The visa fee — funds are money you must have, not money you pay |
| Also required | Evidence of onward tickets, or the funds to buy them |
| Verified | 20 August 2026, INZ Visitor Visa page |
The arithmetic
The requirement scales with the length of your stay, so the figure is different for every traveller. Two worked examples, using INZ's published rates:
| Stay | Standard ($1,000/month) | Accommodation prepaid ($400/month) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 month, one person | $1,000 | $400 |
| 3 months, one person | $3,000 | $1,200 |
| 6 months, one person | $6,000 | $2,400 |
| 9 months, one person | $9,000 | $3,600 |
| 3 months, two people | $6,000 | $2,400 |
| 3 months, family of four | $12,000 | $4,800 |
The rate is per person, not per application. Unlike the visa fee, where one $300 application fee covers everyone included, the funds test multiplies by the number of people travelling.
Note also that the money is not paid to anyone. It is evidence that you can support yourself for the length of your visit. Nobody at INZ takes it, and it stays your money throughout.
The prepaid accommodation reduction
The lower $400 rate applies where accommodation is already paid for. The logic is simple: INZ has set the standard rate to cover both a roof and everything else, so when the roof is already funded the remaining requirement drops.
INZ does not publish a definition of what counts as "already paid for", and we are not going to invent one. In practice the question is whether you can evidence that the accommodation cost for the period is settled rather than intended. If your arrangement is unusual — staying with family, a part-paid booking, a house swap — that is exactly the kind of question a licensed immigration adviser exists to answer, and it is not one this page can answer for you.
The sponsor route
Instead of showing your own funds, a sponsor may demonstrate the financial capacity to support you during your visit. Sponsorship is a formal undertaking, not a favour — a sponsor takes on responsibility for the visitor's accommodation and maintenance for the period covered.
That responsibility is why INZ assesses the sponsor's capacity rather than simply accepting a letter. The mechanics of sponsorship across the New Zealand system are set out in what is immigration sponsorship.
Some visitor products build the sponsor in as a requirement rather than an option. The Parent and Grandparent Visitor Visa requires a New Zealand citizen or resident sponsor, and that sponsor cannot sponsor anyone else at the same time. Parent Boost goes further again, with a published sponsor income threshold.
What counts as evidence
Here is where most pages on this topic overreach. INZ does not publish a definitive schedule of acceptable documents for visitor funds, and we did not find one. What follows describes the general shape of the requirement, not a checklist INZ has endorsed.
The requirement is to satisfy INZ that the money is available to you for the period of the visit. Broadly, that means evidence that shows three things at once:
- The amount. Enough to cover the calculated figure for every person and every month.
- The availability. That you can actually access it while you are in New Zealand.
- The source. Where the money came from, if that is not obvious from the account history.
Documents that speak to those points are the ones applications are typically built from — bank statements covering a recent period, and where a sponsor is involved, evidence of the sponsor's capacity. Prepaid accommodation is evidenced by the booking and payment records.
We cannot tell you whether your particular documents will satisfy INZ, and no site that is not a licensed adviser lawfully can. Assessing whether a specific person's evidence meets a requirement is immigration advice under the Immigration Advisers Licensing Act 2007. General rules are what we publish; case assessment is what licensed advisers and New Zealand lawyers do.
For the general documentary picture across all visa types, see proof of funds for a NZ visa.
Visa-waiver travellers are not exempt
A common and costly misunderstanding: travellers from visa-waiver countries who request an NZeTA rather than applying for a Visitor Visa often assume the funds requirement does not apply to them.
It does. INZ states plainly that visa-waiver travellers must provide evidence of funds and onward tickets on request, and must meet health, character and genuine-visitor requirements. The difference is procedural, not substantive: a Visitor Visa applicant supplies the evidence up front with the application, while a visa-waiver traveller may be asked for it at check-in or at the New Zealand border.
The funds rate quoted for visa-waiver entry is the same: NZ$1,000 a month, or $400 a month with prepaid accommodation.
Being asked at the border is the harder version of the test, because there is no time to gather documents. An arriving traveller who cannot evidence funds may be refused entry permission even holding a valid NZeTA — a visa or an NZeTA is permission to travel and to be considered for entry, not a guarantee of entry itself.
How the funds test differs by visa
Funds requirements vary widely across the New Zealand system, and figures from one visa are routinely misapplied to another.
| Visa | Published funds requirement |
|---|---|
| Visitor Visa | $1,000 per person per month, or $400 with prepaid accommodation |
| Guardian Visitor Visa | The same: $1,000 a month, or $400 with prepaid accommodation |
| Fee Paying Student Visa — tertiary or English language | $20,000 per year, or $1,667 per month for courses under 12 months, plus tuition |
| Fee Paying Student Visa — compulsory schooling, Years 1–13 | $17,000 per year, or $1,417 per month, plus tuition |
| Post Study Work Visa | At least $5,000 in documented funds |
| Working Holiday Schemes | A lump sum, not a monthly rate — and it varies by country |
The Working Holiday figure is a single amount held at the time of application rather than a per-month calculation, and the amount is set scheme by scheme. Do not carry the visitor arithmetic across to it.
Funds are one requirement among several
Meeting the funds test does not by itself produce a visa. INZ assesses visitor applications against the whole set:
- Genuine intention to visit and to leave at the end of the stay. This is the requirement behind most visitor declines. See proving genuine intentions.
- Onward travel — tickets out, or the funds to buy them.
- Health, including a chest x-ray for stays over 6 months from countries with high rates of tuberculosis. See acceptable standard of health explained.
- Character, including police certificates for applicants aged 17 or over staying 24 months or more. INZ's 2026 upfront rule means an application missing a required certificate may be declined without further contact — see the upfront police certificate rule.
- A valid passport, valid at least three months beyond your intended departure.
The complete set of conditions attached to the visa once granted is in visitor visa conditions explained.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much money do I need to show for a New Zealand visitor visa?
NZ$1,000 per person for each month of your stay, or NZ$400 per person per month if your accommodation is already paid for. A sponsor may demonstrate financial capacity instead. Verified against INZ's Visitor Visa page on 20 August 2026.
Does the funds requirement apply per person or per application?
Per person. Each traveller included in an application is counted separately, unlike the application fee, which is charged once for the whole application.
How much money do I need for a 3-month visit to New Zealand?
At the published rates, $3,000 for one person, or $1,200 if accommodation for the three months is already paid for. Two people would be $6,000, or $2,400 with prepaid accommodation.
Do I need a bank statement for a New Zealand visitor visa?
INZ requires evidence that you have the funds available. It does not publish a fixed list of acceptable documents for visitor applications, so we do not publish one either. Whether a particular set of documents satisfies INZ in a particular case is a question for INZ or a licensed adviser.
Can someone else pay for my trip to New Zealand?
Yes — a sponsor may demonstrate the financial capacity to support you instead of you showing your own funds. Sponsorship is a formal undertaking covering accommodation and maintenance, and INZ assesses the sponsor's capacity.
Do I need to show funds on an NZeTA?
Yes, on request. Visa-waiver travellers must be able to provide evidence of funds and onward tickets when asked, at the same $1,000 / $400 monthly rates. The evidence is simply requested at a different point in the journey.
Is the funds requirement the same as the visa fee?
No. The fee is money you pay to INZ — from $441 for a Visitor Visa. The funds requirement is money you must have, and it stays yours. They are unrelated numbers and are routinely conflated.
What happens if I cannot show enough money?
INZ decides applications against the published criteria, and an application that does not meet a requirement may be declined. What options exist after a decline — reconsideration, a fresh application, or in some cases a Tribunal appeal — is covered in visitor visa declined in New Zealand. Which one applies to you depends on your decision letter, and that is a question for a licensed adviser or a lawyer.
Primary source: Immigration New Zealand, Visitor Visa and visa-waiver countries and territories. Figures verified 20 August 2026. INZ does not publish a schedule of acceptable funds documents for visitor applications; where this page describes evidence it describes the shape of the requirement, not an INZ-endorsed checklist.
This page is general information about published requirements. It does not assess whether your own funds or documents meet them — that assessment is immigration advice, and only a licensed immigration adviser or a New Zealand lawyer can lawfully give it.
