New Zealand Working Holiday Visa Opening Dates

New Zealand Working Holiday Visa Opening Dates

New Zealand's 32 capped working holiday schemes each open at 10:00 New Zealand time on a published date, and stay open until their places are filled. The 2026 dates were announced on 15 January 2026 and run from Malaysia on 11 February to Uruguay on 17 November. The other 13 schemes have no opening date at all.

Quick Facts

The 2026 calendar in full

Status is as at 20 August 2026 and changes without notice.

Still to open in 2026

If you hold one of these passports, your date has not passed yet:

27 August — Turkey · 10 September — Croatia · 24 September — Argentina · 1 October — Peru · 8 October — Brazil · 15 October — Chile · 3 November — Vietnam · 17 November — Uruguay

Note that Turkey requires a tertiary qualification of at least four years plus English evidence and NZ$7,000 in funds; Peru requires three years of tertiary study verified by Peru's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and its funds figure is NZ$4,200 with an acceptable English test result or NZ$7,000 without. Neither of those can be arranged in the week before opening day.

How the opening mechanism works

Four rules govern the whole system, and they are simpler than most guides make them.

1. Capped schemes open at 10:00 New Zealand time on their published date. Not midnight, not your local morning.

2. Once open, applications run until the places are filled. That is INZ's own phrasing. There is no cut-off date, only a cut-off number.

3. When the places are gone, the scheme closes until the following year. Applications already submitted continue to be processed.

4. A scheme with places left over from the previous year stays open until that older quota is reached. The quota then resets on the new opening date.

Rule 4 explains why several small European schemes look permanently available. They are capped — they just have not run out.

The 13 schemes with no opening date

Belgium · Canada · Denmark · Finland · France · Germany · Ireland · Italy · Japan · Netherlands · Norway · Sweden · USA

These have no quota and no calendar. There is nothing to diarise. See capped and uncapped schemes.

Converting 10:00 New Zealand time

New Zealand runs on NZST (UTC+12) in winter and NZDT (UTC+13) during daylight saving, which starts in late September and ends in early April. That means the same 10:00 opening lands at a different local hour depending on when in the year your scheme opens.

Work it out for your specific date, not for today. A scheme opening on 5 May and one opening on 15 October are not the same conversion, because New Zealand has changed clocks in between — and so, in many cases, has your own country.

The practical advice is unglamorous: set two alarms, one an hour before and one ten minutes before, and be logged into your Immigration Online account already.

Which dates actually matter

Being ready at 10:00 is essential for a scheme that fills, and largely irrelevant for one that does not.

Filled in 2026: Malaysia (11 February), Mexico (26 February), the Philippines (12 March), Taiwan (28 May), China (2 July).

Did not fill, months after opening: the United Kingdom (15,000 places, opened 25 June), Korea (3,000, opened 14 May), Spain (2,000, opened 9 April), the Czech Republic (1,200, opened 18 June).

Korea's 3,000 places were still available fourteen weeks after opening. Urgency tracks demand against the cap, not the size of the cap.

INZ publishes no fill-time data of any kind, so nobody can tell you how many minutes a scheme lasted. Treat any such figure as anecdote.

Do the dates change each year?

Yes, slightly. The caps have not changed between 2024, 2025 and 2026, but the dates shift by roughly a week each year. The sequence stays the same: Malaysia first in February, then Portugal and Mexico, through to Vietnam and Uruguay in November.

INZ publishes the next year's dates in January. Do not assume next year's date from this year's — check the announcement.

Step 1: Find your scheme's date above

If it is not listed, your scheme is uncapped and none of this applies.

Step 2: Convert 10:00 New Zealand time for that exact date

Account for daylight saving in both countries. Write the result down.

Step 3: Prepare everything at least a month ahead

A passport valid at least 3 months beyond the visa's expiry. Bank statements showing your scheme's funds figure. A return ticket or evidence you can buy one. Medical insurance covering hospitalisation for the whole stay. Any qualification verification or English evidence your scheme requires.

Step 4: Create your Immigration Online account before opening day

Registering an account, verifying an email and uploading documents all take time you will not have on the morning.

Step 5: Submit as soon as the scheme opens, and pay

The NZ$770 is charged on submission. See how to apply.

Step 6: Respond to any request from INZ within the deadline

Where a chest x-ray or medical is triggered, evidence must reach INZ within 15 days of submission and be less than 3 months old.

If you miss the opening

There is no waiting list and no reserve pool. A closed scheme reopens on its next published date, and no one can obtain a place in the meantime. Anyone who claims they can is running a scam — see immigration scams to avoid.

If you will be over your scheme's age limit by then, the working holiday route closes for you permanently. Other visas exist — an Accredited Employer Work Visa needs an accredited employer and a job offer, and a student visa carries limited work rights. Which is appropriate for a particular person is a question for a licensed immigration adviser or a New Zealand lawyer, not for a website.

Frequently Asked Questions

When does the New Zealand working holiday visa open?

It depends on your country. In 2026 the 32 capped schemes opened between 11 February (Malaysia) and 17 November (Uruguay), each at 10:00 New Zealand time. The 13 uncapped schemes have no opening date and accept applications year-round.

What time do the schemes open?

10:00 New Zealand time on the published date. Convert that to your own time zone for the specific date, remembering that New Zealand's daylight saving runs from late September to early April.

How long does a scheme stay open?

Until its places are filled. There is no fixed closing date. Once full, the scheme closes until its next opening date the following year.

When are next year's dates published?

INZ announces them in January. The 2026 dates were published on 15 January 2026. Do not assume the next year's date from this year's — they move by about a week annually.

Which schemes have already opened in 2026?

Every scheme from Malaysia on 11 February through to Lithuania on 19 August. Turkey, Croatia, Argentina, Peru, Brazil, Chile, Vietnam and Uruguay were yet to open as at 20 August 2026.

Which schemes have filled for 2026?

Malaysia, Mexico, the Philippines, Taiwan and China. All the others were still accepting applications on 20 August 2026, including the United Kingdom, Korea and Spain.

Why is a capped scheme still open months after it opened?

Because it has not reached its quota. That is normal for the large schemes and for the small European ones. It can also happen where places were left over from the previous year, which keeps a scheme open until the older quota is used.

Can I apply before the opening date?

No. Applications cannot be lodged under a capped scheme before it opens. What you can do beforehand is create your Immigration Online account and gather every document.

Is there a waiting list if I miss it?

No. There is no waiting list, no reserve pool and no way to be added to a closed scheme. The only option is the next opening date.