Loading
Just a moment while this page opens.
Just a moment while this page opens.
Just a moment while this page opens.
The route most people from Australia take, the mistake to avoid, and the facts that change because you are applying from Australia, each read from the official page it links.
Australian citizens and permanent residents can move to New Zealand on the resident visa Immigration New Zealand normally gives them at the border, skipping what a skilled migrant from elsewhere must arrange first: an application made in advance and, for the Skilled Migrant Category (the residence visa for skilled workers), a job offer from an employer approved to hire migrants. Anyone wanting to stay for good can later apply for a Permanent Resident Visa, which has its own requirements. Australian temporary residents cannot get the arrival visa, so someone living there on a student or work visa needs a New Zealand visa of their own.
Sort out family members first: a partner or child who is neither an Australian citizen nor a permanent resident cannot get the visa at the border and needs one of their own. A partner can apply for a partnership visa, for work or for residence, supported by the Australian's New Zealand residence; for residence, the Australian must already live in New Zealand and supply their own police certificates, such as the Australian one described on this page. A permanent resident whose Australian visa was issued electronically should also check that it is linked to the passport they will travel on.
The mistake to avoid is treating the visa at the border as automatic. It goes only to people of good character, which a criminal conviction or a past deportation can fail, and Immigration New Zealand advises anyone unsure to apply for a visa before travelling rather than risk being stopped at check-in. Permanent residents face a second trap: the New Zealand visa ends each time they leave, and the next one needs an Australian visa, linked to the passport used, whose travel conditions still allow a return to Australia. That permission ends on a date shown in VEVO, the Australian government's online visa check; after it, returning as a permanent resident takes a Resident Return Visa, so check it before every trip.
The Skilled Migrant Category sets no settlement-funds figure: it checks a skilled job offer and a points test instead.
A qualification from Australia is assessed for New Zealand by one of these organisations: New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA), International Qualification Assessment.
An Australian National Police Certificate from the Australian Federal Police, with an overseas visa as the stated purpose. A name check can be requested online; a check that also covers fingerprints, which some destinations ask for, needs the paper form sent by post.
Australian citizens, and Australian permanent residents with a valid Permanent Resident Visa or Resident Return Visa, are given a resident visa when they arrive in New Zealand if they meet its good character requirements. It lets them live, work and study there indefinitely, and there is no fee. Australian citizens do not need an NZeTA (New Zealand's electronic travel authority); permanent residents who are not citizens must hold one before they travel.
Tests New Zealand accepts with centres in Australia include IELTS General Training, IELTS Academic, PTE Academic, TOEFL iBT, OET and Cambridge English.
In the 2023 census, 27% of people born in Australia who live in New Zealand lived in the Auckland region, more than in any other region.
Compared with other people born overseas, those born in Australia are most concentrated in the Otago region, among the regions where at least 5% of them live.
Answer our free questionnaire and get a free summary of your eligibility for every New Zealand pathway we assess. The full report is a later choice, never a condition.
Start the free questionnaireEach fact above links the official page it was read from, with the day it was read.