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From 1 June 2026, family of temporary visa holder applications are moving to Immigration New Zealand’s (INZ) enhanced Immigration Online system. If you are applying for one of these visas over this timeframe, there are some important things you need to know about how we will manage applications over this transition.
INZ’s ambition is to provide a trusted and effective immigration service. Last year, we commenced the Our Future Services programme to accelerate us towards that goal.
Over the course of the programme, we will move all visa applications onto our enhanced Immigration Online platform. We first introduced this platform in 2021 and have already moved several types of visa applications onto it including International Student Visas, Visitor Visas, Accredited Employer Work Visas and Permanent Resident Visas.
Customers and staff are at the heart of the Our Future Services programme design. We are aiming to deliver a simpler, faster and more user-friendly visa application process to reduce waiting times, provide clear communication on application status, and increase self-service capabilities so everyone feels more informed and better supported.
Family of temporary visa holder application changes
From 1 June 2026, family of temporary visa holders can submit new applications to be processed in our enhanced Immigration Online portal. The following visas are included in this transition:
Student Visas
- Dependent Child Student Visa
Work Visas
- Partner of a Worker Work Visa
- Partner of Military Work Visa
- Partner of a Student Work Visa
- Partner of an NZ Scholarship Student Work Visa
Visitor Visas
- Partner of a Worker Visitor Visa
- Child of a Worker Visitor Visa
- Partner of a Student Visitor Visa
- Child of a Student Visitor Visa
- Partner of Military Visitor Visa
- Child of Military Visitor Visa
We may also reconsider our approach to paper-based applications for the visas moving to enhanced Immigration Online as part of this process. We will provide further updates if we decide to make any changes to these applications.
Important things to know
We will provide more information closer to the transition date, by updating this news item and our webpages to ensure you have what you need to complete your applications in the new system.
New applications for these visas will be automatically directed through enhanced Immigration Online from 1 June 2026. Applications submitted in the old system will continue to be processed.
If you have a draft application in the old system, you can choose to complete and submit it or you can start a new application in enhanced Immigration Online.
The application form in our old system is used for other visa application types. The old form will be closed once those visas have moved to enhanced Immigration Online. We will contact people with draft applications to ensure they have enough time to complete their application before we close the form.
Other family visa types will be transitioned at different stages of the programme.
New application form and system
Our approach to designing the enhanced Immigration Online visa application process focuses on an improved customer experience – ensuring that the process is easy to understand, and people know what is expected of them.
We engaged with a range of immigration professionals to redesign the end-to-end application process. Their insights ensured the new design was informed by those with real-world experience applying for these visas. From what immigration professionals told us, we knew that providing applicants with clearer information and better guidance was essential.
We know that sometimes it is not clear which visa is the right one you need to apply for. We are improving the definition of these visa types within the Before You Start page, through the initial stages of the application and increasing guidance throughout the application form so you get the guidance you need, when you need it.
Sometimes we receive applications that do not have all the information we need which means delays in processing time while we request more information. We have designed a new dynamic application form that asks questions relevant to each applicant’s situation and provides clear guidance on what information and evidence to provide. Providing all the correct information in the initial application means the process is likely to be quicker and more straightforward for everyone.
The new application form will also include Identity Document Reader (IDR) functionality which populates information directly into the application form by capturing it from a scan of the applicant’s passport. IDR functionality will improve the quality of the data in an application form and will reduce the risk of impacts to travel due to simple input errors.
More information
To access submitted or draft applications in our old system, you can visit our ‘Access Immigration Online’ page.
If you would like to know more about the Our Future Services programme, you can visit the ‘Our Future Services programme’ page, or the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s Our Future Services page.
Our Future Services — Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment
