New Zealand · Immigration guide
Bringing family while on a work visa
The visa options for a partner or child depend on the work visa held and the relevant family requirements. This guide explains the main distinctions so you can understand what needs a closer look.
Where to start
Start with the supporting person’s work visa, then separate partner and child pathways. Relationship, dependency and category-specific requirements still need to be checked.
Key points
Identify the work visa
Family options start with the supporting person’s visa type and conditions, not only with the family relationship.
Check partner and child settings
Partner and dependent-child applications are related but separate. Each route can have its own evidence, age, dependency or visa-condition questions.
Review role/pay/skill rules where relevant
For some work visas, especially AEWV situations, the worker’s role, pay and skill settings can affect whether family support is available.
Keep evidence questions separate
Work-visa eligibility, partnership evidence and dependent-child evidence each need their own checks before being treated as one family question.
The work visa type comes first
INZ frames family support around the visa held by the supporting person in New Zealand. Some work visa holders may be able to support partner or dependent child applications. Others may not, or may need to meet extra conditions before they can support family applications.
AEWV family support has extra settings
For an AEWV holder, INZ says support for partner and dependent child visas can depend on the job and how much the worker earns. That makes role, pay, skill and source-date checks important before relying on a simple yes/no summary.
Partners and children are different applications
A partner may be looking at a visitor or work visa. A dependent child may be looking at a visitor or student visa. Those are related family questions, but the evidence and visa conditions are not identical.
Partnership evidence can still matter
If a partner visa is involved, the relationship evidence question remains separate from the worker visa question. Living together, relationship history and shared-life evidence should be checked against the relevant partner visa page as well as the family-support page.
What to check next
- Check the exact work visa type before looking at partner or child options.
- Review partner and dependent-child routes separately instead of treating family as one application.
- If the worker cannot support a family application, the family member may need to check whether they have their own separate visa option.
A useful next step
Understand partnership evidence
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Sources and dates
Information was checked on 27 September 2026. Open the current official page before relying on a rate, threshold, eligibility setting or process that may have changed.
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ImmigrationUnderstanding the Accredited Employer Work Visa
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