The main visa pathways at a glance
Last reviewed 2026-06-24
This lesson is a general map of the broad visa pathways Immigration New Zealand publishes. It is educational background only. It does not tell you which pathway is right for you, and it does not assess whether anyone meets a pathway’s criteria. The official pages at immigration.govt.nz are the authoritative source, and the detail changes over time.
The broad groupings
Immigration New Zealand groups its visas by purpose. At a high level:
- Visitor pathways are published for short stays such as tourism or visiting family.
- Work pathways are published for temporary employment. Many are employer-assisted, meaning the published process turns partly on the employer (for example employer accreditation and a job check) before a person applies.
- Student pathways are published for study with approved education providers, and some published post-study pathways connect study to work.
- Residence pathways are published for living in New Zealand long term. Some are points-based (such as skilled categories) and some are based on family relationships or on a period of work in New Zealand.
How the pathways connect
The pathways are not isolated. The published system often connects them in sequence: for example a student pathway can lead to a post-study work pathway, and a work pathway can lead toward a residence pathway. Reading the pathways as a connected map, rather than in isolation, helps you understand where a published process is heading.
Where to go next in this site
- The planning worksheet restates the published steps for a pathway so you can organise your own plan. You choose the pathway; the worksheet does not choose for you.
- The indicative timelines show the published order of those steps.
- The self-check tools let you total your own attributes against a published threshold, as a self-calculated tally rather than a determination of eligibility.
For advice about which pathway fits your own circumstances, a Licensed Immigration Adviser is the right person to help. This course only describes what is published.