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Pathway

New Zealand Pacific Access Resident Visa

New Zealand Residency
Pathway overview

At a glance

New Zealand's Pacific Access Category Resident Visa is a ballot-based residence route for eligible citizens of Fiji, Kiribati, Tonga, and Tuvalu aged 18 to 45.

Type
Pacific residence ballot
Who it covers
Eligible citizens of Fiji, Kiribati, Tonga, and Tuvalu
Core requirements
Ballot selection, country tie, job offer, English, and admissibility
What to know
Selection is not the same as approval
What it gives
If residence is granted, the family members included in the approved application can live, work, and study in New Zealand indefinitely.
Main limit
This is not a general Pacific nationality route and it is not first-come, first-served.

Summary

The Pacific Access Category is an annual ballot-based residence route for eligible citizens of Fiji, Kiribati, Tonga, and Tuvalu. The 2026 ballot is closed. It offered 650 places: 250 each for Fiji and Tonga and 75 each for Kiribati and Tuvalu.

Selection is permission to apply, not a resident visa. A selected person must still meet the employment, income, English, health, character, location, and family requirements by the invitation deadline.

Pathway fit check

Eligibility

To register for the ballot, the principal registrant must:

If selected and invited, the person must apply from the country of citizenship or while lawfully in New Zealand; Kiribati and Tuvalu citizens may also apply from Fiji. The principal applicant or included partner must have a current New Zealand job offer for at least 12 months. At least one job must be full-time, the employment must comply with New Zealand law, and the employer cannot be disqualified by a stand-down.

Where dependent children are included, the current combined minimum annual income is NZD 55,404.96. Without dependent children, the job must pay at least the New Zealand minimum wage. Both partners' eligible earnings can be combined where both have acceptable offers.

The applicant must read, write, and speak English and meet health and character requirements. A partner and dependent children must be named in the ballot registration to be included later. The residence application is normally due within 8 months of invitation.

What This Route Allows

If residence is granted, the family members included in the approved application can live, work, and study in New Zealand indefinitely. The initial resident visa normally has 2 years of travel conditions, after which a Permanent Resident Visa may be available.

An unsuccessful person can normally register in a later annual ballot while still meeting the age and other registration rules.

What This Route Is Not

This is not a general Pacific nationality route and it is not first-come, first-served. Citizenship from one eligible country cannot be paired with a parent born in a different eligible country to create eligibility; the birth link must match the country of citizenship.

Planning to enter a future ballot is not the same as being eligible to file for residence. A selected registration can still fail if the applicant cannot secure the job, income, documents, or admissibility evidence in time.

Next Steps

  1. For a future ballot, confirm citizenship, age, matching birth link, and permitted registration location.
  2. Include every partner or dependent child who may need residence.
  3. If selected, read the invitation and calendar the 8-month deadline immediately.
  4. Obtain a compliant job offer and calculate income using the threshold current on the application date.
  5. Prepare passports, birth and relationship records, medicals, police certificates, English evidence, and proof of location.
Compare your options

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Sources