Short answer
Pakistanis cannot use the NZeTA and must apply online for a New Zealand Visitor Visa. As of 15 September 2026, one applicant from Pakistan pays NZD 441: a NZD 300 fee, a NZD 41 immigration levy and the NZD 100 tourism levy. You must show NZD 1,000 a month, stays are capped at 9 months in 18, and offshore declines carry no right of reconsideration.
Do Pakistanis need a visa for New Zealand, or can they use the NZeTA?
You need a Visitor Visa. The NZeTA, New Zealand’s electronic travel authority, is only for citizens of visa waiver countries and a few other listed groups. Pakistan is not one of them.
Who the NZeTA is for
As of 15 September 2026, Immigration New Zealand’s visa waiver list includes the United Kingdom, the United States, most of Europe, Malaysia, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. Pakistan is not on it.
A Pakistani living in Dubai or Riyadh is judged by passport, not by residence. A Gulf residence permit does not make you eligible for an NZeTA.
What the Visitor Visa covers
The Visitor Visa is for holidays, sightseeing and visiting family or friends. Immigration New Zealand expects you to be healthy, of good character, a genuine visitor, funded or sponsored, and planning to leave. Business trips have a separate Business Visitor Visa with its own rules.
How much does a New Zealand visitor visa cost from Pakistan?
As of 15 September 2026, one applicant from Pakistan pays NZD 441 in total. The Visitor Visa page shows the cost as “from NZD 441”, and the Fees Guide (INZ 1028, May 2026) shows how that figure is built.
If you apply from outside New Zealand, your fee band depends on your citizenship. Citizens of listed Pacific countries pay Band B. Pakistani citizens pay Band C, labelled “Rest of World”.
| Charge | Amount | Who pays | Refunded if declined? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Application fee (Band C) | NZD 300 | Once per application | No |
| Immigration levy | NZD 41 | Once per application | No |
| International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy | NZD 100 | Each person included | No |
| Total for one applicant | NZD 441 | Principal applicant | No |
| Total for a couple on one application | NZD 541 | Principal applicant | No |
One fee and one immigration levy cover everyone in the application. The tourism levy is charged per person, as the Fees Guide’s own example shows. The charges are in New Zealand dollars, so the rupee cost depends on your card’s exchange rate. X-rays and translations cost extra.
How long can you stay on a New Zealand visitor visa?
As of 15 September 2026, the maximum is 9 months in an 18-month period. How it applies depends on whether your visa is single or multiple entry.
Single-entry visas
You can stay up to 9 months in an 18-month period, counted back from your planned departure date. If you leave New Zealand, the visa expires. A side trip to Australia would end it.
Multiple-entry visas
You can stay up to 6 months in total in each 12-month period. That period is counted back from the last day you intend to be in New Zealand. Parents who visit a settled child often care most about this limit.
Counting earlier visits
Earlier time in New Zealand counts, so add up past visits before choosing dates. The Visitor Visa Guide (INZ 1018, November 2025) adds a further rule. After 12 months in total as a visitor, you normally must stay away for 12 months before another visitor visa may be approved.
Can you work or study on a New Zealand visitor visa?
You cannot work for a New Zealand employer. Study is limited to 3 months in any 12-month period.
Work
As of 15 September 2026, the Visitor Visa page says you may be able to work remotely for an employer or client based outside New Zealand. A Lahore developer who keeps doing her usual job for a Pakistani company may fit. Helping in a cousin’s Christchurch restaurant does not, even unpaid.
Study
A short English course can fit within the 3-month limit. A diploma or degree needs a student visa. If study is your real aim, the comparison of study destinations is a better starting point.
How much money do you need to show for a New Zealand visitor visa?
As of 15 September 2026, Immigration New Zealand asks for at least NZD 1,000 a month, or NZD 400 a month if your accommodation is already paid. You also need a ticket out, or the money for one, on top.
Acceptable evidence
The Visitor Visa page lists prepaid accommodation receipts, bank or credit card statements, bank drafts and traveller’s cheques. Statements must show that the account is in your name and which bank holds it.
A two-month trip needs at least NZD 2,000, or NZD 800 with a prepaid hotel. Treat that as a floor, not a target. The balance should look like money you have held and used, not a sum parked for the application.
Onward travel
Show a ticket out to a country you have the right to enter, or evidence that you can buy one. The Visitor Visa page is clear that ticket money must be in addition to your living costs.
How does Immigration New Zealand decide you are a genuine visitor?
It asks whether your trip makes sense and whether you will leave at the end. The Visitor Visa page says you must be a genuine visitor who intends to leave when the visit ends.
Ties to Pakistan
Ties are the reasons you will come home: a job with approved leave, a running business, family staying behind, property you manage. A retired officer with a pension and a house in Rawalpindi has an easier story than a graduate without work.
A trip that fits your life
When I read a visitor file, I ask one question first. Does this trip match this person’s income, job and family? Three weeks for a salaried manager is believable. Six months away from a shop nobody else runs is not.
Travel history
Earlier trips abroad with on-time returns help. A past refusal elsewhere is not automatically fatal, but it must be declared. The same honesty rule runs through the Australia visitor visa guide and the UK visit visa guide.
Can a relative in New Zealand sponsor your visit?
Yes. An individual or an organisation can sponsor you using the Sponsorship Form for Temporary Entry (INZ 1025). The sponsor becomes responsible for you while you are in New Zealand.
Who can sponsor
Under the operational manual, an individual sponsor must be a New Zealand citizen or hold a current residence class visa. They must be ordinarily resident in New Zealand and must not be paid to sponsor you. Immigration convictions or a past sponsorship breach rule them out. A relative on a work or student visa cannot sponsor you this way.
What the sponsor promises
The Visitor Visa Guide says the sponsor provides your maintenance, your accommodation and the cost of airfares out. As proof, the Visitor Visa page suggests recent bank statements, pay slips, an employment agreement, and ownership papers or rent receipts.
Sponsorship replaces your funds evidence, not the genuine visitor test. The Fees Guide also lists a separate Parent Boost visa, with far higher charges, which this guide does not cover.
What documents do Pakistanis need for a New Zealand visitor visa?
There is no single fixed list. The online form asks for evidence that fits your answers, and a typical Pakistani applicant should have the following ready.
Passport and photo
Your passport must be valid for at least 3 months after you plan to leave New Zealand. An online application needs one acceptable photo. Scan old passports too, because they show your travel history.
Family, money and work
A NADRA FRC shows who stays behind and, for a family visit, how you are related to your host. Add stamped bank statements, salary slips and an employer letter confirming your role, salary and approved leave. Business owners add registration papers, business statements and FBR returns with NTN. Any large credit needs a paper trail.
Invitation and translations
An invitation should give your host’s address, status in New Zealand and your dates. The Visitor Visa Guide says documents must be in English or translated, and missing translations can lead to a decline. Allow time for Urdu fard and registry papers.
Do you need a chest X-ray or police certificate for a New Zealand visitor visa?
You need a chest X-ray only for a stay of more than 6 months. A police certificate applies only to a total stay of 24 months or longer, which a visitor will not reach.
Health and the chest X-ray
For stays over 6 months, citizens of countries without a low incidence of TB need a chest X-ray. Pakistan is not on Immigration New Zealand’s low incidence list. The X-ray evidence must be less than 3 months old when received.
| Total time in New Zealand | Chest X-ray | Police certificate |
|---|---|---|
| 6 months or less | Not normally | No |
| More than 6 months, up to 9 | Yes, less than 3 months old | No |
| 24 months or longer (beyond a general visit) | Yes | Yes, if aged 17 or over |
Immigration New Zealand can still ask for a medical examination. The Visitor Visa Guide says children under 11 and pregnant women do not need an X-ray unless a special report is required.
Character
Where needed, police certificates come from your country of citizenship and any country you lived in for 5 years or more since age 17. They must be less than 6 months old. The form still asks about convictions, removal and deportation, so answer truthfully.
How do you apply, step by step?
You apply online. Immigration New Zealand says that from 1 October 2026, applications for this visa must go through its enhanced Immigration Online system.
Biometrics
Immigration New Zealand says the Immigration Act 2009 requires it to collect biometric information when you apply, and it collects facial images and fingerprints. I could not confirm on its official pages how fingerprints are taken from visitor applicants in Pakistan. Follow the instructions in your application account.
Processing times
When checked on 15 September 2026, the Visitor Visa page showed 80% of applications decided within 2 weeks. That is a general figure, so check the fees and decision times tool for Pakistan on the day you apply.
Fix your purpose and your dates
Decide why you are going and for how long. Count back 18 months from your planned departure and keep your total time in New Zealand within 9 months.
Gather and cross-check your documents
Collect your passport, a photo, stamped bank statements, job or business evidence, FBR returns, your NADRA FRC and any sponsorship form. Translate Urdu papers and check that dates and amounts agree.
Get a chest X-ray only for a long stay
If your total time in New Zealand will be more than 6 months, get a chest X-ray certificate. It must be less than 3 months old when Immigration New Zealand receives it.
Apply online and pay
Complete the Visitor Visa application online, upload your evidence and pay. As of 15 September 2026, one applicant from Pakistan pays NZD 441 in fees and levies.
Respond to any requests
Immigration New Zealand may ask for biometric information or more documents. Reply by the deadline and keep your answers consistent with the application.
Read the visa before you book
Wait for the decision before buying non-refundable tickets. Then check whether the visa is single or multiple entry, the stay dates and every condition.
Can you appeal a New Zealand visitor visa refusal?
Not as of right, if you applied from Pakistan. Reconsideration is only for people who applied in New Zealand.
Reconsideration is for applicants in New Zealand
As of 15 September 2026, a request is accepted only if you applied in New Zealand, are still there on a valid visa, and ask within 14 calendar days of the decision. The fee is NZD 220.
Offshore declines
Immigration New Zealand’s operational manual says officers are not legally obliged to reconsider offshore declines of temporary visas. They may do so if new and compelling information arrives promptly. That is a discretion, not a right.
Reapplying
Immigration New Zealand says that if your situation has changed, you should submit a new application, with new fees. I would rather see one careful second application than three quick ones. List each concern in the decline letter and the evidence that answers it, as the guide to reading a refusal letter explains.
What goes wrong most often?
Treating the NZeTA as an option
Some travellers assume New Zealand’s electronic travel authority covers everyone. It does not cover Pakistani passports, so paying a website for one wastes money and time.
Funds that do not add up
A statement showing PKR 150,000 a month, then PKR 2,000,000 arriving just before the application, invites a question. If a large sum is genuine, prove where it came from.
Missing the chest X-ray on a long stay
Parents visiting for seven months often skip the X-ray because friends went for three months without one. Past the 6-month mark, the rule changes.
Planning to help out once there
A visit that quietly includes working in a relative’s business is not a genuine visit. An invitation mentioning “helping with the shop” can damage an otherwise clean file.
Paying for a promised result
No one can guarantee a New Zealand visa. Under New Zealand law, a person giving New Zealand immigration advice must be licensed by the Immigration Advisers Authority or exempt. Before paying anyone, read the guide to checking a visa consultant in Pakistan.
A realistic example
Take a hypothetical applicant, Nasreen, a 58-year-old retired schoolteacher from Gujranwala. She is an illustration, not a real client. Her son holds a New Zealand resident visa in Hamilton, and she wants to visit for ten weeks after his first child is born.
- Her own papers. Pension statements, six months of stamped bank statements, her FRC, her passport and a clear photo.
- From her son. The Sponsorship Form for Temporary Entry (INZ 1025), with his bank statements, pay slips and tenancy papers.
- The application. She applies online for ten weeks, pays NZD 441 and uploads a refundable flight booking.
- Afterwards. She answers a request for information on time and books flights only after the decision.
Everything agrees: ten weeks on the form, the sponsorship form and the invitation. Her stay is under 6 months, so no X-ray is needed. Her husband, home and pension all point back to Gujranwala.
The version that goes wrong
Now imagine she asks for eight months “to be safe” but sends no chest X-ray. Her son is on a work visa, yet signs the sponsorship form anyway. A PKR 1,800,000 transfer lands the week before she applies, and the invitation says she will “help run the takeaway”. None of this is fatal alone. Together, it describes a stay that is too long, poorly supported and partly about work.
Key takeaways
- Pakistani passport holders cannot use the NZeTA and must apply online for a Visitor Visa.
- As of 15 September 2026, one applicant from Pakistan pays NZD 441: a NZD 300 fee, a NZD 41 immigration levy and the NZD 100 tourism levy.
- The maximum stay is 9 months in 18; a multiple-entry visa allows up to 6 months in each 12-month period.
- Show at least NZD 1,000 a month, or NZD 400 with prepaid accommodation, plus money for a ticket out.
- A sponsor must be a New Zealand citizen or residence class visa holder living in New Zealand.
- Stays over 6 months need a chest X-ray less than 3 months old, because Pakistan is not a low TB incidence country.
- Only applicants in New Zealand can request reconsideration, so a declined offshore applicant usually reapplies with stronger evidence.
Frequently asked questions
Can Pakistanis use the NZeTA to visit New Zealand?
No. The NZeTA is for citizens of visa waiver countries and a few other listed groups. As of 15 September 2026, Pakistan is not on Immigration New Zealand’s list of visa waiver countries and territories. A Pakistani passport holder who wants to visit applies for a Visitor Visa before travelling, even for a short trip.
How much is the New Zealand visitor visa fee from Pakistan in 2026?
As of 15 September 2026, the Fees Guide (INZ 1028, May 2026) sets a NZD 300 application fee for applicants outside New Zealand from the rest of the world, plus a NZD 41 immigration levy. The NZD 100 tourism levy is added for each person, so one applicant pays NZD 441. Nothing is refunded if you are declined.
What is the International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy?
It is a charge that helps fund conservation and tourism infrastructure. As of 15 September 2026, Immigration New Zealand lists it at NZD 100, paid with the visa application. Each person in the application pays it unless exempt, and the exemptions do not cover Pakistani passports. It is not refunded if the visa is declined.
How long can I stay in New Zealand on a visitor visa?
Immigration New Zealand’s Visitor Visa page gives a maximum of 9 months in an 18-month period. On a single-entry visa, that period is counted back from your planned departure date. A multiple-entry visa allows up to 6 months in total in each 12-month period. The dates on your granted visa are the ones that bind you.
How much money do I need to show for a New Zealand visitor visa?
As of 15 September 2026, Immigration New Zealand asks for at least NZD 1,000 a month, or NZD 400 a month if your accommodation is already paid. Money for your ticket out must be on top of that. A sponsor who is a New Zealand citizen or resident can take on these costs instead, using form INZ 1025.
Do I need a chest X-ray for a New Zealand visitor visa from Pakistan?
Only if your total time in New Zealand will be more than 6 months. Pakistan is not on Immigration New Zealand’s list of countries with a low incidence of tuberculosis, so a longer stay needs a chest X-ray certificate less than 3 months old. For shorter stays, you normally do not need one unless asked.
Do I need a police certificate from Pakistan for a visit?
Usually not. Immigration New Zealand requires police certificates from applicants aged 17 or over whose total time in New Zealand will be 24 months or longer. A visitor stay is far shorter than that. You must still answer the character questions truthfully and declare any conviction, deportation or removal from any country.
Can I work in New Zealand on a visitor visa?
Not for a New Zealand employer or business. As of 15 September 2026, the Visitor Visa page says you may be able to work remotely for an employer or client based outside New Zealand. Helping in a relative’s shop or taking cash jobs counts as work. Study is limited to 3 months in any 12-month period.
How long does a New Zealand visitor visa take from Pakistan?
When checked on 15 September 2026, the Visitor Visa page showed 80% of applications decided within 2 weeks. That is a general figure, not one for Pakistan, and it changes. Check Immigration New Zealand’s fees and decision times tool on the day you apply, and avoid non-refundable bookings until you have a decision.
Can I appeal a New Zealand visitor visa refusal?
Not as of right if you applied from Pakistan. Immigration New Zealand accepts reconsideration requests only from people who applied in New Zealand, are still there on a valid visa and ask within 14 days. For offshore declines, its operational manual says officers are not obliged to reconsider but may if new, compelling information arrives promptly.
Can I reapply after a New Zealand visitor visa is declined?
Yes. You make a new application and pay the fee and levies again. Immigration New Zealand says that if your situation has changed, you should submit a new application. Read the decline letter closely, answer each concern with real evidence, and explain any difference from what you said the first time.
Can Ch. Bilal Rasheed help me with a New Zealand visitor visa?
He can explain the published requirements in general terms in a free first consultation in Lahore, on WhatsApp or by phone. No one can guarantee a visa. He is a qualified lawyer in Pakistan, not a licensed New Zealand immigration adviser. The Immigration Advisers Authority says advice must come from a licensed adviser or an exempt person, such as a lawyer holding a current New Zealand Law Society practising certificate.
