Moving to the UK from New Zealand: Guide

Visiting: an Electronic Travel Authorisation, Not a Visa

New Zealand is not on the Home Office visa national list, so New Zealand citizens do not need a visitor visa for a short trip. Instead you need an electronic travel authorisation. It costs £20, and it covers visits of up to 6 months each. You do not need one to change planes at a UK airport if you do not pass through UK border control. An electronic travel authorisation does not let you work, study long term, or move to the UK.

Visa Routes for New Zealand Citizens

• Youth Mobility Scheme. Open at ages 18 to 35. £340, and it lasts up to 24 months. You need £2,530 in savings, held for 28 days in a row, and the healthcare surcharge is £776 a year. You can work in most jobs and study. You cannot work as a professional sportsperson, get public funds, or bring family members on your application. You cannot apply if you have children under 18 living with you or who you are financially responsible for, or if you have already been in the UK under the scheme. New Zealand is one of only three countries — with Australia and Canada — whose citizens can extend the visa, for one year, once, for another £340.
• UK Ancestry visa. Open to Commonwealth citizens, which includes New Zealanders, who are 17 or over and have a grandparent born in the UK, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man, or born before 31 March 1922 in what is now Ireland. You must be able to work and plan to work in the UK, and support yourself without public funds. It costs £726, lasts 5 years, allows paid or voluntary work including self-employment, and a decision usually takes 3 weeks from outside the UK. You cannot switch into it from inside the UK on another visa. See the Ancestry visa guide.
• Skilled Worker visa. Requires a licensed sponsor, a job at degree level (level 6 of the regulated qualifications framework) for a new application, and a salary of at least £41,700 a year or the going rate for the job, whichever is higher. Some applicants qualify at the lower £33,400 threshold. A job on the Immigration Salary List uses that lower threshold and a lower fee, but the full going rate for the job still applies. See the salary threshold guide.
• Family visa. The sponsoring partner normally needs an income of at least £29,000 a year. A decision usually takes 12 weeks from outside the UK. See the spouse visa guide.
• Student visa. £558, and a decision usually takes 3 weeks from outside the UK. See the student visa guide.

Document Requirements

• Valid New Zealand passport.
• No tuberculosis test. New Zealand is not on the list of countries where a test is needed. It still applies if you have lived for 6 months or more in a country that is on the list and were living there within the last 6 months.
• No English language test. New Zealand is on the Home Office list of majority English-speaking countries, so you meet the English requirement by nationality and show it with your passport.
• Police certificate. Not needed for every route. The Home Office asks for one for Skilled Worker and Temporary Worker applications in certain jobs, mostly in healthcare, education, therapy and social services, and for some other routes. Where it is needed, request your criminal conviction history from the New Zealand Ministry of Justice, which says around 90% of requests are answered in less than a week and that it aims to respond within 20 working days. Check the GOV.UK criminal records checks guidance for how to apply from New Zealand.

What It Costs

UK visa fees are set in pounds sterling and are the same wherever you apply from.

• Electronic travel authorisation: £20
• Youth Mobility Scheme visa: £340
• UK Ancestry visa: £726
• Skilled Worker visa from outside the UK: £819 for up to 3 years, £1,618 for more than 3 years
• Student visa: £558
• Healthcare surcharge: £1,035 a year, or £776 a year for students, their dependants, Youth Mobility Scheme applicants and under-18s
• Settlement: £3,226 for each person
• British citizenship: £1,709 to apply plus a £130 ceremony fee, £1,839 in total

See our UK visa fees guide.

What the Healthcare Surcharge Buys

Paying the immigration health surcharge does not make the National Health Service free. It puts you on the same footing as a UK resident, so you then pay what a resident pays. In England that means £9.90 for each prescription item and dental charges of £27.90, £76.60 or £332.10 depending on the treatment. Prescriptions are free in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

After Arrival

• Set up or sign in to your UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) account and check your online immigration status. There is no card to collect: biometric residence permits stopped being issued at the end of 2024. To prove your status to an employer or a landlord you generate a share code, which lasts 90 days
• Apply for a National Insurance number
• Register with a GP
• Open a UK bank account

Voting as a Commonwealth Citizen

New Zealand is a Commonwealth country, and the rules are not the same across the UK. In England and Northern Ireland a Commonwealth citizen who has permission to enter or stay in the UK, or who does not need it, can register to vote. In Scotland and Wales any foreign national with permission to enter or stay can register for Scottish Parliament, Senedd and local elections, so the Commonwealth question does not arise there.

Path to Settlement

Most work and family routes, including the UK Ancestry visa, lead to settlement, also called indefinite leave to remain, after 5 years. It costs £3,226 for each person and a decision usually takes up to 6 months. Time on the Youth Mobility Scheme does not count towards it. After 12 months with settlement you can apply for British citizenship for £1,709 plus a £130 ceremony fee.

New Zealand allows dual citizenship, so a New Zealander who becomes British does not lose New Zealand citizenship. That is a question for the New Zealand authorities, not the Home Office.

Next Steps

For the Youth Mobility Scheme, visit the GOV.UK Youth Mobility page. For the UK Ancestry visa, see the GOV.UK Ancestry visa page.

Questions and answers