It is late in Christchurch and early evening in Iloilo, and the video call keeps coming back to two questions: can you come here, and can you work when you do? The answer depends on three things about the worker: the visa, the skill level of the job and the pay, and Immigration New Zealand (INZ) publishes the lines. Every New Zealand rule below is INZ's own, from pages we read in September 2026.
Whose partner qualifies
Yes, if your own work visa can support it. The Partner of a Worker Work Visa lets your partner join you and work in New Zealand while you hold an eligible one, normally for as long as yours lasts, and no job offer is needed. Most work visas qualify, but an Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV) has a pay-and-skill test.
INZ grades an AEWV job by its ANZSCO or National Occupation List skill level, from 1, the most skilled, to 5. From 9 March 2026, you can support it if one of these fits:
- any job paying NZD $52.50 an hour or more (1.5 times the median wage);
- a job INZ recognises at skill level 1, 2 or 3, paying NZD $28.00 an hour or more (80% of the median wage);
- a Green List job whose requirements you meet, paying NZD $35.00 an hour or more;
- a skill level 4 or 5 care workforce job under the sector agreement, paying NZD $28 an hour or the agreement's wage if higher, and you meet the Care Workforce Work to Residence Visa's job requirements bar its 24 months of experience.
The median wage is updated yearly, and if more than one line fits, use the most favourable. The transport sector has its own rules, and anyone already supporting a partner on 26 June 2024 has different lines, so check INZ's page for your specific situation.
When the answer is a visitor visa
An AEWV job at skill level 1 to 3 paying under NZD $28.00 an hour supports only the Partner of a Worker Visitor Visa. Your partner can join you but cannot work in New Zealand, though remote work for an employer or client based outside New Zealand may be possible. That is a condition tied to pay and skill level, never a measure of your work. INZ's current line for including your dependent children is NZD $58,240 a year, counted on no more than 40 hours a week, which this pay cannot reach.
Working Holiday, Recognised Seasonal Employer Limited, Supplementary Seasonal Employment, Fishing Crew, Domestic Staff of a Diplomat and Skilled Migrant Category Job Search visas, and seasonal roles on an AEWV or Specific Purpose Work Visa, cannot support either partner visa. Two more cannot support the work visa: a visa for 6 months or less (a Migrant Exploitation Protection Work Visa can support a partner already here on a visa your previous one supported), and an AEWV job at level 4 or 5 that meets none of the lines above, which supports the visitor visa only in limited cases, such as a Green List job. INZ adds that a partner left outside may be able to apply in their own right.
The work rights it gives: open, since 2 December 2024
Granted today, it carries open work rights: any legal work, in any job, anywhere in New Zealand, with any occupational registration the job needs. You can run your own business but cannot employ others, and you need an IRD number to pay tax.
Some visas granted before 2 December 2024 came with conditions (an accredited employer only, at the role's wage rate), which the holder can apply to remove once the worker meets the current lines. You can also study for up to 3 months in any 12-month period, and travel in and out.
Who counts as a partner, and what "genuine and stable" means to INZ
Yes, an unmarried partner can qualify if you live together in a genuine and stable relationship. INZ's partner is someone you are legally married to, or in a civil union or de facto relationship with, and live with, of the same sex or a different sex. A partnership is genuine if entered into on a long-term and exclusive basis, and stable if likely to continue for a long time.
Living together means sharing one home, not two homes and visits, a shared holiday or flatmates, and you must be living together when you apply. The 12 months of evidence belong to other partnership applications, such as the Partner of a New Zealander Resident Visa for partners of New Zealand citizens and residents. INZ's page for your visa sets no minimum period; INZ weighs how long you have been a couple and shared a home.
If you have lived apart because one of you went first, explain why, for how long and how you kept in touch; INZ judges whether there were genuine and compelling reasons to stay apart. You must both be 18 or older (16 or 17 with a parent's or guardian's consent) and have met.
What INZ asks you to provide
- Proof of the relationship: marriage or civil union certificates, your children's birth certificates, joint bank accounts in use, a shared lease or bills, chats and photos, and people who recognise you as a couple. In the Philippines those certificates come from the PSA. If you married outside the Philippines, its Philippine record is a Report of Marriage. The worker must complete INZ's Form for Partners Supporting Partnership-Based Temporary Entry Applications (INZ 1146).
- Health: the Philippines is not on INZ's list of countries with a low incidence of tuberculosis, so a stay of more than 6 months needs a chest X-ray. A stay under 12 months does not normally need a medical certificate. Results must be less than 3 months old when INZ receives them, from an INZ-approved panel physician.
- Character: you must be of good character. If you are 17 or older and your total time in New Zealand will be 24 months or longer, you need to provide police certificates less than 6 months old from the Philippines and any country you lived in for over 5 years since turning 17. INZ names the NBI clearance as the acceptable Philippine certificate. The worker must also meet INZ's good character requirements for supporting partners, and may be asked for police certificates as proof.
- The rest: INZ also asks for genuine reasons for coming to New Zealand and plans to leave when your stay ends, a passport valid 3 months past your planned departure, certified English translations of police or medical certificates not in English, and proof of enough money to live on, or a sponsor, if asked.
How to apply
Apply online, or on paper with form INZ 1198, and an approval arrives as an eVisa. The application can go in alongside the worker's own, but yours is granted only after theirs is approved.
Two careers in one move
On an AEWV, your partner's options are decided by your career rung, the skill level of your job and its pay. Planning to be together is also planning your next rung: the right role, a qualification that lifts your level, pay that clears a line. Where that climb can lead, residence included, is mapped in our New Zealand work guide, with no promise attached.
For the partner who joins, open work rights are a start, not a ceiling: check whether your profession needs New Zealand occupational registration, and pack the papers that prove your skills. From 9 March 2026, INZ moved nanny, pet groomer and kennel hand from skill level 3 to 4 for new Job Checks, noting it may affect their ability to support a partner. Check the level before you sign.
Before you fly: the scams to refuse, and one Philippine change
INZ charges only an application fee; your own costs, such as a medical, are separate. You need no adviser, and an adviser buys no priority; if you want help, use only a licensed immigration adviser, a certified New Zealand lawyer or someone else legally able to advise you. Anyone promising residence is overselling: INZ says a temporary visa carries no guarantee of it. Lying to qualify is illegal.
Since 24 July 2026, INZ no longer issues the letter it once gave Filipinos granted an open work visa (its Visa Pak 682); the Philippine labour authorities told INZ that people who gain work rights after arriving can register and validate their work visa with the Migrant Workers Office New Zealand and apply online for an Overseas Employment Certificate. Before you book, ask the DMW or the MWO what your own departure will need.
If a child will travel to join you, read our DSWD travel clearance guide first.
Before You Apply: The Couple's Checklist
- The worker's visa, skill level and hourly pay checked against the lines this month.
- Proof that you share one home, your marriage and birth certificates, the worker's completed INZ 1146, and an account of any time apart.
- A chest X-ray less than 3 months old and, normally, a medical certificate for a stay of 12 months or longer.
- An NBI clearance under 6 months old if your total time in New Zealand will reach 24 months.
- Nothing paid to anyone promising a faster decision.
The Questions Filipinos Ask Us Most
How much does it cost?
The application costs NZD $1,630 for a Philippine citizen applying online from the Philippines, as INZ listed it on 24 September 2026, including a non-refundable immigration levy; the fee is not refunded if the application is declined. Fees change and differ by how and where you apply, so check INZ's "How to pay and submit" section with your details.
How long does it take?
80% of applications are currently completed within 6 weeks, INZ reports: its current pace, not a promise about yours.
Can our children come too?
Not on the partner's application; they need their own visas, a Dependent Child Student Visa or a Child of a Worker Visitor Visa. For an AEWV job at skill level 1 to 3, the line for supporting them is NZD $58,240 a year, counted on no more than 40 hours a week, and the NZD $52.50 an hour route covers children too. The visitor visa can include dependent children aged 19 or younger; on an AEWV, the same line applies. Children approved or applied for through you by 9 March 2025 may keep an older, lower line.
Sources
Partner of a Worker Work Visa, Immigration New Zealand (INZ): https://www.immigration.govt.nz/visas/partner-of-a-worker-work-visa/
Bringing family if you have an AEWV, same site: https://www.immigration.govt.nz/process-to-apply/once-you-have-a-visa/bringing-family-to-new-zealand/bringing-family-if-you-have-a-work-visa/bringing-family-if-you-have-an-accredited-employer-work-visa-aewv/
Median wage increase from 9 March 2026, same site: https://www.immigration.govt.nz/about-us/news-centre/new-occupations-recognised-under-the-national-occupation-list-and-annual-median-wage-increase/
Amendment Circular 2026-01, same site: https://www.immigration.govt.nz/assets/inz/documents/amendment-circulars/Amendment-Circular-2026-01.pdf
Partner of a Worker Visitor Visa, same site: https://www.immigration.govt.nz/visas/partner-of-a-worker-visitor-visa/
Partnership and how to prove it, same site: https://www.immigration.govt.nz/process-to-apply/once-you-have-a-visa/bringing-family-to-new-zealand/partnership-and-how-to-prove-it/
The NBI clearance for the Philippines, same site: https://www.immigration.govt.nz/visas/essential-skills-work-visa/
Scam warnings, same site: https://www.immigration.govt.nz/work/protecting-yourself-from-immigration-scams/
Visa Pak 682, 24 July 2026, same site: https://www.immigration.govt.nz/assets/inz/documents/visa-paks/24-July-2026-Update-to-Filipino-open-work-visa-letter-requirement-Visa-Pak-682-2.pdf
Republic Act No. 11909, Supreme Court E-Library: https://elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocs/2/95608