New Zealand WHV 2024 tutorial: how to apply for your Working Holiday Visa

You must complete three sub-sections in this category:

• Personal details
• Identification
• Occupation details

Note that only questions with a red exclamation mark are compulsory.

Personal Details

Your first and last names are automatically entered. If your first name includes an accent, the accented letter will disappear (Chloé -> Chlo; François -> Franois). If this is your case, correct what you have previously entered and enter the corresponding letter without the accent or cedilla.

If you have other first names or middle names (which appear on your passport), you must enter them in “Given name 2” and “Given name 3” (without accents or cedillas).

The box for “other names you are or have ever been known by” refers to people who have changed their name (marriage or other reason) or who have used other names (for example in their employment).

You must enter your current home address.

Note : You can apply for a New Zealand WHV from any country in the world. If you are in New Zealand at the time of your application (which is possible), you will need to prove that you hold a valid passport in your home country. The information requested in the “Working Holiday Schemes Specific” section will be a little different and we’ll tell you about that later in the tutorial.

The New Zealand authorities require you to indicate a suburb. This is the name of a district, for example. You must therefore identify your suburb (or hamlet). If you live in a very small village and are sure there is no suburb, you can simply indicate “Village” and that will be fine with them.

Make sure your address is correct. If immigration were to send you mail (which is very rare), this is where they would send it. Once again, do not use accents or cedillas if your address contains them.

Although it is not compulsory to provide a phone number, it may be useful to include one if you need to be contacted by New Zealand immigration for any reason (e.g. a problem with your email). You must enter your country code and your telephone number.

Your email address is pre-filled. Make sure it is correct.

If you are applying without using an immigration adviser (which is probably the case for 100% of working holiday makers), select “No”. If you select “Yes”, as we explained in the previous chapter, a new category entitled ‘Adviser’ will appear in the compulsory tabs, for you to provide information about your adviser. If you have ticked this box by mistake, don’t worry, you can untick it and the ‘Adviser’ category will disappear.

You cannot choose any other method of communicating with New Zealand Immigration: only email is available by default.

You need a Visa or Mastercard to pay for your visa (your own or that of a friend or relative who wishes to pay for your visa). You therefore need to select “Yes” for the last question.

Identification

In this section, you will need to provide information about your passport and a second piece of identification.

You must enter your passport number and expiry date. The terms and conditions of the New Zealand WHV stipulate that your passport must be valid for at least three months after the date on which your WHV is due to expire.

If for some reason the date tool doesn’t open and you have to enter dates manually, note that in New Zealand you must enter them in the month / day / year format!

Your passport number can be found on page 2 of your passport, top right of your passport photo.

Pay attention! The New Zealand authorities state that if your passport details are incorrect, you will not be able to use your WHV! Make sure that your passport number is correct and that you have not mistaken an “O” for a “0” or a lower-case “l” for a capital “I” or a “1”.

For security reasons, New Zealand immigration will ask you for a second proof of identity. You can choose from three types of document. You will need to take the chosen document with you to prove your identity to New Zealand Immigration in the event of a problem.

• Driver licence: you must include the date of issue of your licence. Driving licences do not always have an expiry date, so the last line of the form is not compulsory. If your licence has an expiry date, enter it.
• Birth certificate.
• National ID: it must still be valid.

Occupation details

It is not compulsory to complete this third section.

You need to determine which job you have held most during the last 12 months to find out which occupation you need to select. You can choose your industry from the list available on this page. Enter the first few letters of your industry and select it.

You must then select your occupation from this list. Please note that the names of occupations are in the masculine gender. If you are in any doubt about the exact title of your occupation, enter the various titles in the visa application form and you will obtain a description of the tasks and qualifications required for a job in this field.

What if you are unemployed?

You must select your previous employment. Whether you are currently employed or unemployed will not affect the processing of your visa application.

Have you been unemployed for at least five years or have you never worked?

Select “Not stated”. The fact that you have never worked or have been unemployed for a long time will have no influence on the processing of your visa application.

Can’t find your job on the list?

You can select “Not stated” in the “Occupation” field.

The ‘Personal’ category should now be complete. When you click on “Save”, a small blue icon will appear to the right of the tab. If you still see a red circle with a white cross inside, go back to the ‘Identification’ or ‘Personal Details’ sections to see which question you forgot to answer.

Special case: applying for a WHV from New Zealand

If you have entered “New Zealand” in the first sub-section devoted to the country you are currently in, a new sub-heading entitled “Visa Details” will appear in the “Personal” category.

You must enter the date you arrived in New Zealand, the type of visa issued to you and its expiry date. If you arrived with a NZeta, you must select “Visitor”.

Please note that your WHV application does not grant you an Interim visa allowing you to stay legally in New Zealand if your current visa expires while your WHV application is being processed. So don’t wait until the very last days of your current visa’s validity to apply.