Tutorial: How to extend your Working Holiday Visa in New Zealand? (Working Holiday Extension)

Once your application has been sent, all you have to do is… wait. There are generally 3 stages following the receipt of your application:

• entering your application into the immigration computer system;
• verification of documents and payment;
• assessment by a case officer..

Unfortunately, the immigration department will not notify you of the receipt of your application (hence the advantage of having sent it by courier and having a tracking number). But don’t panic, there are a few ways to check that your application has been received. For this, go to your immigration account.

How to check if Immigration New Zealand has received your Working Holiday Extension application ?

Before logging in to your immigration account, choose the “Check my applications” option (although you may be tempted to click on “Working Holiday Schemes”).

Then, towards the middle of the page, you will see a summary of your visa applications. Here you will notice a new line with the word “Pending” and no date. This is your Working Holiday Extension application! This line confirms the first step: entering your application into the computer system.

Another easy way to check the progress of your application is to simply check your bank account. If it shows a debit of NZ$455, you are now at stage two: you have sent in all the documents required for the application, and you have now paid the visa fee. At this stage, you will also see on your immigration account that there is a “Lodgement date” in the line corresponding to your Working Holiday Extension. This is the date on which your application was electronically entered into the system, and therefore the official date of your extension request.

The interim visa

If your WHV expires before your Working Holiday Extension is approved, you will automatically be granted an interim visa, which will be valid for 6 months. This visa allows you to legally stay in New Zealand, and more importantly, in the case of working holiday holders, to continue working until your extension is granted.

The interim visa will be sent to you automatically a few days after paying for your Working Holiday Extension application. So don’t worry if you haven’t received your interim visa before the end of your WHV. What matters is that your extension application is in their computer system before that end date. You will find that even if you’re “unlawful” for a few days, your interim visa will officially start the day after your WHP ends, eliminating any illegal days in the country.

On your immigration account, your immigration status will be updated and you will officially be on an interim visa until you receive your WHV extension.