The Government is boosting New Zealand’s attractiveness as a destination for Chinese tourists by improving visa settings and processes, said Immigration Minister Erica Stanford.

From November, New Zealand will trial visa waiver status for Chinese passport holders travelling from Australia with a valid Australian visitor, work, student or family visa, allowing them to visit for up to three months.

“Our immigration settings play an important role in brightening our country’s economic future. More than 240,000 Chinese visitor visas were granted in 2024, and we want those numbers to grow,” Stanford said.

“This will make it easier, cheaper and faster for them to cross the Tasman and visit our shores. The trial will last for 12 months and will be supplemented by further improvements to our immigration processes, making it easier for people applying for a visa.”

Other changes include Immigration New Zealand establishing a dedicated contact centre number and support in China for Chinese ‘Approved Destination Status’ travel agents. There is also new Simplified Chinese web content on the INZ website, and Visitor Visa applicants will no longer need to have their document translations certified.  This will remove additional translation fees for all Visitor Visa applicants who need to provide translated documents, not only those from China.

These changes complement the five-year multiple entry Visitor Visa already in place and NZ’s current average processing time of five working days visitor visa applications from China

“China is one of New Zealand’s most important tourism markets, and more international visitors means more bookings in our restaurants, more people visiting our regions and attractions, more jobs being created across the country, and an overall stronger economy,” Tourism and Hospitality Minister Louise Upston said.

“In the year ended March 2025, visitors from China contributed $1.24 billion to New Zealand’s economy, but there’s still more work to do to grow these numbers and drive further economic growth throughout the country.”

Approved Destination Status is an arrangement between the Chinese Government and another country, that lets Chinese holiday travellers visit a country in a tour group. Read more about the scheme on the Tourism New Zealand website: Approved Destination Status | Corporate