INZ continues its efforts in making the process of 2022 Special Ukraine Visa easier

INZ is making it easier to bring family to New Zealand through the 2022 Special Ukraine Visa. Anyone who applies from 15 March 2023 and is granted this visa will now have 12 months to travel to New Zealand.

Key points of this Visa

• No immigration fees
• Applicants are not required to provide police or medical certificates
• Applicants are not required English language tests, and
• Applicants are not required to have access to suitable funds

 
From 27 March the following criteria will change.

• New Zealanders with Ukrainian heritage can nominate family members for this visa. This means people who have parents or grandparents who meet the Ukrainian residency criteria can nominate family.
• The family members who can be nominated will expand to include adult extended family. Extended family includes adult uncles, aunts, grandchildren, cousins and stepchildren who have been living with the family for a long time.
• Applications can now have a nominating family member and a separate financial sponsor. The nominating family member and the sponsor can be the same person, two people, or one person and an entity.

How to get the visa
If you are a Ukrainian New Zealander, you can sponsor family members in Ukraine to apply for the new temporary visa. You first need to complete an expression of interest (EOI) and nominate them. Expressions of interest opened on 15 March 2022 and will close on 15 March 2024.

If you are in Ukraine, once your New Zealand family member has nominated you, you can apply for the visa. If you cannot apply yourself your New Zealand family member can apply on your behalf.

Who can apply
To be eligible to apply for the 2022 Special Ukraine Visa, you must have family members in New Zealand who are eligible to sponsor you. You must have been living in Ukraine as at January 2022, and you must be of good health and character. Eligible family members in New Zealand can sponsor their:

• parents
• grandparents
• siblings
• adult children.

Each of those people can include their partners and dependent children in their visa application.

To be eligible to sponsor, you must:

• be a New Zealand citizen or the holder of a current residence class visa
• be ordinarily resident in New Zealand
• have been born in Ukraine, or have held citizenship or be a permanent resident of Ukraine, and
• be an acceptable sponsor for a temporary visa.

You can submit expressions of interest under the expanded sponsorship criteria from 27 March 2023.

​Here is the step-by-step application process:

1. A Ukrainian in New Zealand who is a citizen or permanent resident nominates family members and their families to us.
2. INZ will tell the sponsor that the family member can apply for a visa (and will send the application form to the sponsor).
3. The sponsor or the family member must send in the application within 4 months.
4. INZ will assess the application and grant the visa.
5. If the visa is granted the family member will have 12 months to travel to NZ (if applied from 15 March 2023)

 
If you are successful
If you are invited to apply and your application is successful, you and your wider family will be offered a 2-year visa with the ability for adults to work in New Zealand and for children aged 18 and under to study in New Zealand.
 
The family member in New Zealand who will sponsor your application will be responsible for your accommodation and living costs when you come here.
 
If granted one of these visas, you will need to travel to New Zealand within 12 months (if applied after 15 March 2023).
 
Free health checks
When you are in New Zealand on your 2022 Special Ukraine Visa you can get a free initial health check. In this health check you can:

• be supported to enrol with a general practice (if you have not already)
• be assessed for tuberculosis (TB), including being offered testing to exclude TB
• find out what vaccinations you could have and where to get them.

Free interpreter services in your language are available. You can ask for an interpreter if you need one.
​Source: INZ website

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