Changelog

What changed on this site, and when

Every time we add a guide, update a tool or correct a figure, it lands here in plain language. Immigration rules move fast — this page is how you can tell what you might have missed since your last visit.

• 2026-09-10

  • New guide live: New Zealand Visa Fees Overview — official application fees for SMC, Green List Straight to Residence, Work to Residence, AEWV, PRV, student, visitor and partner work visas in one table, every figure re-checked on the Immigration NZ site today. We also list the costs people forget beyond the fee: the NZ$100 IVL levy, the NZ$445 NZQA assessment, medicals, translations and English tests — easily another NZ$1,000–2,000 before you lodge.

• 2026-09-09

  • Homepage redesigned: the 8 free tools are now the main event — every tool card is right on the front page with the decision it helps you make. Policy updates and the email subscription moved to a mid-page block, a short scroll down.

  • The cost of living calculator and startup cost estimator gained a second column: every NZ dollar figure now also shows the amount converted into a currency you pick — not just RMB anymore, but GBP, USD, EUR, AUD and more. Your choice is saved in the link, so it survives refresh and sharing. The currency converter supports EUR too.

  • New artwork on the homepage: the rolling-hills illustration up top now shows in full (it was cropped to its bottom half before), and the guides section is now a hand-painted snow-mountain trail — the six journey stages are six waypoints along the path, labelled on clouds, each one clickable straight into its guide group, with a little hover animation.

• 2026-09-08

  • Checklists are now printable: every checklist card has a new "Print / save as PDF" button that prints just that checklist (not the whole article); the print layout comes with a branded header, empty tick boxes (ticked items print as solid checks) and a progress summary — easy to pin above your desk or take to an appointment. There's also a new "My checklists" page (linked in the footer's Tools column) that gathers every checklist you've saved on this site: see progress at a glance and jump back to where you left off. Your data stays in your own browser, as always.

  • Four tools got deeper: the SMC calculator's income category now takes your actual hourly rate or salary and reverse-matches it to the right median-wage tier (and tells you plainly if you're below 1.5×), with a new 0–9 progress-to-6 scale in the result; the Pathway Finder can generate a tickable action checklist from your recommended pathway (progress saved in your own browser); the score converter adds the AEWV skill level 3–5 English line and IELTS↔PTE section-by-section concordance from Pearson's latest study; and the startup cost estimator's living-cost buffer is now a 1–12 month slider, student visas get an is-it-enough check against INZ's NZ$20,000/year living-cost requirement, and the cost of living calculator can hand your city and household straight over.

  • All 8 tools now let you copy a link that restores your exact inputs — refresh it or send it to a friend. The take-home pay calculator hands your monthly net income to the cost of living calculator to show your surplus or shortfall; the currency converter gained a 90-day trend chart; the cost of living calculator compares up to 3 cities side by side; and the Green List checker suggests close matches plus an SMC fallback guide when nothing matches.

• 2026-09-07

  • Guides page redesigned: all 64 guides are now grouped by journey stage (choose your path → visa → find a job → before you fly → settle in → put down roots), with three featured reading series — job hunting, family visas and settling in — and the 18 occupation guides in a compact library at the bottom.

• 2026-09-06

  • Published the NZ job interview and salary negotiation guide: how interviews run, the STAR method, negotiating pay and reference checks — completing the five-guide job-hunting series.

• 2026-09-05

  • Published a beginner's guide to NZ workplace culture: Kiwi communication style, work-life boundaries, office socialising, and your legal minimums like leave entitlements.

• 2026-09-03

  • Published a guide to the NZ CV and cover letter: how it differs from a Chinese resume, how to write each section, and the most common mistakes.

• 2026-09-02

  • Launched the family visa series: two new guides — a family visa overview and a partner resident visa deep dive — completing a five-guide family matrix with the existing partner work visa, parent reunion and SMC partner guides. Added the missing Occupational Therapist to the Green List (now 201 occupations), corrected the registered-nurse scope count (15 → 13) and the engineering occupation count (13 → 14). Rewrote three work-to-residence guides to reflect the rules now in force since 24 August (wage-rate lock-in, 5-month grace period). Refreshed the About page.

• 2026-09-01

  • Published the AEWV job-hunting checklist: the rules now in force, how to check a job's status, how changing employers works, and how to spot job-offer scams.

• 2026-08-31

  • Aligned the whole site with the 24 August SMC changes: the points calculator, Pathway Finder and a dozen-plus guides (including the 6-point system explainer) now use the new qualification and experience tables. Fixed a calculator bug that scored LQEA-exempt overseas bachelor's degrees 5 points instead of 4.

• 2026-08-30

  • Published "Finding a Job in New Zealand", the hub of our job-hunting series: how to choose between job channels, how to verify an employer's accreditation, and how your visa status shapes the strategy. The follow-up guides roll out over the coming days.

• 2026-08-28

  • Published "RV → PRV → Citizenship: The Complete Timeline", lining up the resident visa's first two years, the PRV application and the citizenship milestones into one action timeline. Also corrected two stale facts in the RV vs PRV vs citizenship comparison: the PRV fee (from $315) and citizenship processing time (90% decided within 3 months).

• 2026-08-19

  • Email alerts are live: leave your address on the policy updates page and we'll email you when New Zealand immigration policy changes.

• 2026-08-18

  • Published three guides on the 24 August changes: how the two new pathways (SWE / T&T) work, an old-vs-new points comparison, and the wage-threshold lock-in rule explained.

• 2026-08-15

  • Published the settling-in series — IRD number, bank accounts, renting — so life after the visa is covered too. Same day: a Work to Residence deep dive (how to build the 24 months, what happens if you change jobs).