Partner Work Visas & Free Schooling: The Family Rulebook

“One person gets the visa, the whole family benefits”: but only conditionally. Whether your partner can work and your children can attend school for free depends on the principal applicant’s visa type, job skill level and income. This guide lays out every threshold.

1. Partner work visas: three pay tiers decide the rights

When the principal applicant holds an AEWV, what the partner can apply for depends on the job and hourly rate (settings from March 2026):

Principal applicant’s situation	Partner can apply for
Any role at ≥ NZD $52.50/hour (1.5× median wage)	Partner work visa with open work rights
ANZSCO level 1–3 role at ≥ NZD $28.00/hour (80% of median)	Partner work visa with open work rights
Green List role at ≥ NZD $35.00/hour, meeting the role’s requirements	Partner work visa with open work rights
Care / transport sector agreement level 4–5 role at ≥ $28.00/hour	Partner work visa with open work rights
Below these thresholds	Partner visitor visa only (no work rights)

Details that matter:

• You can apply at the same time as the principal applicant, but the partner visa is only granted after their approval;
• If you already hold a partner work visa with conditions (tied employer/pay), you can apply for a Variation of Conditions to open work rights once the principal applicant earns at least NZD $28.00/hour;
• Since 20 April 2026, partner-based open work visas fall in the “any work” category: self-employment and running a business are allowed, but no open work visa holder may ever employ other people.

Visas that cannot support a partner: working holiday, fishing crew, RSE/SSE seasonal, diplomatic domestic staff, SMC Job Search, lower-skilled AEWV/ESWV, and work visas of 6 months or less.

Two other partner work visas:

• Partner of a New Zealander: partner is a citizen or resident; no income test, the fullest rights;
• Partner of a Student: available when the student studies an eligible level 7–8 qualification (on the approved list) or any level 9–10 (master’s/PhD) qualification.

2. Free schooling: how children get domestic-student status

The core fact: children granted a Dependent Child Student Visa attend state primary and secondary schools as domestic students: tuition-free, for the duration of the parent’s work visa.

The thresholds (AEWV families):

Requirement	Standard
Parent income	≥ NZD $58,240/year before tax; two AEWV parents can combine incomes
Child’s age	19 or younger; 17 and under counts as dependent automatically, 18–19 must have no children and may need dependency evidence
Living costs	Waived when the income test is met; otherwise NZD $17,000/year of funds
Health	You must declare you’ll cover the child’s health costs; full medical insurance recommended
Fee / processing	From NZD $750; 80% decided within 10 weeks

Three red lines people trip over:

1. The income test is continuous. If family income drops below the threshold and stays there, both parents and children can become liable to leave: it is not a one-off check at application;
2. AEWV holders in ANZSCO level 4–5 roles generally cannot sponsor new child student visas unless they earn ≥ NZD $52.50/hour, work in a Green List role, or are covered by a sector agreement (visas held before 26 June 2024 are grandfathered);
3. Children under 5 cannot enrol in school: they receive a visitor visa instead.

A major difference for student families: children of ordinary master’s or bachelor’s students cannot study as domestic students. Only children of PhD candidates, government exchange students, and Manaaki scholarship holders qualify for the Dependent Child Student Visa. Other accompanying children get visitor visas with at most 3 months of study per calendar year.

3. Work rights for school-age children

A Dependent Child Student Visa holder in Year 12–13 (the last two years of secondary school):

• may work up to 25 hours a week during the school year, with full-time enrolment plus written permission from school and parents;
• may work full-time during the Christmas–New Year summer break (students 18+ need no permission in summer);
• must work as an employee, never self-employed; under-16s cannot work at all.

4. Family planning advice

• Run the income numbers before planning the move: the principal applicant’s hourly rate decides which tier of rights the family gets: NZD $28.00, $35.00 and $52.50 are the three anchors when negotiating pay;
• A PhD is the family-friendly study pathway: open work rights for the partner plus free schooling for children: a hidden advantage over taught master’s programmes;
• Enrol children promptly after arrival: state schools enrol by zone, so choose your rental with school zones in mind;
• Treat income drops as a family-wide risk: job loss or a pay cut threatens not just the principal visa but the basis of the partner’s and children’s visas too.

Check current settings on the INZ website: wage thresholds adjust every March with the median wage.