New Zealand visa decline rate by nationality 2025/26: visitor, student and work visas
How many New Zealand visa applications were declined, nationality by nationality, from Immigration New Zealand's official monthly statistics: visitor, student and work visas side by side, every financial year since 2016/17.
Visitor visas · all nationalities · July 2025 to June 2026: 11.3% declined (52,609 of 467,227 applications decided)
Highest visitor visa decline rates in 2025/26 among nationalities with at least 500 decisions: Nigeria (87.2%), Ghana (86.2%), Pakistan (76.2%).
Source: Immigration New Zealand (Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment): Visitors Visas decided (applications), by nationality and financial year of decision; Student Visas decided (applications), by nationality and financial year of decision; Work Visas decided (applications), by nationality and financial year of decision (PDF, prepared 8 October 2026, decisions to 30 September 2026, downloaded on 26 October 2026). Crown copyright, licensed under CC BY 3.0 NZ (copyright notice). Decline rate = declined ÷ (approved + declined), applications; INZ counts withdrawn applications as declined. Financial years run from July to June.
Statistics, not advice. These are official figures for all applications decided in a past period. They cannot predict the decision on your application, and they mix very different applicants, courses and documents. INZ's declined figure also includes withdrawn applications, so it is not the same measure as the UK or Australian refusal rate. Always follow the official requirements of the immigration authority.
New Zealand visa decline rate by nationality (2025/26)
Applications decided in 2025/26 (July 2025 to June 2026), nationalities with at least 500 decisions for at least one visa type. Tap a column heading to sort, or type to filter. * Fewer than 500 decisions; – fewer than 100.
| China | 3.4% | 195,625 | 3.4% | 24,131 | 5.6% | 21,386 |
| India | 17.2% | 80,670 | 20.8% | 19,697 | 6.4% | 34,672 |
| Philippines | 7.2% | 30,334 | 7.7% | 6,733 | 3.3% | 25,613 |
| Fiji | 13.3% | 19,885 | 7.4% | 2,599 | 8.5% | 7,119 |
| Thailand | 2.4% | 15,174 | 3.3% | 1,821 | 4.6% | 2,571 |
| Sri Lanka | 19.0% | 5,846 | 8.3% | 5,935 | 2.8% | 7,172 |
| Indonesia | 5.5% | 14,330 | 2.7% | 1,244 | 3.3% | 2,127 |
| South Africa | 3.3% | 10,876 | 3.5% | 1,437 | 3.4% | 3,305 |
| Samoa | 18.2% | 10,042 | 8.8%* | 238 | 2.4% | 5,190 |
| Vietnam | 9.1% | 8,515 | 7.3% | 2,827 | 9.8% | 3,847 |
| Tonga | 17.9% | 11,680 | 10.7% | 544 | 4.5% | 2,663 |
| United States | 9.6% | 3,815 | 3.9% | 3,281 | 3.3% | 6,548 |
| United Kingdom | 14.9% | 1,212 | 2.9% | 520 | 3.7% | 11,846 |
| Russia | 16.3% | 10,382 | 9.4%* | 414 | 1.5% | 1,495 |
| Nepal | 25.0% | 3,438 | 18.2% | 3,921 | 3.6% | 3,749 |
| Pakistan | 76.2% | 7,788 | 23.8% | 1,156 | 10.0% | 1,223 |
| Germany | 7.5% | 969 | 0.7% | 2,760 | 1.1% | 6,241 |
| France | 10.3% | 913 | 2.1% | 517 | 1.0% | 8,163 |
| Bangladesh | 40.1% | 2,999 | 35.9% | 3,617 | 8.3% | 2,102 |
| Japan | 13.2%* | 441 | 0.9% | 3,141 | 1.8% | 4,930 |
| Vanuatu | 9.6% | 774 | – | 48 | 0.4% | 6,841 |
| South Korea | 5.4% | 1,070 | 1.0% | 2,949 | 2.9% | 2,415 |
| Malaysia | 22.8% | 534 | 2.1% | 1,088 | 2.1% | 3,517 |
| Brazil | 10.6% | 736 | 8.1% | 1,286 | 4.5% | 1,977 |
| Cambodia | 12.3% | 2,349 | 7.2% | 668 | 17.8% | 881 |
| Canada | 11.0% | 502 | 4.5%* | 463 | 3.6% | 2,731 |
| Nigeria | 87.2% | 2,682 | 35.6%* | 491 | 8.9%* | 315 |
| Argentina | 11.4%* | 493 | 9.5%* | 210 | 3.0% | 2,574 |
| Chile | 8.8%* | 442 | 9.7% | 579 | 3.1% | 2,222 |
| Spain | 10.7%* | 178 | 1.6%* | 122 | 0.8% | 2,802 |
| Colombia | 13.7% | 1,639 | 17.7% | 729 | 4.0%* | 449 |
| Italy | 11.6%* | 242 | 1.3%* | 373 | 1.9% | 1,975 |
| Taiwan | 8.2%* | 257 | 1.8% | 729 | 1.8% | 1,251 |
| Solomon Islands | 9.6% | 534 | – | 56 | 0.9% | 1,476 |
| Myanmar | 33.6% | 599 | 29.2% | 787 | 4.3% | 648 |
| Papua New Guinea | 10.4% | 1,130 | 18.1%* | 177 | 3.3% | 676 |
| Ireland | 15.4%* | 259 | – | 54 | 2.9% | 1,573 |
| Zimbabwe | 41.9% | 759 | 11.2%* | 421 | 3.6% | 554 |
| Netherlands | 5.8%* | 343 | 1.9%* | 160 | 3.2% | 1,196 |
| Türkiye | 20.5% | 1,224 | – | 83 | 4.8%* | 377 |
| Iran | 25.5% | 660 | 24.9%* | 366 | 10.3%* | 398 |
| Peru | 10.1% | 987 | 22.1%* | 122 | 4.3%* | 305 |
| Kiribati | 21.9% | 565 | – | 84 | 1.3% | 713 |
| Czech Republic | 8.5%* | 130 | – | 67 | 1.1% | 1,162 |
| Hong Kong | 9.5%* | 148 | 2.9% | 663 | 4.2%* | 454 |
| Singapore | – | 97 | 2.7%* | 406 | 5.0% | 540 |
| Tuvalu | 27.0% | 685 | – | 65 | 4.4%* | 273 |
| Mexico | 16.2%* | 136 | 6.4%* | 234 | 3.5% | 602 |
| Ukraine | 21.9% | 777 | – | 30 | 4.0%* | 151 |
| Ghana | 86.2% | 731 | – | 89 | – | 85 |
| Kenya | 47.0% | 521 | 37.0%* | 246 | 7.8%* | 116 |
| Belgium | 8.7%* | 103 | – | 89 | 5.2% | 561 |
| Uruguay | 12.0%* | 108 | – | 68 | 5.5% | 567 |
| Kazakhstan | 27.9% | 505 | – | 68 | – | 50 |
Source: Immigration New Zealand (Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment): Visitors Visas decided (applications), by nationality and financial year of decision; Student Visas decided (applications), by nationality and financial year of decision; Work Visas decided (applications), by nationality and financial year of decision (PDF, prepared 8 October 2026, decisions to 30 September 2026, downloaded on 26 October 2026). Crown copyright, licensed under CC BY 3.0 NZ (copyright notice). Decline rate = declined ÷ (approved + declined), applications; INZ counts withdrawn applications as declined. Financial years run from July to June.
Year by year, all nationalities
| 2016/17 | 7.7% | 401,551 | 10.0% | 118,527 | 6.7% | 242,377 |
| 2017/18 | 7.3% | 525,135 | 7.1% | 112,730 | 7.9% | 249,855 |
| 2018/19 | 7.8% | 580,222 | 7.1% | 111,777 | 5.7% | 257,010 |
| 2019/20 | 8.6% | 373,996 | 10.1% | 93,161 | 5.8% | 210,069 |
| 2020/21 | 7.7% | 59,700 | 3.0% | 53,707 | 4.8% | 159,798 |
| 2021/22 | 6.4% | 56,636 | 3.5% | 41,116 | 3.6% | 180,315 |
| 2022/23 | 10.3% | 339,047 | 9.8% | 75,581 | 3.8% | 234,961 |
| 2023/24 | 13.9% | 557,664 | 13.6% | 90,051 | 4.9% | 210,986 |
| 2024/25 | 11.8% | 501,248 | 13.3% | 93,444 | 5.1% | 192,489 |
| 2025/26 | 11.3% | 467,227 | 10.3% | 103,886 | 4.2% | 210,073 |
| July to September 2026 (2026/27) | 10.4% | 122,674 | 24.7% | 30,575 | 5.2% | 56,946 |
Source: Immigration New Zealand statistics, same PDFs as above (prepared 8 October 2026, downloaded on 26 October 2026, Crown copyright, CC BY 3.0 NZ). Declined includes withdrawn applications.
How to read these figures
- By nationality = the country that issued the passport (INZ definition).
- Declined, for INZ, includes applications that did not meet the criteria and applications withdrawn by the client or replaced by a new one. We divide declined by approved + declined, the applications INZ counts as decided.
- Applications, not people: one application can include several people (INZ also publishes the people counts).
- Financial years run from 1 July to 30 June; 2026/27 so far covers July to September 2026. Electronic travel authorities (NZeTA) are not visas and are not counted.
Official sources
- Visitors Visas decided (applications), by nationality and financial year of decision – Immigration New Zealand, PDF (1,246,827 bytes), prepared 8 October 2026, downloaded on 26 October 2026. Crown copyright, CC BY 3.0 NZ.
- Student Visas decided (applications), by nationality and financial year of decision – Immigration New Zealand, PDF (873,321 bytes), prepared 8 October 2026, downloaded on 26 October 2026. Crown copyright, CC BY 3.0 NZ.
- Work Visas decided (applications), by nationality and financial year of decision – Immigration New Zealand, PDF (1,456,102 bytes), prepared 08 October 2026, downloaded on 26 October 2026. Crown copyright, CC BY 3.0 NZ.
- Immigration statistics and copyright notice – Immigration New Zealand.
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