Upgrade your licence
Last updated 24 September 2020
You can apply to upgrade your limited or provisional immigration licence if you meet the upgrade criteria.
A provisional licence or limited licence holder may apply to upgrade their licence at any time. A provisional licence holder may upgrade to a limited or full licence. Limited Licence holders may only upgrade to a full licence.
If a provisional or limited licence holder wishes to upgrade their licence when they are due to renew their licence, and they have received an inspection notice, their upgrade application will be assessed under the inspection stream. A licence upgrade takes effect from either the date of expiry of the previous licence or the date on which the upgrade is granted, whichever occurs first.
You may lodge your application no more than three weeks prior to holding a provisional licence for 24 months, however the Registrar’s decision on your application will not be sent until you have held a provisional licence for 24 months.
If the Authority has lodged your upgrade application but has not assessed it before the date on which your licence would otherwise expire, your provisional/limited licence continues in force until the assessment of the application is complete.
Note
You cannot submit an upgrade application form online. All applicants must submit Form 201: Upgrade Application together with the required fee and supporting documentation by one of the methods below. Do not submit a renewal and upgrade application at the same time.
The Authority must receive the upgrade application either receive:
- A physical copy:
- By mail delivered by a recognized postal service
- By prepaid courier
- A digital copy:
- By email: info@iaa.govt.nz. Please ensure that you put in the subject heading: ‘Upgrade application, name, and licence number’. Please note our inbox contains a size limit of 20MB. If sending multiple emails, please ensure your emails are clearly labelled i.e. Upgrade Application, First name Last Name 201XXXXXX, Email 1 of 2.
The Authority will not accept an upgrade applications submitted by any other means.
The requirements to apply for an upgrade of a New Zealand immigration adviser licence are set out in Form 201: Upgrade Application.
Once an application has been received by the Authority, it will be checked to confirm it is complete.
The Authority will not lodge applications with incomplete information.
The Authority will not lodge an application if an applicant has not used the correct form.