Practical guides
For Kiwis taking a job in Mainland China, the usual route involves an employer-sponsored work permit and work-type residence permission. This guide uses Shenzhen's official procedures as the detailed local example; Hong Kong and Macao have separate employment and immigration systems.
Work-permit process, visa fee and selected official document requirements reviewed on 11 October 2026. Recheck the linked authority instructions before applying.
Visa-free entry for an eligible short visit does not allow you to take a job in Mainland China. If you are moving for work, arrange the work and residence permissions required for your role with your employer.
Check the Chinese Embassy visa-free policyFor the usual Category B professional route, you normally need a bachelor's degree or higher, at least two years of relevant work experience and to be no older than 60. The general requirements include being at least 18, in good health, with no criminal record and an identified lawful employer in Mainland China. The role must meet the official professional and labour-market requirements; a job offer alone does not qualify you.
Approved alternatives can include skilled professionals, qualifying graduates, innovation or entrepreneurship talent, points-based assessment and government-agreement routes. These can allow the age, qualification or experience limits to be relaxed. Category A high-end talent has separate criteria and can be exempt from those limits. Before preparing documents, have the employer identify the category and evidence supporting your application.
Shenzhen permit authority: eligibility and exceptions (Chinese)
Ask for a written checklist covering your passport, highest qualification, work-experience letters, criminal record check and contract. For each item, record the required format and submission date. Keep scans and the originals needed for verification.
Agree who will submit the application, book appointments and return your originals. Check that the employer, job, work location and start date match your contract, and keep the application handler's contact details.
Proof of no criminal record is required for the standard Mainland work-permit application. Request your New Zealand criminal record check from the Ministry of Justice; it is free, with a published response target of 20 working days. Shenzhen requires the certificate to have been issued within the past six months.
Arrange the apostille through DIA and confirm the submission date, accepted format and Chinese translation with your employer.
Shenzhen allows Category A high-end talent applicants to use a letter of undertaking instead of the certificate. This exception applies to that approved category.
DIA's Authentication Unit accepts criminal record information on the Ministry of Justice's blue letterhead as the original paper document or a PDF. Follow its application instructions and preparation requirements for degree and family documents. Confirm whether the receiving authority wants a paper or electronic apostille and any translation.
The standard apostille fee is NZ$37. Translation, courier and urgent services cost extra.
For a family stay of more than 180 days with a foreigner working or studying in China, the S1 family-visit route covers a spouse, parents, children under 18 and parents-in-law. An unmarried partner is not listed in this family category. S2 covers family visits of no more than 180 days and includes a wider range of relatives.
For either family-visit visa, prepare the inviter's signed invitation, copies of their passport and Chinese residence permit, and the original and a copy of your marriage, birth or other kinship certificate. The invitation must identify both people, your relationship, the visit dates and address, and who pays the costs. Apply through COVA using the New Zealand mission for your home address.
For New Zealand birth and marriage certificates used for the Mainland residence application, obtain a DIA apostille and a Chinese translation. DIA accepts the original official certificate; the copy of marriage particulars signed on the wedding day is not the marriage certificate. An apostille replaces Chinese consular legalisation for covered New Zealand public documents.
After entering on S1, apply for a private-affairs residence permit within 30 days. Take your passport, completed application, compliant photo, accommodation-registration record, and the inviter's residence permit and letter explaining the relationship. Keep the relationship originals and copies for verification.
Auckland Consulate: S1/S2 eligibility and visa documents
DIA: original birth and marriage certificates
Your employer starts the Mainland application and obtains the Notification Letter of Foreigner's Work Permit for the visa stage. Shenzhen lists the work-permit application as free of charge; document preparation, health checks and visa or residence applications are separate costs.
Use China Online Visa Application (COVA) and choose the mission responsible for your New Zealand home address. Prepare the work-permit notification, a passport with at least six months' validity and blank visa pages, a copy of its bio page and a recent white-background ID photo. After preliminary review, follow the mission's instructions to submit your passport and attend for fingerprints where required.
For applications up to 31 December 2026, Auckland lists a standard NZ single-entry visa fee of NZ$105 and normal processing of four working days after acceptance. Check the published fee again for a later application. Online review and any extra checks take additional time.
Start the official China Online Visa Application
Current Chinese visa application instructions for New Zealand
Shenzhen uses the work-permit and social-security-card integration introduced on 1 December 2024. For the overseas application route, the former notification and post-entry permit applications are combined: you do not apply for a separate physical work-permit card after arrival. Your employer completes the online work-permit process and supplies the approved Notification Letter for your Z visa.
After entry, register in the electronic social-security-card app using your name and work-permit or social-security number, and complete identity verification to access the work-permit information. The Notification Letter or electronic card can support the residence application. Shenzhen's implementation FAQ also requires original overseas-application documents to be checked by the Foreign Experts Bureau when arranging work-related residence permission; have your employer confirm the appointment and required originals.
For Shenzhen original-document verification, the integrated-process FAQ lists Window 50, East Hall, Civic Centre Administrative Service Hall, Fuzhong 3rd Road, Futian; enquiry +86 755 8812 1678. Have the employer confirm the current appointment and originals before you go.
Shenzhen Foreign Experts Bureau: current integrated work-permit process · Implementation FAQ: original-document verification (Chinese PDF)
If your visa requires a residence permit, apply to the exit-entry authority where you will live within 30 days of entry. Prepare your passport, application form, photo and photo receipt, temporary accommodation-registration record, work-permit evidence and employer letter. Shenzhen's checklist also includes a health certificate. Book using the city's official appointment service and keep the acceptance receipt while your passport is held.
National residence-permit fees: CNY400 for under one year, CNY800 from one to under three years, and CNY1,000 from three to five years.
NIA residence-permit fee table (Chinese)
Hotels register their guests. If you stay elsewhere in Mainland China, you or your host must register with the police for your place of residence within 24 hours of arrival. You can register online through the NIA 12367 app or its WeChat or Alipay mini program, or go to the local police station. For the police route, take your passport and rental contract or property document. Keep the registration record: you will need it for your residence application.
Shenzhen requires a health certificate issued within the past six months by a Chinese inspection and quarantine institution, or an overseas institution it recognises. Its checklist allows an undertaking before entry, followed by the certificate after arrival. Ask your employer when to submit it and where the originals will be checked.
For a Shenzhen examination enquiry, HIT Shenzhen's 2026 residence guide lists Shenzhen Port Hospital on the third floor of Building 1, Huanggang Port Living Quarters, Binhe Avenue, Futian. Call +86 755 8377 4013 about appointments and the documents for an employment-related examination. Take any existing overseas report for verification; a routine hospital check is not automatically the required immigration certificate.
Give payroll the bank account held in your passport name and confirm your pay date. Check each payslip against your contract: gross salary, deductions and the amount received. The arrival guide explains opening a personal bank account.
Opening a personal bank account
To use the Individual Income Tax app or the relevant official online tax service with a foreign passport, first take your identity document to a taxpayer service hall for a registration code. Register within its seven-day validity using the hall-code option. To obtain a tax record, log in, choose "纳税记录开具", select the period and generate the record; the web portal places this under "特色应用".
Annual reconciliation normally runs from 1 March to 30 June for the previous tax year. It applies to resident individuals with comprehensive income, subject to the official exemptions; non-resident individuals do not make this annual reconciliation. A work permit alone does not determine tax residency. Use the official guide for the domicile and 183-day rules.
Tax authority: foreign-passport registration (Chinese)
Tax authority: generate your tax record (Chinese)
Getting to China: phones, payments, transport and emergency contacts
Your employer must apply to extend the work permit at least 30 days before it expires. Separately, apply to extend your residence permit 30 days before expiry. Start collecting the renewal documents in time for both deadlines; the local work-permit service may open its application window earlier. Keep the acceptance receipts and renewed documents.
Official guide: work-permit extensions and information changes NIA residence renewals and changes (Chinese)
Changes to work-permit information, such as your name, passport number or position, must be reported within 10 working days. Changes to residence-permit information must be reported within 10 days. Changing employer requires the appropriate cancellation and new work-permit procedure; keep the outgoing employer's release and cancellation documents. After moving, register the new accommodation address within 24 hours as well as updating the residence-permit information.
Coming for meetings rather than taking a job? The visitor categories below explain the options for short business trips, exchanges and tourism.
L visas are for tourism. M visas are for business and trade; the Auckland consulate requires an invitation from a trading partner in China. F visas cover non-commercial exchanges, visits and study tours, with an invitation from the relevant organisation or individual.
The consulate lists Z as the work-visa category and requires a Work Permit Notice or Work Permit. Check the issued visa's entry count and permitted stay separately from its expiry date.
Under the policy running until 31 December 2026, eligible New Zealand ordinary passport holders may visit Mainland China for up to 30 days for business, tourism, visiting family or friends, exchanges or transit. This short-visit policy does not cover employment. Anyone whose purpose or stay falls outside its conditions needs the appropriate permission before entry.
Auckland consulate: visa categories and application documents · Auckland consulate: current visa-free entry conditions
New Zealand now issues virtual ABTCs rather than physical cards. Applicants need New Zealand citizenship, a current New Zealand passport and evidence of frequent short business visits, and must meet Immigration New Zealand's character requirements.
An APEC Business Travel Card (ABTC) facilitates short business visits to economies that have granted the holder pre-clearance. For Mainland China, check that CHN approval is recorded on your card and travel with the valid passport associated with it. NIA permits qualifying cardholders to enter without a separate visa for up to 60 days per entry, within the card's validity.
The ABTC does not authorise employment or a working holiday. APEC also says it is not designed for tourism; use the entry route appropriate to the actual visit. Mainland approval does not establish entry or work rights in Hong Kong or Macao, which have separate systems.
Immigration New Zealand: ABTC eligibility and virtual cards · NIA: CHN approval and Mainland ABTC entry conditions · APEC: business travel card purposes and restrictions