The Concession Is Called Residence and Reaches a One-Year Work Visa, an Australian Passport and a Three-Year Visitor Visa - but Never a Student
Answer
The general rule applies to you
No exception is recorded for citizens of Australia on this topic. That is the answer, not a gap - everything below is the rule you get, unchanged.
195 exceptions recorded across 74 countries · none match Australia to New Zealand · Bringing your belongings
Household goods come in free of duty under concession reference 80 of Part II of the Tariff, approved by the Minister under section 8 of the Tariff Act 1988. Paragraph (e) covers household or other effects imported by a person who has arrived or will arrive in New Zealand and, on the date the effects are imported, holds a document authorising residence in New Zealand; who has or will have resided or been domiciled outside New Zealand for the whole of the 21-month period preceding their arrival; and who has personally owned and used the effects outside New Zealand before the date of departure for New Zealand. The whole weight falls on 'a document authorising residence', and the concession defines that phrase itself, far more widely than the words suggest: a New Zealand passport, an Australian passport, a current New Zealand residence visa or permit or returning resident's visa, a current Australian permanent residence or resident return visa, a current work visa or permit issued for a minimum of 12 months, a current work visa or permit under the Work to Residence (Skilled Migrant Category) policy or the Long Term Business Visa category, or a current visitor's visa or permit issued for a minimum of 3 years. New Zealand Customs reproduces that list on its household effects page and adds the inference the list forces but does not state: student visa holders do not qualify, though they may bring items needed for their studies. Three timing rules sit in notes under the concession. Goods arriving more than five years after the passenger need a Customs officer's consent; goods arriving more than six months before the passenger need a Customs officer's consent; and an officer may consent where the 21 months was not completed but compassionate grounds exist, which the concession defines as illness, injury or death of the person or a family member, and expressly not relationship breakdown or job loss. Motor vehicles, motorcycles, aircraft and ships are in separate paragraphs of the same concession with a harder test - one year of personal ownership and use before departure, and a written undertaking repaying the duty if the goods are sold within two years - and Customs' page states plainly that household concessions cannot be claimed for new and unused items.
At a glance
- Time that must have been spent outside New Zealand
- The whole of the 21-month period preceding arrival
Concession reference 80(e)(ii) of Part II of the Tariff. Customs' page adds that brief holidays or business trips to New Zealand do not break it.
- Documents that count as authorising residence
- Seven, including an Australian passport, a work visa issued for at least 12 months and a visitor's visa issued for at least 3 years
The definition of 'document authorising residence in New Zealand' in concession reference 80. The others are a New Zealand passport, a New Zealand residence visa or returning resident's visa, an Australian permanent residence or resident return visa, and a work visa under the Work to Residence (Skilled Migrant Category) policy or the Long Term Business Visa category.
- Student visa holders
- Do not qualify, but may bring items needed to complete their studies
Stated by New Zealand Customs on its household effects page. The concession itself does not mention students - it simply does not list a student visa among the seven documents.
- Deadline for the goods to follow you
- 5 years after arrival, beyond which a Customs officer's consent is needed
A note under concession reference 80.
- How early the goods may arrive
- 6 months before the passenger, beyond which a Customs officer's consent is needed
A second note under concession reference 80. Customs' 2023 notice treated this as the point from which the concession may be claimed.
- Compassionate shortening of the 21 months
- Illness, injury or death of the person or a family member - expressly not relationship breakdown or job loss
The definition of 'compassionate grounds' in concession reference 80.
- New or unused goods
- Outside the concession - duty and GST apply
New Zealand Customs states it on its household effects page. The concession's own words are that the goods must have been personally owned and used outside New Zealand before departure.
- Vehicles, boats and aircraft
- Separate paragraphs, needing a year of personal ownership and use and a written undertaking
Concession reference 80(b), (c) and (d). The undertaking repays the duty that would have been charged if the goods are sold or disposed of within two years of importation.
Requirements
- A document authorising residence in New Zealand as the concession defines it, held on the date the effects are imported
- Residence or domicile outside New Zealand for the whole of the 21 months preceding arrival
- Personal ownership and use of the effects outside New Zealand before departure
- Effects for the importer's own use, not for another person, gift, sale or exchange
- A Customs officer's consent where the goods arrive more than six months before, or more than five years after, the passenger
In detail
'Residence' in this concession is a term of art
Reading concession 80(e) without its definitions gives the wrong answer in both directions. It appears to require residence, and in fact a work visa issued for twelve months or a visitor's visa issued for three years is enough; it appears to be about New Zealand status, and in fact an Australian passport qualifies on its own, without any New Zealand document at all. The effect is that someone arriving on a two-year Accredited Employer Work Visa can bring a household in free of duty on the same footing as a resident, while a doctoral student on a four-year student visa cannot.
Two deadlines that run in opposite directions
The notes under the concession bound the shipment at both ends. Goods arriving more than six months before the passenger need a Customs officer's consent, and goods arriving more than five years after the passenger need the same. Neither is an outright bar - the officer may consent - but neither is automatic, and a shipment sent ahead of a delayed move is as exposed as one left behind for years.
Where the instrument stops and the agency starts
Customs' household effects page reproduces the concession's seven documents and its 21-month and five-year rules faithfully. Two things on that page are not in the concession: the sentence that student visa holders do not qualify, which is an inference from the closed list rather than a rule stated anywhere, and the long list of what counts as a household effect - chinaware, furniture, garage and hobby tools, appliances, linen, electronics, personal computers, professional tools, sporting equipment, trailers, musical instruments and wine collections. The concession says only 'household or other effects', so that list is the agency's reading of an undefined phrase and could be read differently by a different officer.
What applies to you
Nothing changes for a citizen of Australia
We have no rule recorded that treats your citizenship differently here, so the general rule above is the one that applies to you. That is an answer, not a gap.
What the law says
«household or other effects imported by a person who—»Three conditions follow. Note 1 to Part II records that the concessions are approved by the Minister under section 8 of the Tariff Act 1988 - the published extract carries the Minister's own typo, 'satisifed', in note 3.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Administers the border and publishes the Working Tariff Document, including Part II Concessions - the instrument that decides whether a household arrives duty-free. Concession reference 80 is approved by the Minister under section 8 of the Tariff Act 1988 and is published by Customs as a PDF at https://www.customs.govt.nz/media/l0wnwv55/concessions.pdf. Its own guidance pages reproduce the concession's seven qualifying documents and its 21-month and five-year rules accurately, and add what the concession leaves undefined, such as what counts as a household effect.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: The concessions PDF carries no date, no version number and no amendment history, so there is no cut-off to record against a citation of it and no way to tell from the document when it last moved. Amendments are announced separately as important notices, and finding them is a separate search. Customs' guidance pages are an agency's reading of the concession and must not be cited as the concession: the list of what counts as a household effect, and the statement that student visa holders do not qualify, are both Customs' own and appear nowhere in the Tariff. It cannot be cited for biosecurity, which is the Ministry for Primary Industries, or for immigration status, which is Immigration New Zealand. Addresses under /personal/move-or-return-to-nz/ return the publisher's own not-found page. The live path is /travel-to-and-from-new-zealand/move-to-new-zealand-permanently/.
We re-read it every 120 days. More about this source
«has or will have resided or been domiciled outside New Zealand for the whole of the 21-month period preceding his or her arrival; and»About this source
Administers the border and publishes the Working Tariff Document, including Part II Concessions - the instrument that decides whether a household arrives duty-free. Concession reference 80 is approved by the Minister under section 8 of the Tariff Act 1988 and is published by Customs as a PDF at https://www.customs.govt.nz/media/l0wnwv55/concessions.pdf. Its own guidance pages reproduce the concession's seven qualifying documents and its 21-month and five-year rules accurately, and add what the concession leaves undefined, such as what counts as a household effect.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: The concessions PDF carries no date, no version number and no amendment history, so there is no cut-off to record against a citation of it and no way to tell from the document when it last moved. Amendments are announced separately as important notices, and finding them is a separate search. Customs' guidance pages are an agency's reading of the concession and must not be cited as the concession: the list of what counts as a household effect, and the statement that student visa holders do not qualify, are both Customs' own and appear nowhere in the Tariff. It cannot be cited for biosecurity, which is the Ministry for Primary Industries, or for immigration status, which is Immigration New Zealand. Addresses under /personal/move-or-return-to-nz/ return the publisher's own not-found page. The live path is /travel-to-and-from-new-zealand/move-to-new-zealand-permanently/.
We re-read it every 120 days. More about this source
«has personally owned and used the effects outside New Zealand before the date of his or her departure for New Zealand.»Unlike paragraphs (b), (c) and (d) for aircraft, vehicles and ships, this one sets no minimum period of ownership.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Administers the border and publishes the Working Tariff Document, including Part II Concessions - the instrument that decides whether a household arrives duty-free. Concession reference 80 is approved by the Minister under section 8 of the Tariff Act 1988 and is published by Customs as a PDF at https://www.customs.govt.nz/media/l0wnwv55/concessions.pdf. Its own guidance pages reproduce the concession's seven qualifying documents and its 21-month and five-year rules accurately, and add what the concession leaves undefined, such as what counts as a household effect.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: The concessions PDF carries no date, no version number and no amendment history, so there is no cut-off to record against a citation of it and no way to tell from the document when it last moved. Amendments are announced separately as important notices, and finding them is a separate search. Customs' guidance pages are an agency's reading of the concession and must not be cited as the concession: the list of what counts as a household effect, and the statement that student visa holders do not qualify, are both Customs' own and appear nowhere in the Tariff. It cannot be cited for biosecurity, which is the Ministry for Primary Industries, or for immigration status, which is Immigration New Zealand. Addresses under /personal/move-or-return-to-nz/ return the publisher's own not-found page. The live path is /travel-to-and-from-new-zealand/move-to-new-zealand-permanently/.
We re-read it every 120 days. More about this source
«If goods falling within the description and criteria in this concession are imported into New Zealand more than 5 years after the arrival of the passenger into New Zealand, the goods may be admitted under this concession only with the consent of a Customs officer.»A second note in the same place applies the same consent requirement to goods arriving no earlier than six months before the passenger.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Administers the border and publishes the Working Tariff Document, including Part II Concessions - the instrument that decides whether a household arrives duty-free. Concession reference 80 is approved by the Minister under section 8 of the Tariff Act 1988 and is published by Customs as a PDF at https://www.customs.govt.nz/media/l0wnwv55/concessions.pdf. Its own guidance pages reproduce the concession's seven qualifying documents and its 21-month and five-year rules accurately, and add what the concession leaves undefined, such as what counts as a household effect.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: The concessions PDF carries no date, no version number and no amendment history, so there is no cut-off to record against a citation of it and no way to tell from the document when it last moved. Amendments are announced separately as important notices, and finding them is a separate search. Customs' guidance pages are an agency's reading of the concession and must not be cited as the concession: the list of what counts as a household effect, and the statement that student visa holders do not qualify, are both Customs' own and appear nowhere in the Tariff. It cannot be cited for biosecurity, which is the Ministry for Primary Industries, or for immigration status, which is Immigration New Zealand. Addresses under /personal/move-or-return-to-nz/ return the publisher's own not-found page. The live path is /travel-to-and-from-new-zealand/move-to-new-zealand-permanently/.
We re-read it every 120 days. More about this source
«compassionate grounds include but are not limited to returning to New Zealand due to illness, injury or death of the person or a member of the person's family. Compassionate grounds do not include returning to New Zealand due to a relationship breakdown or job loss.»About this source
Administers the border and publishes the Working Tariff Document, including Part II Concessions - the instrument that decides whether a household arrives duty-free. Concession reference 80 is approved by the Minister under section 8 of the Tariff Act 1988 and is published by Customs as a PDF at https://www.customs.govt.nz/media/l0wnwv55/concessions.pdf. Its own guidance pages reproduce the concession's seven qualifying documents and its 21-month and five-year rules accurately, and add what the concession leaves undefined, such as what counts as a household effect.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: The concessions PDF carries no date, no version number and no amendment history, so there is no cut-off to record against a citation of it and no way to tell from the document when it last moved. Amendments are announced separately as important notices, and finding them is a separate search. Customs' guidance pages are an agency's reading of the concession and must not be cited as the concession: the list of what counts as a household effect, and the statement that student visa holders do not qualify, are both Customs' own and appear nowhere in the Tariff. It cannot be cited for biosecurity, which is the Ministry for Primary Industries, or for immigration status, which is Immigration New Zealand. Addresses under /personal/move-or-return-to-nz/ return the publisher's own not-found page. The live path is /travel-to-and-from-new-zealand/move-to-new-zealand-permanently/.
We re-read it every 120 days. More about this source
«You must hold a document authorising residence in New Zealand. This can be one of the following:»The seven documents Customs then lists are the same seven as the concession's own definition, in the same order.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Administers the border and publishes the Working Tariff Document, including Part II Concessions - the instrument that decides whether a household arrives duty-free. Concession reference 80 is approved by the Minister under section 8 of the Tariff Act 1988 and is published by Customs as a PDF at https://www.customs.govt.nz/media/l0wnwv55/concessions.pdf. Its own guidance pages reproduce the concession's seven qualifying documents and its 21-month and five-year rules accurately, and add what the concession leaves undefined, such as what counts as a household effect.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: The concessions PDF carries no date, no version number and no amendment history, so there is no cut-off to record against a citation of it and no way to tell from the document when it last moved. Amendments are announced separately as important notices, and finding them is a separate search. Customs' guidance pages are an agency's reading of the concession and must not be cited as the concession: the list of what counts as a household effect, and the statement that student visa holders do not qualify, are both Customs' own and appear nowhere in the Tariff. It cannot be cited for biosecurity, which is the Ministry for Primary Industries, or for immigration status, which is Immigration New Zealand. Addresses under /personal/move-or-return-to-nz/ return the publisher's own not-found page. The live path is /travel-to-and-from-new-zealand/move-to-new-zealand-permanently/.
We re-read it every 120 days. More about this source
«Note: Student visa holders do not qualify.»This sentence is Customs' own, drawing out what the closed list of seven documents implies. The concession does not mention students.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Administers the border and publishes the Working Tariff Document, including Part II Concessions - the instrument that decides whether a household arrives duty-free. Concession reference 80 is approved by the Minister under section 8 of the Tariff Act 1988 and is published by Customs as a PDF at https://www.customs.govt.nz/media/l0wnwv55/concessions.pdf. Its own guidance pages reproduce the concession's seven qualifying documents and its 21-month and five-year rules accurately, and add what the concession leaves undefined, such as what counts as a household effect.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: The concessions PDF carries no date, no version number and no amendment history, so there is no cut-off to record against a citation of it and no way to tell from the document when it last moved. Amendments are announced separately as important notices, and finding them is a separate search. Customs' guidance pages are an agency's reading of the concession and must not be cited as the concession: the list of what counts as a household effect, and the statement that student visa holders do not qualify, are both Customs' own and appear nowhere in the Tariff. It cannot be cited for biosecurity, which is the Ministry for Primary Industries, or for immigration status, which is Immigration New Zealand. Addresses under /personal/move-or-return-to-nz/ return the publisher's own not-found page. The live path is /travel-to-and-from-new-zealand/move-to-new-zealand-permanently/.
We re-read it every 120 days. More about this source
«If the effects are brand new/ unused, you must declare them, because duty and GST will apply.»The spacing after the slash is the publisher's.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
Administers the border and publishes the Working Tariff Document, including Part II Concessions - the instrument that decides whether a household arrives duty-free. Concession reference 80 is approved by the Minister under section 8 of the Tariff Act 1988 and is published by Customs as a PDF at https://www.customs.govt.nz/media/l0wnwv55/concessions.pdf. Its own guidance pages reproduce the concession's seven qualifying documents and its 21-month and five-year rules accurately, and add what the concession leaves undefined, such as what counts as a household effect.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: The concessions PDF carries no date, no version number and no amendment history, so there is no cut-off to record against a citation of it and no way to tell from the document when it last moved. Amendments are announced separately as important notices, and finding them is a separate search. Customs' guidance pages are an agency's reading of the concession and must not be cited as the concession: the list of what counts as a household effect, and the statement that student visa holders do not qualify, are both Customs' own and appear nowhere in the Tariff. It cannot be cited for biosecurity, which is the Ministry for Primary Industries, or for immigration status, which is Immigration New Zealand. Addresses under /personal/move-or-return-to-nz/ return the publisher's own not-found page. The live path is /travel-to-and-from-new-zealand/move-to-new-zealand-permanently/.
We re-read it every 120 days. More about this source
Practical notes
The concessions document is an extract of Part II of the Tariff published by New Zealand Customs as a PDF, and it carries no date of its own and no version number. There is therefore no cut-off to record against these citations and no way to tell from the document when it was last amended. Customs publishes amendments as separate important notices, which were not read.
The Tariff Act 1988 itself was not read. The concession's first note states that the concessions are approved by the Minister under section 8 of that Act, and that is the whole of what is recorded here about their legal basis.
The goods levy Customs says is payable on each unaccompanied consignment was not traced to an instrument and no amount is given here.
Biosecurity requirements are a different regime administered by the Ministry for Primary Industries and nothing about them was read.
The separate concessions for vehicles, motorcycles, aircraft and ships at paragraphs (b), (c) and (d) were read but are summarised rather than set out, and the rules on depreciation of used goods were not read.
- administersTariff of New Zealand, Part II Concessions
New Zealand Customs Service
About this source
Administers the border and publishes the Working Tariff Document, including Part II Concessions - the instrument that decides whether a household arrives duty-free. Concession reference 80 is approved by the Minister under section 8 of the Tariff Act 1988 and is published by Customs as a PDF at https://www.customs.govt.nz/media/l0wnwv55/concessions.pdf. Its own guidance pages reproduce the concession's seven qualifying documents and its 21-month and five-year rules accurately, and add what the concession leaves undefined, such as what counts as a household effect.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: The concessions PDF carries no date, no version number and no amendment history, so there is no cut-off to record against a citation of it and no way to tell from the document when it last moved. Amendments are announced separately as important notices, and finding them is a separate search. Customs' guidance pages are an agency's reading of the concession and must not be cited as the concession: the list of what counts as a household effect, and the statement that student visa holders do not qualify, are both Customs' own and appear nowhere in the Tariff. It cannot be cited for biosecurity, which is the Ministry for Primary Industries, or for immigration status, which is Immigration New Zealand. Addresses under /personal/move-or-return-to-nz/ return the publisher's own not-found page. The live path is /travel-to-and-from-new-zealand/move-to-new-zealand-permanently/.
We re-read it every 120 days. More about this source
- administersHousehold effects
New Zealand Customs Service
About this source
Administers the border and publishes the Working Tariff Document, including Part II Concessions - the instrument that decides whether a household arrives duty-free. Concession reference 80 is approved by the Minister under section 8 of the Tariff Act 1988 and is published by Customs as a PDF at https://www.customs.govt.nz/media/l0wnwv55/concessions.pdf. Its own guidance pages reproduce the concession's seven qualifying documents and its 21-month and five-year rules accurately, and add what the concession leaves undefined, such as what counts as a household effect.
Standing: Applies the rule
Cannot be cited for: The concessions PDF carries no date, no version number and no amendment history, so there is no cut-off to record against a citation of it and no way to tell from the document when it last moved. Amendments are announced separately as important notices, and finding them is a separate search. Customs' guidance pages are an agency's reading of the concession and must not be cited as the concession: the list of what counts as a household effect, and the statement that student visa holders do not qualify, are both Customs' own and appear nowhere in the Tariff. It cannot be cited for biosecurity, which is the Ministry for Primary Industries, or for immigration status, which is Immigration New Zealand. Addresses under /personal/move-or-return-to-nz/ return the publisher's own not-found page. The live path is /travel-to-and-from-new-zealand/move-to-new-zealand-permanently/.
We re-read it every 120 days. More about this source