What type of worker, employment situation, occupation or professional activity is this pathway actually designed for?
The seasonal-activity Specific Purpose Work Visa stream is closed to new applications from 7 December 2025; applications submitted before closure were processed under the rules then in force and approved workers could remain for the contract duration, up to nine months depending on the job. Historically, the activity had to be a weather- or climate-affected industry peak occurring at a specific time of year and lasting less than nine months. Crop planting, maintaining, harvesting and packing in horticulture/viticulture, roles unrelated to the seasonal activity, permanent roles prompted by a seasonal peak, and foreign fishing-vessel crew were excluded.
See recorded sources
Limits of the record
- The official definition is functional rather than an exhaustive occupation list; the retrieved sources do not identify every occupation that could have qualified.
- Specific Purpose Work Visa page, seasonal closure notice
This specific purpose closed to new applications on 7 December 2025.
- WS2.1, seasonal activity definition
undertaken during a peak of activity for an industry, that occurs in response and is impacted by weather or climate changes and at a specific time in the year; and only taking place during part of the year, for a period of less than nine months, and
- WS2.1, seasonal activity exclusion
roles related to the planting, maintaining, harvesting and packing of crops in the horticulture and viticulture industries; and
- WS2.1, seasonal activity exclusion
roles not directly related to the seasonal activity (for example, a barista or waitperson working in a ski field restaurant); and
- WS2.1, seasonal activity exclusion
people who come into New Zealand to fill permanent roles even if that is prompted by a seasonal peak (for example, dairy farm workers who enter New Zealand ahead of the calving season); and
- WS2.1, seasonal activity exclusion
foreign crew of fishing vessels