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Temporary Additional Support : Contents

Refugees, protected persons or residence applicants

Temporary Additional Support is calculated differently for certain refugee and protected person applicants, and people applying for a residence class visa (residence applicants).

If a client does not have New Zealand citizenship or a residence class visa, they can only get Temporary Additional Support if they:

  • have been recognised as a refugee or protected person in New Zealand or
  • are applying for refugee or protected person status and
  • are waiting for a decision from Immigration New Zealand on their application or are appealing a decline decision to the Immigration and Protection Tribunal and
  • are lawfully present in New Zealand (i.e. they have a valid temporary entry class visa under the Immigration Act 2009) or
  • are applying for a residence class visa under the Immigration Act 2009 and are compelled to remain in New Zealand due to some unforeseen circumstances

Different upper limit

There is a different upper limit for certain refugees, or protected persons or residence applicants.

This is:

whichever is the greater.

For more information see:

Legislation

  • General limitation on receiving benefit: persons unlawfully resident or present in New Zealand and persons holding temporary entry class visa section 19 Social Security Act 2018
  • MSD may refuse or cancel benefit if person not ordinarily resident in New Zealand section 204 Social Security Act 2018
  • Refugee or protected person status section 205 Social Security Act 2018
  • Prescribed amount of support: general weekly rate regulation 62 Social Security Regulations 2018
  • Variation of upper limit for persons awaiting decision on refugee or protected person claims, refugees and protected persons, and certain applicants for residence class visas regulation 63 Social Security Regulations 2018
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A residence class visa means a:

A residence class visa allows people to live in New Zealand indefinitely. The visa also lets people work and study in New Zealand. There are different travel conditions based on the type of residence class visa.

Residence class visas are granted by Immigration New Zealand.

For the purpose of deciding if a person meets the residence criteria for financial assistance from MSD, people who ...

A protected person under the Immigration Act 2009 means a person recognised as a protected person in New Zealand under the:

Legislation

A refugee means a person recognised under the Immigration Act 2009 as:

or

Legislation

A person can be a New Zealand citizen by either:

For New Zealand citizenship, New Zealand includes the self-governing states of:

Citizenship is granted by the Department of Internal Affairs.

Note people born in New Zealand, the Cook Islands, Niue, or Tokelau may not automatically be New Zealand citizens. To be considered a New Zealand citizen from birth, a person born on or after 1 January 2006 must have:

Temporary entry class visas are issued to people who have arrived in New Zealand legally, but are only allowed to stay for a temporary period for the duration and purposes indicated on the visa.

A temporary entry class visa means:

Legislation

It is not possible to detail the circumstances under which this may occur. However, there must be very strong and compelling reasons why the client is unable to return to their country of origin.

Lack of funds should not be regarded as a reason for not being able to return. When the client originally arrived in New Zealand, a condition of entry would have required a return air ticket to their ...