For years, a hepatitis B or hepatitis C diagnosis was one of the quiet reasons people hesitated to apply for a New Zealand Resident Visa. Not because they weren't otherwise eligible, but because they'd heard, correctly, that the health requirement could be an automatic dead end. That's no longer the default outcome. From 3 August 2026, Immigration New Zealand (INZ) has removed hepatitis B and hepatitis C from its list of high-cost health conditions used to assess New Zealand
