Moving to Australia from New Zealand

New Zealand citizens can live in Australia by right, under the free movement arrangements between Australia and New Zealand. A couple who both hold New Zealand passports do not need to qualify through a work, income or investment route, though registration and other local rules still apply. Check the official requirements before you move.

If one of you holds a different passport, that partner's position can differ. For people without a right of residence, our residency index rates Australia 70/100 (comparatively open). Long-term residency runs through points-based skilled migration (independent, state-nominated, and regional streams), employer sponsorship, and an invitation-only national innovation/talent visa; the old investor and retirement visas are closed to new applicants.

For short visits, New Zealand passport holders can visit visa-free, according to the passport-index dataset. Short-stay entry covers visits; living there takes a residence permit or a right of residence.

Ranked by our match model for a typical couple who both hold New Zealand passports, using the preset answers of our best places to live list. Your own answers would change the order. We pick the cities, up to five, by how often English Wikipedia readers looked them up over the past year.

1. 1

   1. Canberra

   79% match

   Est. cost

   €3,672/mo

   Avg temp

   13°C

   Safety index

   58/100

2. 2

   2. Perth

   78% match

   Est. cost

   €3,961/mo

   Avg temp

   19°C

   Safety index

   58/100

3. 3

   3. Melbourne

   78% match

   Est. cost

   €4,094/mo

   Avg temp

   15°C

   Safety index

   58/100

4. 4

   4. Sydney

   78% match

   Est. cost

   €4,100/mo

   Avg temp

   17°C

   Safety index

   58/100

5. 5

   5. Brisbane

   75% match

   Est. cost

   €3,990/mo

   Avg temp

   20°C

   Safety index

   58/100

Our estimate for a couple living centrally runs from €3,672 a month in Canberra to €4,100 in Sydney. For comparison, we estimate €3,812 a month in Auckland. Use these figures to compare places rather than to set a budget.

Australia is in our high tax tier (high personal income tax); New Zealand is in our low to medium tax tier (moderate personal income tax). Tiers describe each country's own income tax. They do not cover tax you may still owe in New Zealand after you leave, or the treaty between the two countries, so check both with a tax adviser before you move.

• Best English-speaking cities to move to
• Best big cities to live in
• Easiest countries to move to
• Best cities to move abroad as a couple
• Cities with the best healthcare to move to

• Moving to Australia from the US
• Moving to Australia from the UK
• Moving to Australia from Canada
• Moving to Australia from Ireland

Every country and origin we cover

Every figure here comes from the datasets behind our city and country pages:

• Short-stay entry: the passport-index dataset (ilyankou, MIT license), which records the entry rule for short visits on each passport.
• Residency index, routes and thresholds: the OurNextCity residency dataset, hand-reviewed against published immigration rules, figures as of June 2026. It is a summary, not legal advice.
• City ranking: our match model, the one behind the quiz, run with a typical couple's preset answers and both partners holding New Zealand passports. It ranks up to five of the country's best-known cities: of the cities in our quiz (100,000 people or more, capitals and a few towns movers seek out, such as Faro), the five most read about on English Wikipedia over the past year. It folds suburbs into their main city and leaves out countries with a residency index under 40 and areas under a US State Department Level 4 advisory, as our best-cities lists do.
• Costs: our cost model, a country-level cost-of-living index scaled for city size, from our city dataset (last rebuilt June 2026).
• Tax tiers: three coarse bands we assign by hand from each country's top marginal personal income tax rate and overall tax reputation.