# Special category visas

> act-s32 — as in force on 2026-06-04 — C2026C00232 · Compilation No. 171 — https://www.legislation.gov.au/C2026C00232/latest/text

32 Special category visas
          (1) There is a class of temporary visas to be known as special category
              visas.
          (2) A criterion for a special category visa is that the Minister is
              satisfied the applicant is:
                (a) a non-citizen:
                       (i) who is a New Zealand citizen and holds, and has
                           presented to an officer or an authorised system, a New
                           Zealand passport that is in force; and
                      (ii) is neither a behaviour concern non-citizen nor a health
                           concern non-citizen; or
                (b) a person declared by the regulations, to be a person for whom
                     a visa of another class would be inappropriate; or
                (c) a person in a class of persons declared by the regulations, to
                     be persons for whom a visa of another class would be
                     inappropriate.
          (3) A person may comply with subparagraph (2)(a)(i) by presenting a
              New Zealand passport to an authorised system only if:
               (a) the New Zealand passport is of a kind determined under
                   section 175A to be an eligible passport for the purposes of
                   Division 5 of Part 2; and
               (c) before the person is granted a special category visa, neither
                   the system nor an officer requires the person to present the
                   passport to an officer.