Immigration New Zealand says it is updating the Culturally Arranged Marriage Visitor Visa so that people who had arranged marriages overseas can apply for a visitor visa.

It says it is also giving more guidance for getting a general visitor visa to join a partner.

"People applying for a temporary visa to travel to New Zealand must genuinely intend a temporary stay in New Zealand for a lawful purpose," the agency says.

"We are updating our guidelines on how we assess if people who are travelling to New Zealand to join a partner, who they have not lived with, have a genuine intent.

"This advice will be communicated to staff and published on our website as an Internal Administration Circular within the next two weeks."

Immigration New Zealand has released a factsheet, Changes to Culturally Arranged Marriages visa category, which provides more information,.