diff --git a/dev/README.md b/dev/README.md
index 258792b805a..cc0a81d5b44 100644
--- a/dev/README.md
+++ b/dev/README.md
@@ -129,7 +129,7 @@ Currently this only works on Linux (patches to expand to macOS welcome!). Read
 the script for information about system dependencies.
 
 On Windows, we have a script that verifies C++ and Python (requires Visual
-Studio 2015):
+Studio 2019):
 
 ```
 dev/release/verify-release-candidate.bat apache-arrow-0.7.0.tar.gz
diff --git a/dev/release/verify-release-candidate.bat b/dev/release/verify-release-candidate.bat
index bef78fc920c..606a463d6f5 100644
--- a/dev/release/verify-release-candidate.bat
+++ b/dev/release/verify-release-candidate.bat
@@ -32,25 +32,24 @@ set _TARBALL=apache-arrow-%1.tar.gz
 set ARROW_SOURCE=%_VERIFICATION_DIR%\apache-arrow-%1
 set INSTALL_DIR=%_VERIFICATION_DIR%\install
 
-@rem Requires GNU Wget for Windows
-wget --no-check-certificate -O %_TARBALL% %_DIST_URL%/apache-arrow-%1-rc%2/%_TARBALL% || exit /B 1
+curl -k -O %_DIST_URL%/apache-arrow-%1-rc%2/%_TARBALL% || exit /B 1
 
 tar xf %_TARBALL% -C %_VERIFICATION_DIR_UNIX%
 
-set PYTHON=3.6
+set PYTHON=3.8
 
 @rem Using call with conda.bat seems necessary to avoid terminating the batch
 @rem script execution
 call conda create --no-shortcuts -c conda-forge -f -q -y -p %_VERIFICATION_CONDA_ENV% ^
-    --file=ci\conda_env_cpp.yml ^
-    --file=ci\conda_env_python.yml ^
+    --file=%ARROW_SOURCE%\ci\conda_env_cpp.yml ^
+    --file=%ARROW_SOURCE%\ci\conda_env_python.yml ^
     git ^
     python=%PYTHON% ^
     || exit /B 1
 
 call activate %_VERIFICATION_CONDA_ENV% || exit /B 1
 
-set GENERATOR=Visual Studio 15 2017 Win64
+set GENERATOR=Visual Studio 16 2019
 set CONFIGURATION=release
 
 pushd %ARROW_SOURCE%
@@ -63,13 +62,13 @@ set PATH=%INSTALL_DIR%\bin;%PATH%
 mkdir %ARROW_SOURCE%\cpp\build
 pushd %ARROW_SOURCE%\cpp\build
 
-@rem This is the path for Visual Studio Community 2017
-call "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Community\Common7\Tools\VsDevCmd.bat" -arch=amd64
+@rem This is the path for Visual Studio Community 2019
+call "C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\Community\Common7\Tools\VsDevCmd.bat" -arch=amd64
 
 @rem NOTE(wesm): not using Ninja for now to be able to more easily control the
 @rem generator used
 
-cmake -G "%GENERATOR%" ^
+cmake -G "%GENERATOR%" -A x64 ^
       -DARROW_BOOST_USE_SHARED=ON ^
       -DARROW_BUILD_STATIC=OFF ^
       -DARROW_BUILD_TESTS=ON ^