Resident Visa New Zealand
Are you currently in New Zealand & looking to apply for your Resident Visa?
The Difference Between Residence and PR
Resident Visas come with travel conditions permitting re-entry to New Zealand as a resident until a specified date. In contrast, a Permanent Resident Visa allows unrestricted re-entry to New Zealand indefinitely.
How to Achieve Permanent Residence in New Zealand
With this visa you can Live, work, and study in New Zealand. Travel to and from New Zealand any time you like. Include your partner, and dependent children aged 24 and under, in your visa application.
New Zealand Resident Visa
Straight to Residence Visa
- Live, work and study in New Zealand.
- Include your partner and dependent children aged 24 and under in your residence application.
- You must be working for an accredited employer or have a job offer from one.
- Your role must be on Tier 1 of the Green List and meet the requirements set out in the Green List for your role.
- Older dependent children under 24 in your application must be single, without children of their own, and only supported financially by you.
- You can either come to New Zealand on a work visa now and apply for the Straight to Residence Visa, or apply from outside New Zealand.
- You must include in your application English translations of any supporting documents in other languages.
Work to Residence Visa
To be eligible for this residence visa you must:
- be employed in a role on Tier 2 of the Green List or hold an offer of employment for one
- meet the specified requirements on the Green List for the role
- have worked for 24 months in New Zealand in a Tier 2 Green List role (and met its specified requirements).
Your employer must be accredited when you apply for this visa.
The employment or offer of employment must be full-time (at least 30 hours a week), genuine, and permanent, or be at least a 12-month fixed term contract.
Acceptable work in New Zealand can be counted towards a Work to Residence Visa while you hold or held:
- an Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV)
- another work visa or a Critical Purpose Visitor Visa (with work conditions) and held it or applied for it before 4 July 2022.
Acceptable work in New Zealand can be counted from 29 September 2021.
There can be small breaks in your employment. But you must still show you worked for the required 24 months within the 30 month period before your visa application date.
You can mix acceptable work criteria, such as working in a role on Tier 2 of the Green List (Work to Residence) and work earning twice the median wage (Highly Paid Residence).
You can apply for this visa from September 2023.
Highly Paid Residence Visa
To be eligible for this residence visa you must have:
- employment or an offer of employment in a role that is paid at least twice the median wage, currently NZD $59.32 an hour
- been working for 24 months in New Zealand in a role that paid at least twice the median wage.
Your employer must also be accredited when you apply for this visa.
Acceptable work in New Zealand can be counted towards a Highly Paid Residence Visa if you hold or held:
- an Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV)
- another work visa or a Critical Purpose Visitor Visa (with work conditions) and you held it or applied for it before 4 July 2022.
You can mix acceptable work criteria, such as working in a role on Tier 2 of the Green List (Work to Residence) and also any work earning 2 times the median wage (Highly Paid Residence).
Skilled Migrant Category (SMC)
This visa is for people who have skills that will contribute to New Zealand’s economic growth.
With this visa you can
- Live, work and study in New Zealand.
- Include your partner, and dependent children aged 24 and under, in your residence application.
We use a points-based system to assess expressions of interest.
EOI’s are selected on 180 points and above.
We will supply the forms that will require information regarding health, character, age, work experience, family, etc., as well as the factors that earn you points. Once the information has been received from you, your application will be loaded online. When we submit this online application, INZ will charge a fee of NZ$590.00 per family to accept the application into the EOI pool.
The Expressions of Interest is placed into a pooling system and is ranked based on total points claimed for employability and capacity building factors. Those who have met the minimum points of 180 points, with an offer of employment, will be selected and following some checking, an Invitation to Apply will be issued. The fee for processing is NZ$4290.00 per application if lodged on shore. This fee is only payable on lodgement of the residence application documentation.
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