New Zealand Permanent Residence Visas

If you, your partner and your children have New Zealand permanent residence, you are eligible to live and work in New Zealand for as long as you wish to.

The biggest benefit of applying for a New Zealand permanent residence visa before you emigrate to New Zealand is that you get all of the immigration paperwork out of the way before you actually leave – the main drawbacks are that the requirements are stringent, and it can take a while for your application to be approved. Many migrants come to New Zealand on temporary visas (such as work visa) then apply for permanent residence.

If you are looking for New Zealand permanent residence visa (or PR), your three main options are:

1. Skilled Migrant Category
2. Business and Investment Categories
3. Family Category

1. Skilled Migrant Category

If you are of good health, good character (i.e. no criminal background), are under 55 years of age and have a skill needed in New Zealand, you may be able to apply for permanent residence under the Skilled Migrant Category. You can include your partner and dependant children in your application – they will also need to meet the health and good character requirements. You need a minimum of 100 points, and points are allocated if you:

• Have a permanent job to go to in NZ
• Have skills in an area of skills shortage or identified growth
• Have relevant work experience (minimum 2 years)
• Have a recognised qualification (degree, trade qualification, diploma etc.)
• Are aged under 56 years
• Have family already living in New Zealand

You get the most points for having a job offer or work experience in occupations and industries which have been identified as having shortages of good Kiwi candidates, with bonus points available for some jobs and for having the offer of a job outside Auckland.

Recognised qualifications also provide plenty of points. Being young and/or having plenty of work experience also give a good boost to your points balance. For many people, the only way to get enough points to apply for Permanent Residence is by having a job offer in New Zealand – for more information on finding a job in New Zealand, please see our article on Working in New Zealand.

To apply for a visa under the Skilled Migrant Category you must first submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) stating which points you think you are eligible for. Every fortnight the New Zealand Immigration Service selects a certain number of the higher scoring applications and sends out an Invitation to Apply (ITA). Once you have your ITA you need to send in documentation proving the claims made in your EOI and provide evidence of your health and police checks.

The New Zealand Immigration service then examines your application, and offers you either a residence or work to residence visa, or declines your application. If you have a job offer as part of your application, you will go into the same fortnightly EOI selection pool but once you have supplied all of the documentation for your ITA, your application is fast-tracked to be processed as quickly as possible.

The Skilled Migrant Category is adjusted frequently, and the points required for entry fluctuate. You can keep up to speed with the changes and check the fortnightly selection statistics released on the News channel of the New Zealand Immigration Service website.

The NZ Immigration Service has an online points calculator and other tools to check whether you are eligible for the Skilled Migrant category. If you have enough points, you can apply for your EOI online at the New Zealand Immigration Service website.

2. Business and Investment Categories

New Zealand Immigration offers several routes to permanent residence for migrants who have funds to invest in New Zealand or who are looking to start or buy a business in New Zealand, including the Migrant Investor Category and Entrepreneur and Entrepreneur Plus business categories.

For more information on these categories see our separate articles on Long Term Business Visas and Investor Visas. 

3. Family Category

If you already have family living in New Zealand, or your partner is a Kiwi, you may well be eligible for permanent residence. New Zealand citizens and permanent residents can also sponsor their relatives to live in New Zealand, subject to minimum residence, income and "centre of gravity" criteria. Visit the comprehensive New Zealand Immigration Service website for more information.

Please contact us if you have any questions about the financial side of life in New Zealand, and don't forget to order your free copy of our comprehensive New Zealand Guide.