New Zealand Permanent Resident Visa: How to Apply

To get a New Zealand Permanent Resident Visa, you must already hold a resident visa and have lived in New Zealand as a resident for 24 months in a row. The Permanent Resident Visa removes travel conditions, letting you leave and return to New Zealand indefinitely. Australian citizens and Australian permanent residents are normally granted a resident visa on arrival, and can apply for a Permanent Resident Visa after meeting the 24-month residence requirement. You must check your current visa conditions and the official Immigration New Zealand requirements before applying, as the process depends on your individual circumstances.

Eligibility for a Permanent Resident Visa

The Permanent Resident Visa is not a first visa — it is a second stage of residence. You must already hold a resident visa before you can apply. Immigration New Zealand states that Australian citizens can apply for a Permanent Resident Visa after living in New Zealand as a resident for 24 months in a row.

This 24-month requirement is a continuous residence period. If you want to travel outside New Zealand within those 24 months, you need to get travel conditions added to your Australian Resident Visa so you can travel without losing your New Zealand resident status. Without those travel conditions, your resident visa will lapse when you leave New Zealand, and you may not be eligible for a Permanent Resident Visa when you return.

Travel Conditions and the Expiry Date Travel Condition

Every resident visa has conditions. The only condition you can change on a resident visa is the ‘Expiry date travel’ condition. This is the last day you can enter New Zealand using your visa. If you are outside New Zealand and your ‘Expiry date travel’ has passed, your resident visa will expire.

Most resident visas allow you to travel outside New Zealand as often as you like for up to 2 years from when you first arrive. This is stated on your visa as ‘multiple entries’. If you leave New Zealand after your ‘Expiry date travel’ date, your resident visa will expire and you will not be able to return to New Zealand on that visa.

Condition	What it means
Visa expiry date	Your resident visa does not expire while you stay in New Zealand
First entry before	You must enter New Zealand before this date to keep your visa valid; usually 12 months from grant
Expiry date travel	The last day you can enter New Zealand using your visa
Number of entries	If ‘multiple entries’, you can return as many times as you want before the expiry date travel

Applying for a Permanent Resident Visa

If you have been living in New Zealand as a resident for 24 months in a row, you can apply for a Permanent Resident Visa. The key benefit is that a Permanent Resident Visa lets you leave and return to New Zealand indefinitely, because there are no conditions.

Before you apply, you must check your current visa conditions. If your resident visa has section 49 conditions under the Immigration Act 2009, you must meet those conditions and get them removed before you can apply for a Permanent Resident Visa. You can call Immigration New Zealand’s Customer Service Centre to find out how to remove them.

If you are outside New Zealand with expired travel conditions, your resident visa will expire and you cannot return to New Zealand and continue your residence. If you have been outside New Zealand for a short time, you may still be able to return as a resident by applying for a Permanent Resident Visa or a second resident visa.

Extending Travel Conditions Before You Apply

If you want to travel outside New Zealand and your travel conditions have expired or will expire soon, you may be able to extend your resident visa travel conditions or apply for a Permanent Resident Visa. You can apply to extend your travel conditions before you travel out of New Zealand if you:

• plan to stay on a resident visa for more than 2 years, or
• have applied for a Permanent Resident Visa after 2 years on a resident visa, but Immigration New Zealand has not approved your application yet.

Depending on your situation, you can apply to extend your multiple entry travel condition for 1 or 2 years. If Immigration New Zealand cannot extend the condition for 1 or 2 years, they may give you an extension for 14 days.

If you have spent more than 6 months in New Zealand in the last 2 years, you can apply to extend your travel conditions for up to 12 months if, in at least 1 of the 2 years before you apply, you spent 184 days or more living in New Zealand. This means you must have spent 184 days or more in New Zealand in the 12 months before Immigration New Zealand receives your application, or in the 12 months before that.

Australian Citizens and Permanent Residents

Australian citizens can normally live, work and study in New Zealand without applying for a visa or NZeTA before they come. They are normally given a resident visa (‘Australian Resident Visa’) on arrival, provided they have a valid Australian passport and meet the character requirements. Everyone entering New Zealand must complete a New Zealand Traveller Declaration (NZTD), and you can be refused entry if you are not of good character.

Australian permanent residents normally need an NZeTA before travelling to New Zealand, unless they already have a valid New Zealand visa. On arrival, they are normally given an Australian Resident Visa. They must have a current Australian Permanent Resident Visa or Australian Resident Return Visa, travel conditions that let them return to Australia, and meet the character requirements.

If you become an Australian permanent resident after entering New Zealand, to get a New Zealand resident visa you will need to leave and return to New Zealand on your Australian Permanent Resident Visa or Australian Resident Return Visa.

If your Australian passport expires while you are in New Zealand on a resident visa, you can get a new passport or apply for a Permanent Resident Visa if you meet the requirements. You cannot travel out of New Zealand unless you get a new passport, and if you want to travel and keep your New Zealand resident status, you will need to get added to your visa.

What to Do Next

Check your current resident visa conditions first. You can find them in your eVisa, on the visa label in your passport, in the letter Immigration New Zealand sent you when they gave you the visa, or online using the Visa Verification Service. Confirm whether you have met the 24-month continuous residence requirement and whether your travel conditions are still valid.

If you need to travel before you apply, apply for a Variation of Travel Conditions (VOTC) before leaving New Zealand. Without this variation, your residence visa will lapse when you leave the country and you may not be eligible for a Permanent Resident Visa when you return. Immigration New Zealand strongly recommends you review the requirements for a VOTC application and submit your application well before your planned travel date.

Finally, verify the current requirements on the official Immigration New Zealand pages for the Permanent Resident Visa and for checking or changing your resident visa conditions. The rules and fees can change, and your circumstances may require specific evidence that only the official pages will tell you about.