New Zealand Resident Visa vs Permanent Resident Visa

A New Zealand resident visa lets you live in New Zealand indefinitely, but your ability to leave and return is limited to a date on your visa, called the ‘Expiry date travel’. A Permanent Resident Visa removes that limit entirely, letting you leave and return to New Zealand indefinitely. The practical difference is not where you can live, but whether your residence status survives a trip overseas. You can apply for a Permanent Resident Visa after you have held a resident visa for two years, and the requirements are set out by Immigration New Zealand.

What a resident visa actually allows

A resident visa allows you to live in New Zealand. Your resident visa will not expire while you stay in New Zealand. That is the key point: residence itself is not time-limited. What is time-limited is your travel condition.

Most resident visas let you travel outside New Zealand as often as you like for up to two years from when you first arrive. This is stated on your visa as ‘multiple entries’. The last day you can enter New Zealand using the visa is your ‘Expiry date travel’ condition.

If you are outside New Zealand and your ‘Expiry date travel’ has passed, your resident visa will expire. You will not be able to return to New Zealand on that visa. This is the single most important difference between the two visa types.

What a Permanent Resident Visa allows

A Permanent Resident Visa lets you leave and return to New Zealand indefinitely, because there are no conditions. There is no expiry date travel condition, and no requirement to apply for extensions before you travel.

You can apply for a Permanent Resident Visa after you have lived in New Zealand as a resident for 24 months in a row. If you want to travel outside New Zealand within those 24 months, you need to get extended travel conditions on your resident visa so you can travel without losing your New Zealand resident status.

Travel conditions on a resident visa

Your resident visa comes with conditions. Conditions tell you what you can and cannot do on your visa. With a resident visa, the only condition you can change is your ‘Expiry date travel’ condition.

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 so you can travel in and out of New Zealand indefinitely.

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 two years, or if you have applied for a Permanent Resident Visa after two 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 one or two years. If Immigration New Zealand cannot extend the condition for one or two years, they may give you an extension for 14 days.

If you have spent more than six months in New Zealand in the last two years, you can apply to extend your travel conditions for up to 12 months if, in at least one of the two 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.

What happens if your travel conditions expire while you are outside New Zealand

If you leave New Zealand with expired travel conditions, or they expire while you are outside New Zealand, 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.

This is why the travel condition matters so much. A resident visa is not a permanent right of return. A Permanent Resident Visa is.

Australian citizens and permanent residents: residence on arrival

Australian citizens and permanent residents can normally live, work or study in New Zealand without applying for a visa before coming here.

If you are an Australian citizen, you can usually live, work and study in New Zealand without applying for a visa or New Zealand Electronic Travel Authority (NZeTA) before you come. You will normally be given a resident visa, called an ‘Australian Resident Visa’, when you arrive. You must have a valid Australian passport, or a foreign passport endorsed with an Australian declaratory visa as evidence of your Australian citizenship, and you must meet the character requirements for an Australian Resident Visa.

If you are an Australian permanent resident, you will normally need an NZeTA before you travel, unless you already have a valid New Zealand visa. When you arrive, Immigration New Zealand will normally give you a resident visa, the ‘Australian Resident Visa’. You must have a current Australian Permanent Resident Visa or Australian Resident Return Visa, have travel conditions that let you return to Australia, and meet the character requirements for an Australian Resident Visa.

Everyone entering New Zealand must complete a New Zealand Traveller Declaration (NZTD). You can be refused entry permission as well as residence if you are not of good character. You will be asked about your character in your NZTD.

Getting the resident visa on arrival

If you are travelling on an Australian passport and want to get a resident visa when you arrive, follow these steps. When you complete your NZTD, make sure you answer section 7 correctly — this asks if you ‘hold an Australian passport or Permanent Residence Visa’. When you arrive, you can go to the e-Gate or SmartGate if you have a passport for these gates. If not, go to the main customs line for passport control and explain to the Customs or Immigration Officer that you are applying for a resident visa. If there are no issues, you will be given a resident visa.

If you are an Australian permanent resident, the process is the same, with one addition: carry a printed copy of your Australian Permanent Resident Visa or Australian Resident Return Visa, in case you need to show it. This process is especially important if you already have a temporary New Zealand visa to visit, study or work.

If you become an Australian permanent resident after you enter 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

If you are given a resident visa when you enter New Zealand and your Australian passport expires while you are here, you can get a new passport, or apply for a Permanent Resident Visa if you meet the requirements.

If you get a new passport, you can continue to stay in New Zealand, but you cannot travel out of New Zealand unless you get a new passport. If you want to travel and keep your New Zealand resident status, you will need to get your visa added to your new passport. If you do not get multiple entry travel conditions, your visa will expire when you leave New Zealand.

Other conditions that can apply to a resident visa

Some resident visas carry extra conditions beyond travel. If your visa required you to invest in New Zealand, there may be conditions to keep your funds invested in New Zealand for a set amount of time. Check your visa approval letter for more details.

If you were sponsored by someone for your resident visa, for example the Parent Resident Visa, there are conditions that your sponsor must meet. Your sponsor must meet these conditions for a set amount of time after you get your visa. The amount of time is stated on your visa and will not be for more than 10 years. Your sponsor must provide suitable accommodation if you do not have your own place to live, make sure your health and welfare needs are met, and pay any costs for you to be deported and repatriated if required.

There are also section 49 conditions, extra conditions that Immigration New Zealand may give to some visas under section 49(1) of the Immigration Act 2009. If your resident visa has section 49 conditions, they will be listed in your eVisa. Before you can apply for a Permanent Resident Visa, or sponsor someone for a visa, you must meet your section 49 conditions and get them removed.

What to do next and what to verify

Before you travel, check your visa conditions. You can find them in your eVisa, on the visa label in your passport if you have a label, in the letter Immigration New Zealand sent you when they gave you the visa, or online using the Visa Verification Service.

If you hold a resident visa and plan to travel, check your ‘Expiry date travel’ condition before you book anything. If it is close to expiring, apply for a Variation of Travel Conditions (VOTC) well before your planned travel date. Immigration New Zealand strongly recommends that you review the requirements for a VOTC application and submit your application well before your planned travel date.

If you are an Australian citizen or permanent resident planning to travel to New Zealand, confirm the current requirements on the Immigration New Zealand page for Australian citizens and permanent residents travelling to New Zealand, and complete your NZTD correctly. The rules for residence on arrival are specific, and answering section 7 correctly is part of the process.