Residence Visas

The Skilled Migrant Category (SMC) offers you the opportunity to work and live permanently after getting New Zealand Residence Visa.

To be eligible for residence under SMC you must:

• Obtain a total of at least 180 points
• be 55 years old or under
• be healthy
• be of good character
• speak English (IELTS 6.5 or equivalent)
• paid a minimum hourly rate of $29.66 for 30 hours or more per week
• you may be able to include your partner and dependent children aged 24 and under in your residence application.

To decide if you can apply Immigration New Zealand use a points system. You get points for age, experience, employability and qualifications.

Highlights of the process

There are two stages of applying for residence under our Skilled Migrant Category:

• Stage One – you complete an Expression of Interest (EOI). In this EOI, you can claim points for age, skilled employment, work experience, qualifications, etc.
  • at this stage, no evidence or documentation is required.
• Stage Two – if your EOI is selected from the EOI Pool, INZ decide whether they will invite you to apply for residence in New Zealand based on the points you have claimed.
  • You will then have 4 months in which you must submit your residence application and all documents requested.
  • The general timeframe for residence processing is up to 24 months.
  • This would be a shorter time frame if your occupation requires registration or you are earning over $59.32 per hour.

Fill in our FREE assessment to see if you have enough points to apply for residence.

We provide FREE English language training

Tier One Green List roles offer a “Straight to Residence” pathway meaning you can apply for residence the moment you are offered the role and assuming all other criteria are met;​

To be eligible for residence under Straight to Residence you must:

• be 55 years old or under
• be healthy
• be of good character
• speak English (IELTS 6.5 or equivalent)
• 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.
• you may be able to include your partner and dependent children aged 24 and under in your residence application.

Highlights of the process

Fast processing time – estimated 1 to 4 months

Fill in our FREE assessment to see if you have enough points to apply for residence.

We provide FREE English language training

Tier Two Green List roles offer a “Work to Residence” pathway meaning you can apply after 2 years.

To be eligible for residence under Straight to Residence you must:

• be 55 years old or under
• be healthy
• be of good character
• speak English (IELTS 6.5 or equivalent)
• you must be working for an accredited employer or have a job offer from one.
• 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)
• 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.
• you may be able to include your partner and dependent children aged 24 and under in your residence application.

Fill in our FREE assessment to see if you have enough points to apply for residence.

We provide FREE English language training

To be eligible for residence under Highly Paid Residence Visa you must:

• be 55 years old or under
• be healthy
• be of good character
• speak English (IELTS 6.5 or equivalent)
• you must be working for an accredited employer or have a job offer from one.
• 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.
• 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.
• you may be able to include your partner and dependent children aged 24 and under in your residence application.
• 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 also any work earning 2 times the median wage (Highly Paid Residence).

Fill in our FREE assessment to see if you have enough points to apply for residence.

We provide FREE English language training

To be eligible for residence under Highly Paid Residence Visa you must:

• be 55 years old or under
• be healthy
• be of good character
• speak English (IELTS 6.5 or equivalent)
• you must be working for an accredited employer or have a job offer from one.
• work in an occupation that is on the Care Workforce sector occupations list
• be paid at least NZD $28.25 an hour (level 4) of the Support Workers (Pay Equity) Settlements Act 2017
• have worked in that role at the level 4 rate for 24 months in New Zealand.
• 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.
• you may be able to include your partner and dependent children aged 24 and under in your residence application.

Fill in our FREE assessment to see if you have enough points to apply for residence.

We provide FREE English language training

these are only available if you are already on these temporary visas.

Talent (Accredited Employer) Resident Visa

This visa is for people who have been employed in New Zealand by an accredited employer for more than 2 years. If you have ongoing employment with an accredited employer and you earn at least the minimum salary that was in place when you applied for your Talent (Accredited Employer) Work Visa, you may be eligible for this resident visa.

• There is no english test for the principle applicant
• you may be able to include your partner and dependent children aged 24 and under in your residence application.

 Long Term Skill Shortage List Resident Visa

 This visa is for people who hold a Long Term Skill Shortage List Work Visa and have been employed in New Zealand for more than 2 years. If you have ongoing employment and your salary is NZ$45,000 or greater, you may be eligible for this resident visa.

• There is no english test for the principle applicant
• you may be able to include your partner and dependent children aged 24 and under in your residence application.

Partner of a New Zealander Resident Visa

If you’re the partner of a New Zealand citizen or resident and have been living together for more than 12 months in a genuine and stable relationship, you can apply to live in New Zealand permanently. If you’re granted residence, you can live, work and study in New Zealand indefinitely.

• If your partner’s New Zealand residence is based on their Australian citizenship, Australian permanent residence or resident return visa, you can only apply for this visa if your partner lives in New Zealand.
• If your partner is a New Zealand citizen and the two of you have been living together outside of New Zealand for 5 years or more, you may be granted a permanent resident visa. Your partner will need to be either overseas when you apply, or have been back in New Zealand for less than 3 months.

The Parent Retirement Resident Visa

This option allows you to live, work and study in New Zealand permanently, and you also need a New Zealand citizen or resident adult child willing to sponsor you.

To be eligible, you will need a yearly income of NZ$60,000, NZ$1 million to invest over 4 years, and another NZ$500,000 to live on. You may then apply for permanent residence after 4 years. You may include your partner in this application.

A Permanent Resident Visa is usually the next step after being granted a Resident Visa. While Resident Visas have travel conditions that only allow a person to re-enter New Zealand as a resident until a certain date, a Permanent Resident Visa allows indefinite re-entry to New Zealand.

If you were the principal applicant of the original residence application, you can obtain a Permanent Resident Visa if you:

• have held your resident visa for at least two years, and
• have met any conditions of your Resident Visa, and
• have shown a commitment to New Zealand in one of the five ways that meet our requirements.