A Residence Class Visa allows you to live in New Zealand and may be obtained through various avenues with different criteria, while the type of visa is fully dependable on your personal situation.
Skills, education, assets and funds, English language level and family ties, these are some important key elements in these applications.
Family applications are the ideal application when you wish to have immediate family members, such as your parent(s), partner/spouse, to join you in New Zealand. Certain conditions apply.
There are a variety of Residence Class Visas available that allow you to live in New Zealand including:
- SKILLED MIGRANT CATEGORY
- FAMILY PARTNER/SPOUSE
- FAMILY PARENT
- PARENT RETIREMENT VISA
- FAMILY DEPENDENT CHILD
- TALENT VISA
- LONG TERM SKILL SHORTAGES LIST
- CITIZENSHIP
SKILLED MIGRANT CATEGORY
As the word Skilled Migrant implies, this category is based on Skills, and these skills have been obtained through education and or experience.
The objective of the Skilled Migrant Category is to provide for the grant of residence to people who demonstrate that they have skills to fill identified needs and opportunities in New Zealand, and are able to transfer those skills to New Zealand and link with local needs and opportunities, and are able to demonstrate an ability to contribute to New Zealand both economically and socially, and are able to demonstrate an ability to successfully settle in New Zealand.
In meeting this objective the Skilled Migrant Category will maximise and accelerate the contribution of immigration to New Zealand through capacity building, sustainable growth and innovation, increase global connections and build thriving and inclusive communities through focusing on a range of source regions to achieve a balanced programme and linking global talent with local opportunities.
The process is in three stages:
- Complete an assessment
- Submit you “Expression of Interest” (EOI)
- Obtain an “Invitation to Apply” (ITA) and be granted Residence (PR)
PARTNER OR SPOUSE
This is an ideal application when you wish to join your partner/spouse in New Zealand. The application must be supported by your partner/spouse.
Partner/spouse means married, de facto, civil union and same sex relationships. Supporting documents of living together for 12 months in a stable and genuine relationship are required as proof. An interview and a verification visit at the joint living address may be part of the assessment process.
FAMILY PARENT
This is for applicants who are the parent of an adult NZ resident or citizen. Some restrictions apply and the sponsor must have been a permanent resident in NZ for a minimum of 3 years. The requirements are roughly as follow;
- There will be a new two-tier system for applications, with common and also some different requirements for each tier.
- Tier one will be given priority processing ahead of tier two.
Tier One requirements
Tier One applicants must:
- have a guaranteed lifetime minimum income of NZ$27,203 per annum for a single person or $NZ39,890 per annum for a couple, or
- bring at least NZ$500,000 in settlement funds to New Zealand, or
- have a sponsoring adult child who has an annual income of at least NZ$65,000, or joint income of NZ$90,000 when combined with their partner’s income.
Tier One applicants will not be subject to a “centre of gravity” test whereby the number of adult children in New Zealand need to be at least as many as the adult children in the home country.
Tier Two requirements
- Tier Two applicants must have a sponsoring adult child who has an income of at least NZ$33,675 per annum.
- Any other children the applicant has must live outside the home country.
Requirements for both tiers
To help them settle in New Zealand, all applicants must meet a minimum standard of English (meet at least two competencies of International English Language Testing System Level 4 if they are not able to demonstrate it through other means such as time spent in an English-speaking country) or pre-pay English language tuition, and
There will be no change to the requirement for sponsors to be either New Zealand citizens or residents for three years.
There will be no change to health and character requirements for parents.
PARENT RETIREMENT VISA
This category consists out of a Temporary Retirement and Parent Retirement stream. It allows Immigration New Zealand to prioritise high net worth individuals who are already seeking to migrate to New Zealand under the Family Category. The Temporary Retirement Category creates a two year permit for people who want to spend some of their retirement in New Zealand, provided they invest here and indemnify the government against possible health and welfare costs.
Parent Retirement visa holders will be required to invest a minimum of $1 million in New Zealand over four years, whereas Temporary Retirees will need to invest $750,000 over the two year term of their permit. Temporary Retirees will be able to renew their permits as long as they continue to meet criteria including investment funds, income and health insurance.
RESIDENT DEPENDENT CHILD
You may be able to lodge a residence application when you are a dependent child. Dependent in immigration context means that you are substantially reliant or fully reliant on an adult. This does not have to be your parent.
Various requirements depending on the age of the dependent child are applicable. Maximum age is 24 years and 364 days.
RESIDENCE TALENT VISA
For a Talent Visa, exceptional talent in the field of art, culture or sport and level of salary are some of the main requirements.
When successful the employee will be offered a Talent Visa which allows the employee to remain in New Zealand for a period of 30 months. When the employee has worked for the accredited employer for two years minimum, the employee may apply for residency.
LONG TERM SKILL SHORTAGES
When you have been granted a work visa under the Long Term Skill Shortages List (LTSSL), you may be eligible for a residence class visa. Specific conditions apply when lodging such an application such as age, level of salary and period of employment.
CITIZENSHIP
We also assist people in obtaining New Zealand Citizenship. It will usually take between five to eight months, sometimes twelve, from the time of lodgement to the time you will become a New Zealand citizen. This timeframe accounts for application processing, approval from the Minister and attending your ceremony.
Some of the conditions to be granted New Zealand citizenship is, that you must meet the requirements of either the Citizenship Act 1977 or the Citizenship Act (Western Samoa) 1982. You may meet the requirements of the Citizenship Act 1977 if you are:
- an adult over 18 years meeting the general requirements
- a child under 20 years meeting the general requirements
- a person married to a New Zealand citizen
- a person born outside New Zealand between 1 January 1949 – 31 December 1977, whose mother was a New Zealand citizen otherwise than by descent when they were born
- a person in exceptional circumstances.
You may meet the requirements of the Citizenship Act (Western Samoa) 1982 if you are a citizen of Samoa.
All applicants must include original documents in their applications.
OTHER CONDITIONS
If you believe that your situation is different from the above and may not meet any of the criteria mentioned so far, please do not hesitate to contact us to see how we may be able to help you out.