Hello there - I'm new to the forum.
My family and I have 2 year residence visas under the Skilled Migrant program and we may not manage to live in New Zealand for a full 184 days over 2 years, so I am asking forum members if they could tell me what they know about the criteria for earning permanent residency via "Establishing a base in New Zealand". In particular, there is a criteria whereby if one purchases a home within the first year of residence, and family members are in New Zealand a total of 184 days over a 2 year period, and they occupy that residence, then they are granted permanent residency.
My question is, can this home be a condominium? Does it need to be a single family detached house? Can we live in temporary lodging (RV or trailer, say) on a section we purchase which we will build a home on later? Can it be rented to others while we are away? Do we have to be living there at the time of our PR application (what if we are overseas, say)?
The PR operations manual states that one must occupy the home and prove it via property tax statements, insurance, utility bills etc which we surely will be able to do, but it's the details relating to the other issues I'm worried about.
Anyone been through this or done any research or know any stories?
Thanks for the feedback
John