Going from 'Work to residency' visa (accredited employer) to permanent residency

[bengaboy]

Quite an old thread, but posting on it nevertheless

I just got my WTR (accredited employer) visa and will land in Wellington in mid Aug 2015. Do I have to wait for 2 years to file the PR application? Or can I do it straightaway..rather, can I apply for it now as well?

[Sun777]

http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migra...rktoresidence/

After you are accepted
If you are already in New Zealand on a Work to Residence visa, after two years you can apply for residence.

[JandM]

You can apply for Residence under SMC straight away. http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migra...nt/default.htm

You have to wait two years before you can apply for PR. http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migra...quirements.htm (And as well as those general requirement when going from Residence, there are the ones mentioned above in this thread about going straight to PR from WTR depending on your salary level.)

[harmon]

Yes, it is straightforward if you are on an accredited employer work visa (talent visa) to go to residence/permanent residence. Once you have been here 2 years you can apply for residency and if you earn over $90 000 and fulfill the other requirements you should get permanent residence status straightaway. This applies to everyone on your initial application as well so if you have a partner/children they also get the permanent residence status. Only if you fulfil the salary requirement, otherwise you can get residence status and apply for permanent residence after a further 2 years.
Info here: http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migra...tepsfortalent/
and here about the $90,000 requirement: http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migra.../residence.htm
This application can go quite quickly as they are processed through the business immigration section and we know of other peoples' applications which took a similar length of time.

Any idea on the processing time of such visas ?

[girlwithanewf]

Any idea on the processing time of such visas ?

That took about a month in Wellington.

[bengaboy]

Revisiting this post again. I have been in NZ for the last 4.5 months now. I am currently on a Talent (accredited employer) work visa. Just so that I achieve some stability in life, my goal would be to get a PR as soon as possible.

1. Do I gain anything at all for applying for residence? I believe my current work visa is a residence-class visa. (Thats what the visa officer referred to when she was going through my application).
2. What is the difference between 'Residence' and 'Permanent Residence'?
3. I satisfy the salary requirements for a PR. Both me and my wife are working in NZ. Do I have to wait for 2 years to apply for 'Permanent Residence'?

[bengaboy]

@girlwithanewf - any luck with this effort?

[JandM]

1. WTR isn't Residence of itself - it's on the way to Residence. When you get as far as applying for PR, your time on WTR will not count towards the two years you have to have held Residence, which is one of the criteria.

2. With Residence you get two years' travel conditions, which entitle you to leave the country and return as many times as you like within that period. Then the travel conditions expire, and should you leave, you would not readily have the right to re-enter. When you have PR, you have the right to leave and re-enter for ever.

3. Yes. To apply for Residence from Work, you have to have held the Work to Residence visa for two years. http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migra...iworkfromresi/ The only way you can cut down the waiting time is to make a separate application for Residence under SMC - but then you wouldn't go directly to PR, and you would have a further two years to wait till you could apply for that.

[girlwithanewf]

@girlwithanewf - any luck with this effort?

Any specific question?
We were on a talent visa for 2 years, then applied for residency. That came back as permanent residency because we were fortunate enough to fulfil the salary requirement. We all got the permanent residency status, even though the visas we held as a family were talent/work/student visas.

[bengaboy]

Perfect, this is what I wanted to know. Thanks so much!

I am in the same boat. Have a salary > 90K and intend to pursue the same route in a couple of years.

Thanks once again and apologies for not being specific in my post above.