So we've been here with permanent residence (or whatever it's called now, though we're eligible for the old IRRV/permanent residence) for some time. Over 3 years. Our passports with our stickers are due for renewal next year. I'm thinking of getting them done early, but that's not totally relevant. We aren't eligible for NZ citizenship until 2014. Passports expire in 2013.
Here's our potential scenario: We want to renew our passports. Do we even need to do this if we don't plan on traveling outside of NZ or is a residence permit in an expired passport not so good? e.g. is it more important to have a current passport in case of emergency travel or is it important for legality of our residence?
So we'll send them to the US consulate and get new ones. Is there likely to be any problems with NZIS when these are being processed? I don't think so. OH is paranoid.
We both have NZ drivers licenses and don't plan on traveling outside of NZ anytime soon. We certainly don't use our passports for any part of daily life. Now, we want to have new (improved) resident permits put in our new passports. How do we prove to NZIS that we are permanent residents? Do we get our old passports back? I seem to recall getting an old one back when I got the current one with a hole punched in it...but that was close to 10 years ago.