Questions about moving to NZ with Australian PR

[Haylie]

I'm a German national living in Australia. I am currently on temporary residency but PR is within sight. My long-term plan is to go and live in New Zealand. I know that Aus PR gives me a 5 year window to travel to New Zealand and get a PR visa there.

Now my question is: What are the rules on living in New Zealand once my Aus PR expires? As far as I know I will be able to remain in NZ, but what if I want to travel overseas? What if I want to spend a year or two back in Germany? I also need to mention that I don't qualify for any work related visa for NZ. It seems very unclear and even the NZ immigration website doesn't seem to give a clear answer. Is it true I would be able to return to NZ after my Aus PR expired as long as I have spend a certain amount of time in NZ?
Also, I read that if I travel to NZ with my Aus PR I will be given a variation of travel conditions for 24 months during which I can come and go as I please. Is that true?
What happens after the initial 24 months?
What happens with this 24 month period if I enter NZ more than once with a still valid Aus PR? Does it get extended?
How can I obtain a status that allows me to travel from and to NZ as I please for the rest of my life? (Citizenship is not an option as it is extremely difficult for Germans to get a permission for dual citizenship and I don't want to loose my German citizenship.)

Sorry if this post is really confusing. It would be great if you could give me some advise

Haylie

[JandM]

Hello and welcome.

First answer.

If you are entering New Zealand with:

a valid Australian passport, or
a current Australian Permanent Residence Visa, or
a current Australian Resident Return Visa
you will normally be granted a New Zealand residence class visa on arrival.

http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migra...ortunities.htm I don't know about the 'normally' mentioned there, however. I've never heard of what would get someone a refusal, and it could be wise to contact Immigration NZ to ask the question. I expect it's something like having a criminal record, but it would be good to know in advance.

When anyone gets NZ Residence, by whatever route, it's the same Residence, and that means you will be under the same regulations as mentioned here. http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migra...nts/nextsteps/ You will have 24 months' travel conditions, and what happens after that depends on whether you have spent enough time in NZ to establish commitment to NZ and qualify for Permanent Residence. If you read all the pages linked to on the subject mentioned in the LH sidebar, you should see the whole picture.

If you are granted NZ Residence upon first arriving in NZ with Australian PR, I think that if you leave and return during that first 24 months, it will count as being an entry as a NZ Resident with travel conditions - the fact of having Australian PR would be irrelevant to NZ Immigration. Also, whatever you do in NZ isn't going to have any effect on your Australian PR (except that time spent in NZ doesn't count towards the time requirement for Australian citizenship).

How can I obtain a status that allows me to travel from and to NZ as I please for the rest of my life?

By getting NZ PR, which involves holding Residence for two years, and establishing commitment to NZ by one of the methods mentioned at the link above.

[jawnbc]

Does Australia still allow citizenship after 3 years? They did, and they credited half of previous time for up to one of the 3 years required. Which means if you stayed for 2 years you could get Aussie citizenship and travel to NZ as you see fit.

Or...apply for NZ residence before you go, if you don't care about keeping Aussie residence.

[pdotie]

I'm a German national living in Australia. I am currently on temporary residency but PR is within sight. My long-term plan is to go and live in New Zealand. I know that Aus PR gives me a 5 year window to travel to New Zealand and get a PR visa there.

Now my question is: What are the rules on living in New Zealand once my Aus PR expires? As far as I know I will be able to remain in NZ, but what if I want to travel overseas? What if I want to spend a year or two back in Germany? I also need to mention that I don't qualify for any work related visa for NZ. It seems very unclear and even the NZ immigration website doesn't seem to give a clear answer. Is it true I would be able to return to NZ after my Aus PR expired as long as I have spend a certain amount of time in NZ?
Also, I read that if I travel to NZ with my Aus PR I will be given a variation of travel conditions for 24 months during which I can come and go as I please. Is that true?
What happens after the initial 24 months?
What happens with this 24 month period if I enter NZ more than once with a still valid Aus PR? Does it get extended?
How can I obtain a status that allows me to travel from and to NZ as I please for the rest of my life? (Citizenship is not an option as it is extremely difficult for Germans to get a permission for dual citizenship and I don't want to loose my German citizenship.)

Sorry if this post is really confusing. It would be great if you could give me some advise

Haylie

Hi Haylie

Not confusing as I have just been through the same process and what was confusing was the information (or lack of) provided on the Immigration website for our particular situation.

If you have a valid Oz PR stamp in your passport when you come through NZ immigration, you will receive a Resident Visa stamp in your passport. This allows you to live here indefinately, but expires when you leave the country (unless you have stayed here for a full 24 months and qualify for PR). In order to come and go within that 24 months you may need to apply for a "Variation of Travel Conditions" (VoTC) using form 1175 - depending on what interpretation INZ make on their published rules:

The VoTC gets you the ability to come and go for 24 months. If after those 24 months you have satisfied the requirements for Permanent Residence (184 days each year as JandM has pointed out etc.....) then you qualify the same way others do if they come here on a Skilled Migrants path. The important thing is that if you want the VoTC, you need to apply, it is not automatic.

I say may because there is a slight grey area - the requirements for PR say that you need to have held the same visa for 24 months (which obviously is not possible if it expires every time you leave the country). When I went to get the variation of travel conditions however, the immigration agent said I did not necessarily need to get one and that when it came to applying for PR, they would simply count up the total number of time on Resident's Visas (which is not exactly the same as what the requirements say). I decided to make sure, and paid the $160 to get the variation for myself and my wife (one fee for both of us as we are on the one form).

So, just to clarify:

If you have more than 2 years left on Oz PR when you arrive:
You should be able to come and go as you please and after 2 years apply for PR having satisfied the residency requirements. You can (like we did) get the Variation of Travel Conditions to cover yourself and if you need to leave the country.

If you have less than 2 years left on Oz PR when you arrive:
You will need to apply for a Variation of Travel Conditions if you want to leave the country and return after your PR has expired.

If I can clarify anything above let me know as I understand if does not seem straightforward

[Haylie]

Thanks so much to everyone for explaining and pointing me in the right direction. I've also read through the official website and everything is much clearer now. I'm also relieved that NZ immi doesn't seem to be as strict as Aus. Initially I was worried because I read that once my Aus PR expires I won't be able to go back to NZ if I left the country. So all this is great news! I'm also getting the impression that NZ immi seems to treat immigrants a lot 'nicer' than Aus does.

Thanks heaps everyone!

jawnbc - no, citizenship is possible after 4 years with at least one year of that under PR. But I can't get any foreign citizenship without loosing my own, and I'm not ready to do that.