Hi,

Does anyone have experience going from completing 2yrs on a work to residency visa with an accredited employer to gaining permanent residency?

from the pdf at
http://www.immigration.govt.nz/NR/rd.../0/INZ1176.pdf

page 3 states:

"A small number of people can be granted a permanent
resident visa without first having held a resident visa.
These are:
• refugees and protected people
• successful applicants under the Talent (Accredited
Employer) Residence from Work Category who meet a
certain income threshold, and
• partners of New Zealand citizens, where the couple
has been together for more than five years and the
New Zealand citizen has been overseas for more than
five years."

and from:
http://www.enz.org/work-visa-new-zealand.html it states:

"Work To Residence (WTR)
The most desirable work visa is the Work to Residence Visa.

If you can get one, qualifying for permanent residence is straightforward. All you need to do is work in NZ for two years and apply for permanent residence."

..so is my understanding that I can go straight to permanent residency correct? i.e. no having to spend 2 years on a residence class visa first before it becomes permanent?

My company is an accredited employer and I'll have the offer of a contract for an additional 12 months, and over the 2 yrs of my work visa I'll have been in the country enough days, and assuming medical and police checks are fine - it seems like this is a pretty pain free route to getting the permanent residency? unless I've mis-understood something?

Any thoughts

Cheers
Paul