Now that we're approved for residency under SMC, I'm already thinking about getting to permanent residency. I know I can't apply for two years, but it is my understanding that you do not necessarily have to be living in New Zealand when you apply, so long as you meet one of the five conditions that shows your commitment to New Zealand, outlined here:
http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migra...quirements.htm
My question is that if we have some massive life change and have to go back home or somewhere else for a while, at what point will I have met the requirements so that I can still apply, whether still here in NZ, or anywhere else?
#1 is pretty straightforward. 184 days in two consecutive years. That would essentially mean that about 18 months from now, I could conceivably leave the country, and apply for PR six months later. Is that correct?
#5 (Establish a base in NZ) is even more intriguing. It says we only have to be here for 184 days out of two years and have held a job for nine months of those two years, which I'm taking to mean that if everything is still the same nine months from now, we would be candidates for PR, even if we did have a change of residency.
Have I calculated that all correctly?