Residence Application for UK Husband

[Kiwijo]

Hi.

Im a Kiwi and my husband (of 23yrs) is English. I have been in the UK for 25 years, we are hoping to move to NZ in the next few years.
The timeframe is rather fluid as it will be based on events relating to his elderly mother. We will be selling our house to finance the move and arent currently in a position to apply for his visa.
Can anyone advise me how long applications are taking at the moment?
We would ideally be looking at 6 months between making the final decision to go and being on the plane.
Thanks

[Karen Phillips]

Hi As you and your NZ citizen husband have been partners for more than 5 years and have lied outside of NZ fro more than 5 years, you can apply directly for a Permanent Residence visa. So long as you provide all the necessary evidence, you won't have to go through the stage of a residence Visa for two years and then apply for Permanent residence. The other advantage you have is that a Permanent Residence Visa has no "activate by" date. Once it is issued, it is active. you can then go to NZ whenever you want, for as long as you want - or not! So, you codl apply now if you wanted to. PR visas are given priority for processing. I would reckon two months.

[Kiwijo]

Thank you Karen, that brilliant news. We didnt want to be stuck in the UK once the house had sold waiting for his Visa to come through. )