Direct Permanent residency for someone working for an accredited employer and earning $90000?

[vkb]

Hi,

I am sorry if this question has already been answered. I tried to search but could not find it.

My husband is working for an accredited employer from last 6 months in NZ on a silver fern practical experience visa earning $90000 per year. While going through the requirements for Work to residence we came across this link

http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migra...quirements.htm

It says "Under some residence categories, applicants may be granted PRVs straight away, not a resident visa. An example of this is under Residence from Work, where a person may be granted a PRV if they work for an accredited employer, earn a base salary of at least NZ$90,000 per year and meet the normal Residence from Work criteria."

We called up the immigration helpline twice to clarify this and we got different answers. First time we were told that PRV is possible and we should fill the PR form and second time we were told that we will have to wait for 2 years to get a PRV.

The statement clearly says that "PRVs straight away, not a resident visa". My husband is also paying tax and has been in new zealand for close to 195 days.

We are confused how to proceed. Please help.

Cheers
vkb

[JandM]

Hello.

Your husband is not eligible for PR under this provision, because it is for those applying under Residence From Work, and that is only available to those who first had a Work To Residence visa. He will need to apply for Residence under SMC, by putting in his EOI, then will be able to qualify for PR at least two years later.

[vkb]

Hello.

Your husband is not eligible for PR under this provision, because it is for those applying under Residence From Work, and that is only available to those who first had a Work To Residence visa. He will need to apply for Residence under SMC, by putting in his EOI, then will be able to qualify for PR at least two years later.

Hi

Thanks for your response. Can he not apply for work to residence now? He is on a silver fern practical experience visa but he is still eligible for work to residence right?

[JandM]

I should think so, if his employer is willing to sponsor him. But he can't go directly from SF PE to PR - there would have to be either WTR or SMC residence in between.

[palc]

I was wondering what will be the scenario for Work permit holders (Talent, accredited employer, work to residence) if they start the job at $75k and around two years later when they apply for residence their salary stands over $90k? Will immigration consider $90k+ current salary when applicant apply for residence and issue straight PR visa? Or immigration will look at the earnings over the past two years to check whether it's was at the rate of $90k/yr or not before issuing PR visa staring way?

[JandM]

I haven't see this question raised before, so I don't know an official answer, and what follows is just me reading the requirements and thinking aloud.

The mention of PR on the factsheet for the Work-to-Residence visa https://www.immigration.govt.nz/new-...-visa#criteria says:

If you’re earning NZ$90,000 or more, we may grant you a permanent resident visa.

When talking about evidence of income in general, it says:

When you apply for residence, you must provide a Summary of Earnings from Inland Revenue confirming your earnings.

So my GUESS is that you would have to show records of the year up to the date of your application, in the course of which you DID earn $90,000+, and paperwork from your employer showing that that was now your normal salary rate.

Is there anybody reading this who has gone through the process and can comment?

[Eckat69]

I would like to hear how this works too...

We’re at the start of the process just now and trying to decide on Talent Work VISA or SMC.

Talent would be much less hassle than going down the NZQA route for LTSSL do if we could get PR after 2 years, then that would help us decide....

[LemonAndPaeroa]

Just get residency as soon as you can. When I put in my EOI it was picked out of the pool the next round - less than two weeks later the requirements had changed and I wouldn’t have qualified anymore.

[nellynshayan]

Hi JandM, I have applied for myself and my family PR under the SMC after studying a level 8 PGDBA course in NZ and now working as a office manager. Still waiting for my decision to come through though 🥺 I submitted my docs on 4th Oct 2018 my question is would we get the PR or just residency?

[JandM]

When anyone applies under the Skilled Migrant Category, if they are successful, it is a Residence visa that they get. Years ago, it USED TO BE called PR, but all the names were changed in November 2010. Nowadays, PR is a different visa that a person can only qualify for after at least two years as a Resident.

Whichever way you apply for it (Skilled Migrant, Family Category, Residence From Work from within NZ, after having a WTR (there are different kinds of those) for a couple of years...), the first 'forever' visa you get is called Residence, with travel conditions that last two years. After two years, if you have established commitment to NZ (various ways, but most frequently, spending half the time or more of each of those two years after activating the visa in NZ), you NOW are awarded Permanent Residence, which doesn't need any travel conditions.