Skilled Migrant Category = Permanent Residency?

[USNZ]

Does the NZ ‘Skilled Migrant Category Resident Visa’ grant you permanent residency immediately? Or, do you have to live in NZ two years on the SMC visa before applying for permanent residency?

[Kelerei]

No, you will be granted a Resident Visa with one year of first entry travel conditions (only if you are offshore at the time your Resident Visa is granted; if you are already in New Zealand, first entry travel conditions are not applicable for obvious reasons) and also travel conditions allowing multiple entry for two years from your first day as a resident. These are described at R5.66. Additional conditions may also be imposed on your Resident Visa under Section 49 of the Immigration Act; for the Skilled Migrant Category the situations in which this will occur and the conditions that may be imposed are described at SM11.

To be later granted a Permanent Resident Visa, you will then have to meet the requirements set out in RV2. For the vast majority of people, this is the only way to be granted a Permanent Resident Visa.

For completeness, the other ways to be granted a Permanent Resident Visa are:

• having an approved application for a residence class visa under the Partnership Category, and additionally meeting the requirements set out at F2.5.1;
• having an approved application for a residence class visa under the Talent (Accredited Employer) Category, and additionally meeting the requirements set out at RW2.1;
• having an approved application for a residence class visa if a quota refugee, asylum seeker or protected person (as set out at S3.10), or if a community organisation sponsored refugee (as set out at S4.25);
• applying for a Permanent Resident Visa under the Christchurch Response (2019) Category (only if you are a person meeting the requirements at S4.30);
• applying for a Permanent Resident Visa under the Afghan Emergency Resettlement Category (only if you are a person meeting the requirements at S4.35).