Have you check this tool?
https://dia.services.govt.nz/presence-calculator/
This will be your best friend
That tool show me I was eligible the day I was expecting to be elegible
I did my Calculations like this:
1. You need to have a minumin of 1350 days in New Zealand (and in each year you need to have a minimun of 240 days in the country)
Here is an example on how I calculated my days (
Day on my Resident Visa = 30/OCT/16):
30/OCT/2016 - 29/OCT/2017 - 364 days in NZ (240 days? Yes) (Days Overseas? 0)
30/OCT/2017 - 29/OCT/2018 - 314 days in NZ (240 days? Yes) (Days Overseas? 50)
30/OCT/2018 - 29/OCT/2019 - 344 days in NZ (240 days? Yes) (Days Overseas? 20)
30/OCT/2019 - 29/OCT/2020 - 354 days in NZ (240 days? Yes) (Days Overseas? 10)
30/OCT/2020 - 27/
JUN/2021 - 240 days in NZ (240 days? Yes) (Days Overseas? 0)
Total days:1616
And to be 100% safe, and because I need it to wait for my partner - I applied a few weeks after it was okay to apply. Why? I was happy to wait... I was applying a few months before the 5 years mark