2021 Residence visa
Immigration NZ has unveiled a new one-off residence visa with a clear pathway for a select category of existing temporary work visa holders as well as a select few critical purpose work visa holders.
All eligible applicants can start applying in two cohorts from December 2021 onwards.
The deadline to apply is 31 July 2022. Applications will not be accepted after this date.
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OFFSHORE APPLICANTS
To meet the eligibility criteria, the principal applicant must:
To meet the eligibility criteria, the principal applicant must:
- have been present onshore in New Zealand on 29 September 2021, AND
- be on an scarce list or have applied for an eligible visa on or before 29 September 2021 that is later granted
The principal applicant must also meet ONE of the three criteria:
- Must have lived in New Zealand for three or more years, OR
- Must earn at or above the median wage ($27 per hour), OR
- Must work in a role on a scarce list .
Applicants who have lived in New Zealand for three or more years will be able to meet the eligibility criteria if:
- have arrived in New Zealand on or before 29 September 2018, AND
- have spent a minimum of 821 days in New Zealand between 29 September 2018 and 29 September 2021 (inclusive).
Only two groups of Critical Purpose visa holders will be eligible, as long as they arrive in New Zealand and apply before 31 July 2022.
- Critical health workers for longer term roles (6 months or longer)
- Other critical workers for long term roles (more than 6 months).
Eligible visas for 2021 Resident Visa
All applicants must be on an eligible visa on or before 29 September 2021. These are:
All applicants must be on an eligible visa on or before 29 September 2021. These are:
- Post Study Work Visa
- Talent (Accredited Employer) Work Visa
- Essential Skills Work Visa
- Religious Worker Work Visa
- Talent (Arts, Culture, Sports) Work Visa
- Long Term Skill Shortage List Work Visa
- Silver Fern Practical Experience Work Visa
- Trafficking Victim Work Visa
- Migrant Exploitation Protection Work Visa
- Skilled Migrant Category Job Search Work Visa
- Victims of Family Violence Work
- Visa South Island Contribution Work Visa
- Work Visa granted under Section 61 (provided the applicant held another eligible visa type within 6 months of being granted a Section 61 visa)
- Some Critical Purpose Visitor Visas (CPVV):
- Critical health workers for longer term roles (6 months or longer), and
- Other critical workers for long term roles (more than 6 months).
The 2021 Resident visa will be open for applications in two phases, with the first group of people able to apply from 1 December 2021.
From 1 December 2021
You can apply if:
- you have already applied for residence under the Skilled Migrant and Residence from Work categories before 29 September 2021, OR
- you have submitted a Skilled Migrant Category Expression of Interest, and have included your dependent child in the Expression of Interest aged 17 years or older on 29 September 2021.
From 1 March 2022
All other eligible applicants can apply, including all others who have submitted a Skilled Migrant Category Expression of Interest.
The application can be made online through Immigration new Zealand’s online platform.
Occupations in the Long Term Skill Shortage List.
- Analyst programmer
- Automotive electrician
- Chef (chef de partie or higher)
- Chemical engineer
- Civil engineer
- Civil engineering technician
- Clinical psychologist
- Computer network and systems engineer
- Construction project manager
- Database administrator
- Developer programmer
- Diagnostic and interventional radiologist
- Diesel motor mechanic (including heavy vehicle inspector)
- Electric line mechanic
- Electrical engineer
- Electrical engineering technician
- Electrician (general)
- Electronic engineering technician
- Electronics engineer
- Engineering professional
- Environmental engineer
- Environmental research scientist
- Food technologist
- General practitioner
- Geotechnical engineer
- ICT business analyst
- ICT customer support officer
- ICT project manager
- ICT quality assurance engineer
- ICT security specialist
- ICT support and test engineer
- ICT support engineer
- ICT systems test engineer
- Industrial engineer
- Materials engineer
- Mechanical engineer
- Medical laboratory scientist
- Medical radiation therapist
- Multimedia specialist (film animator)
- Multimedia specialist
- Network administrator
- Obstetrician and gynaecologist
- Organisation and methods analyst
- Other spatial scientist
- Physicist (medical)
- Physiotherapist
- Procurement manager
- Production or plant engineer
- Project builder (including building project manager and site foreman)
- Psychiatrist
- Quantity surveyor
- Registered nurse (aged care)
- Software engineer
- Software tester
- Software and applications programmer
- Sonographer
- Specialist physician in palliative medicine
- Structural engineer
- Surgeon (general)
- Surveyor
- Systems administrator
- Systems analyst
- Telecommunications engineer
- Telecommunications engineer
- Telecommunications network engineer
- Telecommunications network engineer
- Veterinarian
- Web developer
FAQ
Can I include my family members in 2021 Resident Visa application?
Yes, absolutely. If you are onshore and your partner or dependent child is offshore then you will be able to include them as secondary applicants in your application.
Will I need to submit any medicals or police certificates with my application?
Immigration NZ will perform preliminary checks around your medicals and character. Only if there are any issues, they can request for further medicals or a police certificate from your home country. However, they will surely do a NZ criminal check and in the case of any convictions, you may require a character waiver from Immigration NZ
Will I need to provide any English language test score with my application?
There will be no requirements for English language criteria.
What will be the processing time for 2021 Residence visa?
Immigration NZ will aim to process majority of the applications within 12 months from the date of lodgement.
Will there be any priority queue for people submitting their applications from March 2022?
No, there will be no priority queue as all applications will be processed on first come – first serve basis. The sooner you apply, the sooner you can obtain the outcome on your residence application.
Am I eligible if I lived in NZ for more than 821 days criteria but arrived after 29 September 2018?
No, you must have made entry to New Zealand on or before 29 September 2018 and lived for minimum 821 days after your arrival till 29 September 2021.
I have been working in a Fixed-Term role under one of the eligible visas on or prior to 29 September 2021. Am I eligible to apply?
Although the full policy will be published around end of October 2021, however it will be safe to assume that a full time fixed-term employment with minimum 12 months of employment agreement may be acceptable to meet the criteria. We can advise and assist more on this once we receive the detailed policy updates from Immigration NZ
As of 29 September, I meet the criteria for working in an eligible occupation. Do I need to keep working in that occupation at the time of application lodgement?
Yes, this is what Immigration NZ will expect from the principal applicants to keep working in their roles.
What should I do next?
Get in touch for a free assessment with one of our friendly and knowledgeable licensed immigration advisers. You need to get this right because it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity.
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info@ezyimmigration.com
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