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  • Ishvinder Singh.
    • Jul 3, 2015
    • 4 min read

Permanent Residence From Work Visa


Please read this post in conjunction with my other post “Skilled Migrant Category-Overview”. There are two major pathways to residency i.e. one being the “skilled migrant category” and the other being the “work to residence” pathway.

Let’s examine the work to residency pathway. To make things simple, I have broken this into two steps

The first step – Work to residence visa.

This option allows the applicants to apply for a temporary work visa as a step towards getting permanent residence. This category is for those applicants who are

  • Qualified in occupations that are in demand in New Zealand and / or

  • Have a job offer from an accredited employer.

  • Or they have an exceptional talent in sports or other arts.

Let us examine each sub category one by one

A) Long Term Skill Shortage Work Visa Category - The applicant has a job from a New Zealand employer and that job is on the long term skill shortage list. In this case the applicant can be granted a work visa for up to 30 months and he or she is eligible to apply for residence after 24 months. ​The requirements of this sub category are as follows

  • There are the generic requirements of entry for temporary entry class visas which deal with things like health and character, for the purpose of this post I will not discuss them here.

  • The applicant must have an offer of employment which meets the following requirements.

  • The applicant is suitably qualified by training and or experience to do the job.

  • In case the occupation requires registration, the applicant is either fully or provisionally registered.

  • The applicant should be under 53 years of age.

  • The job offer should be for a job which is on the LTSSL.

  • The job offer should be genuine.

  • Full time (at least 30 hours per week).

  • For a term of at least 2 years.

  • Job offer should be in accordance with NZ employment laws.

The offer of employment should be accompanied by an Employer Supplementary Form INZ 1113

B) Talent (Accredited Employers) work category - The offer of employment is not on the LTSSL. In a situation that your job offer from a NZ employer is for an occupation which is not on the LTSSL, the applicant may be eligible to apply under the aforementioned sub category. This is a special category for those people who have job offers from employers who have been accredited to recruit overseas staff.

The requirements are as follows

  • The applicant can apply for a max of 30 months visa and can apply for residency after 2 years.

  • To be accredited the employers have to prove to INZ that they are financially viable, committed to training and employing New Zealanders and have sound human resource and workplace policies and practices in place.

  • In case the applicant has to work for more than 40 hours a week then the min base salary is calculated based on 40 hours per week.

  • Registration requirements for profession either a full or provisional registration is required depending upon occupation.

  • The applicant must have a genuine offer of employment from an accredited employer, for employment which is full time (at least 30 hours per week), at least 2 years, with an annual bases salary of at least NZD 55,000 gross.

  • The applicant must be employed in the employer’s main business activity where they are directly responsible for output.

  • There are conditions on the offer of employment in terms of what all need to be specified on the employment contract which I am not covering in detail here. The offer of employment must comply with NZ employment law and must be current at the time that the application is processed by INZ.

  • The work visa is subject to conditions that you are allowed to only work for the accredited employer, in an event that the employer goes bankrupt or the accreditation lapses, the applicant has to either find another accredited employer OR request INZ to change the visa conditions to allow work for a non-accredited employer. The decision is made on a case by case basis by INZ in such a condition after considering all the aspects, the salary condition of at least NZD 55,000 remains in force.

C) Talent (Arts, Cluture and Sports) Work Visa subcategory - The applicant has recognized ability in arts culture or sports. Their presence in NZ will enhance the country’s reputation.

If the application is successful, the applicant will be issued with a 30 month multiple entry work visa and upon proving that the applicant has been actively engaged in the applicant’s field of talent, for at least 2 years, the applicant may apply for residency.

The requirements are as follows

  • Generic health and character requirements for temporary entry class visas

  • Age 55 of younger

  • Have exceptional talent. Which basically means that the applicant should have an international reputation and record of excellence in his or her field (for example a sportsperson who has represented a national team in an international competition). The applicant is still prominent in the field and that the applicant’s presence in NZ will enhance NZ’s participation and accomplishment in that field.

  • Be supported by NZ organization of national repute and be sponsored by either an individual or the organization supporting the applicant i.e. they need to fill an INZ 1091 Form, they need to explain the immigration how the applicant will enhance NZ’s participation and accomplishment in that field and satisfy INZ that the organization supporting the applicants visa application is an organization of national repute.

D) Entrepreneur work visa - The applicant would like to establish a business in New Zealand – The applicant can apply for an Entrepreneur work visa under the business class visas. The aforementioned is covered in greater detail in this video.

The final step towards residency – Residence from work visa

After the applicant has been working in NZ, for at least a time period of 2 years after being granted a work visa under the work to residence categories (above), the applicant can apply for residence under the Residence from Work Category. The following flow chart explains the requirements for application.

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