Michelle Waitzman’s book Living Abroad in New Zealand features a chapter entitled “Making the Move”, it outlines the different ways to obtain Residence Permits. Which are skilled migrant category, active investor category, entrepreneur category and family category, and it explains how to become a citizen. Waitzman says, “Be prepared for several months of work to gather everything you need for your residency application, and be patient”. The first category is the skilled migrant category, it evaluates the applications based on a point system which is derived from many different factors, including age (under 55), genre of work experience, qualifications, work opportunities, if the job is offered in places other than Auckland, if you have relatives residing New Zealand and if they can meet the necessary prerequisites. You begin by filling out an Expression of Interest form which is considered for around six months (to be considered you must have at least 100 points but 140 increases your chances) but the cut-off numbers are adjusted depending on a variety of circumstances. The fee for the Expression of Interest form is $300 online and $460 on paper. Once selected you will then fill out the piles of paperwork for the residency application consisting of medical, police and birth certificates. There will also be an interview either in person or via the phone and the final application fee is $1,400 (as of when this book was published) plus, if accepted, a $300 charge per person. If accepted you will receive a permanent residency visa and a returning resident visa, which allows you to come back into the country and expires in two years. The active investor category in split into three sub-sets: global investor (invest at least $20 million and must reside in the country 20% of the year), professional investor ($10 million and must be in the country 30% of the year) and general investors ($2.5 million with 40% of the year spent in New Zealand). The general investor age limit is 54, the professional investor is 64 and global investors have no limit. The entrepreneur category is for those who have primarily been operating under a long term business visa for a minimum of two years. You must own 25% of the business and will be examined on your experience and you must be doing the same thing that your business visa was granted for. The family category is if you have permanent residents or citizens of New Zealand as relatives however the number of these they take each year is based on a government quota and sometimes none are available. The relative must be in a financial position to take responsibility for you and they must have been a resident for three years. The relative must be a parent or an adult child, grandchild, brother or sister. To request citizenship you have to have been a resident for five years and have been present in the country for 240 days of each year. They do not require that you give up your original citizenship, but your original country may require you to do so (the U.S. does not).
This chapter was tremendously helpful about residency, however it was quite vague on citizenship. I wish it had gone into more detail on that but everything else was well organized and relevant to my topic and will be a great asset for my project. I find it very entertaining to learn about the similarities and differences between the two processes.
Waitzman, Michelle. “Making the Move.” Living Abroad in New Zealand. 1st ed. Berkeley, CA: Avalon Travel, 2008. 87-90. Print.
50/50
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