You may have been living in New Zealand for a while now, but need to leave the country temporarily for business or holiday or to see friends and family. If your travel conditions have expired, you will need to make an application either to progress to a permanent resident visa or to obtain further travel conditions.

Permanent resident visas

A permanent resident visa is usually the next step after a obtaining a resident visa. While resident visas only allow a person to re-enter New Zealand as a resident until a certain date, a permanent resident visa allows indefinite re-entry to New Zealand.  

If you were the principal applicant of the original residence application, you can obtain a permanent resident visa if you:

• have held your resident visa for at least two years, and
• have met any conditions of your resident visa, and
• have shown a commitment to New Zealand in one of the five ways that meet our requirements.

See the requirements to be granted a permanent resident visa for more information.

If you were not the principal applicant in the original residence application, you normally cannot apply for a permanent resident visa unless you apply at the same time as the principal applicant or later.  See our immigration instructions RV1.20 for exceptions to this requirement.

How do I go about applying for a permanent resident visa?

Variation of travel conditions

If you do not qualify for a permanent resident visa, you may still be eligible to have the travel conditions on your resident visa extended, to allow you a longer time to return to New Zealand as a resident. 

Variations of travel conditions can be granted for 24 months, 12 months or 14 days depending on your circumstances. 

See the requirements to be granted a variation of travel conditions for more information.

How do I go about applying for a variation of travel conditions?

What if I am already out of New Zealand and my travel conditions have expired?

If you are outside New Zealand and the travel conditions of your resident visa have expired, your resident visa has expired.  However, if you haven’t been outside of New Zealand long, you may still be able to either obtain a permanent resident visa or a new resident visa.  

See the requirements to be granted a second or subsequent resident visa for more information.

How do I go about applying for a permanent resident visa or a second or subsequent resident visa?