Your commitment to New Zealand — permanent residence

When you apply for permanent residence, you must show us you are committed to living in New Zealand permanently. Find out what evidence to provide.

Showing your commitment

There are 5 ways you can show us your commitment to living in New Zealand permanently. We need to see evidence of at least one of them.

1. You have spent enough time in New Zealand

You need to have spent at least 184 days in New Zealand on a resident visa in each of the 2 years immediately before you apply for permanent residence.

Note

This 2 year period is the time immediately before you apply for permanent residence, not the 2 years since your resident visa was issued.

The 184 days does not need to be in a row — you can leave and return to New Zealand as many times as your visa conditions allow.

Evidence

We will already have this evidence in our records of your travel.

2. You have New Zealand tax residence status

You are a tax resident in New Zealand if for 2 years before you apply for permanent residence you:

have been in New Zealand as a resident for 41 days or more in each of the two 12-month portions of the 2 years, and
are assessed as having tax residence status for those 2 years.

Evidence

Either a:

statement from Inland Revenue
completed Confirmation of Tax Resident Status endorsed by Inland Revenue.

Note

If you have tax residence in another country, even if it is one that New Zealand has a double tax agreement with, you cannot use your tax residence status there to show your commitment to New Zealand.

Confirmation of Tax Resident Status (INZ 1006) PDF 237KB

Inland Revenue

3. You have invested in New Zealand

You have had NZ$1,000,000 invested in New Zealand in an acceptable investment for 2 years or more.

Evidence

Acceptable evidence of the value and ownership of funds and any assets can include:

bank documents
property deeds and reports
share certificates
business ownership documents and valuation reports.

Detailed information about evidence of acceptable investments:

Acceptable investments: investor visas

4. You have a business in New Zealand

You have either bought or started a business in New Zealand a year or more ago.

The business must be trading successfully and of benefit to New Zealand in some way.

If you bought into an existing business in New Zealand you must have at least a 25% share in the business.

Evidence

We need to see both:

a set of your latest business accounts certified by a New Zealand chartered accountant
a letter or email from a New Zealand chartered accountant confirming that your business is a going concern.

5. You have established a base in New Zealand

You have established your base in New Zealand by having:

lived in New Zealand as a resident for at least 41 days in the year before you applied for permanent residence
and everyone else included in your residence application has been living in New Zealand for at least 184 days in the 2 years before you applied for permanent residence

You must also have either:

worked full-time in New Zealand for 9 months or more in the 2 years before you applied for permanent residence, or
purchased a home within 12 months of your first day in New Zealand as a resident. When you apply for permanent residence the home must still be owned by you, or together with family in your resident visa application.

Evidence

Evidence of home ownership can be:

your house deed
mortgage documents
rates demands
home insurance papers
household bills such as power or internet.

Evidence of employment can be:

an employment agreement
pay slips
confirmation from your employer.

Note

If you work for commission or a retainer, you cannot use your employment to show you have an established base in New Zealand.

Evidence of self-employment can be:

documents showing you have established, bought or have shares in a business
documents showing you are actively involved in running the business.