British Expats - Can I apply for PR offshore?

You can apply for a PRV at an overseas office. You will have to let your travel conditions expire before you can apply [as you must have held a residence visa for 24 months so you have no choice in this if it is your first 2 year one]. You cannot apply before the travel conditions expire even if you already fulfil the conditions.

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If your travel conditions have already expired or will expire before you come back to New Zealand, you should make an application to either vary your travel conditions or to obtain a permament resident visa.

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To be eligible for a permanent resident visa the principal applicant in your original residence application must:
-hold a resident visa, or have held one in the last three months
-hold, or have held, that resident visa for at least two years continuously
-have met any conditions that your resident visa was subject to under section 49(1) of the Immigration Act, and
-have met one of five commitment to New Zealand criteria set out below.

This implies you have to apply within 3months of your travel conditions expiring if you are not in NZ as you will no longer hold a resident visa. Your resident visa would not expire if you remained in NZ even if you did not apply to renew/PRV the travel conditions.

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deleted redundant musings!

Found this:

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b. A resident visa expires if:
i the holder leaves New Zealand and the visa has no valid travel conditions; or
ii the travel conditions expire while the visa holder is outside New Zealand.

So yes it looks like you have to apply for a PRV within 3m of your travel conditions expiring