Campbells

Hi there,

We have Returning resident’s visas for New Zealand and believe that we can apply for indefinite returning residence visas two years after our PR was granted.

What are the parameters of an indefinite returning residence visa?

Are there any effects on our NZ citizenship if we had to live outside NZ for a period prior to getting our citizenship?

Once citizenship is granted are there any conditions as to how long must be spent in New Zealand to maintain citizenship ?

Cheers

happynz

Good questions. First of all, I think the IRRV is a Indefinite Returning Resident Visa, not irrevocable. Slight difference, but hey...
As I understand it for citizenship to be granted you need to stay in New Zealand for 184 days per calender year for a period of five years after first receiving residency to be eligible.
Once granted citizenship you can live outside New Zealand for an indeterminate time and be re-admitted to the country unconditionally because, well, you are a citizen and they have to take you.

Anyhow, that's my understanding.

cally49

Hello there, JAJ is the best person to advise you on this. I can however tell you my personal experience in that i had a devil of a time with my citizenship application.

Even though i had lived in NZ for 31yrs (I had never bothered about citizenship before as i was married to a kiwi and i just never got around to it)
I had an inindefinite returning residents visa in my British passport and when i seseparated from my husband i spent considerable time over the past 6yrs visiting family for one reason or another (all of which was explained by way of a letter in with my application as requested.)

When i lodged my application they said i had not been ordinarily resident in NZ for the time required (I think is was 3yrs or something) this guy was going nuts at me on the phone when i asked for an explanation as i didnt understand what he was talking about i have honestly never met such a rude and arrogant person in my life as this guy ) What he said was at the time of my application i had not been ordinarily resident in NZ for 3yrs because i had been out of the country for longer than 3 weeks or something like that. Which of course when you are from the UK its a bit hard to go for a shorter length of time than 3 weeks.

So look into the rules and regulations get all your ducks in a row and time your application for cicitizenship right.
Because of all of that happened with mine it actually took 15months for my application to go through. They are extremely picky with time frames.

As i said thats just my experience but i couldnt believe it and JAJ was a great help with information as i just about gave up with the whole process. I am sure he will be along soon hes very good at this type of thing
Good luck with it all.
Cheers
Cally

Campbells

Hey Cally,

Thanks for your input. Yes, I had my experiences with NZIS and to be quite frank I felt a tad of racialism involved as I was treated as a piece of dirt. My experience was face to face at the Henderson NZIS.

Friends of ours left in Dec, she is German married to a Kiwi, she is a doctor of mathematics, IT and electronics qualifications and couldn’t get a job for $40k here. The New Zealand experience BS. She had an ongoing saga with NZIS and was offered a serious position back in Germany in Nov and they have now left New Zealand taking the skills that this country desperately needs.

I guess it is at times like these when one understands and appreciates the fees of immigration consultants.

Personally I am not really convinced that I want to stay in New Zealand at this point in time and looking into a four to six month contract in the UK which may offer a decent time frame to make definite long term decisions.

Thanks again & have a great week

JAJ

As it says. It is valid indefinitely to allow you to return to New Zealand.

However it is not irrevocable - there would be nothing to stop the NZ government putting additional conditions or charges in place later on.

Also bear in mind:

- you don't get a New Zealand passport (so no special rights in Australia); and
- children born overseas will not be New Zealand citizens (and they don't get the IRRV either).


It could well affect your eligibility. When did you apply for your PR visas?


Once you are sworn in as a citizen - no conditions. There is always the chance that someone might question your intentions if you left immediately but basically you will never have problems provided you can show that the intention to leave arose after you became an NZ citizen.

cande

Do you mean that children born in the UK and granted a residence visa and permit on arrival in NZ don't require or are not eligible for a IRRV? I though dependent children and partners were all lumped together for the award of visas/permits/IRRV, etc.

JAJ

What I mean is that if you leave NZ with IRRV then any children born (outside NZ) after you leave will have no automatic status (either citizenship or residence) with New Zealand.

cande

Thank You - I did have a bit of a panic for a minute there!