Captainkate

I have been married to a Kiwi for almost 20 years. We have lived in the USA all that time. We want to retire in Nelson on the South Island and were wondering how to proceed.

I was also wondering if anyone has already done this? My husband has been here 20 years and has not worked in New Zealand in all that time. Does he have to have lived and worked there in the past few years in order to sponsor me?

Thank you so much for your help.

Kate

Snap Shot

Look up information on the NZ Immigration Service website regarding what needs to be done. No he does not have to have lived and worked in NZ to 'sponsor' you. It should be enough that he is a New Zealander.

You could be granted Permanent Residency in New Zealand which will be a blue sticker in your passport if you do this prior to entering NZ and all the criteria are met.

I'm British. My husband is a New Zealander. We got married in Britain and lived there for 17 years. I applied for a Family Category Visa and got it, which is how I got my Permanent Residency. We arrived in NZ in 2011. After five years, and if all the criteria are met, I can apply for NZ Citizenship.

Captainkate

Thank you for your reply. Yes, I have been looking at the immigration pages for New Zealand and it's very confusing. I don't see where I am even allowed to be a resident. I don't find any information about retirement there or how to use that information for the support requirement. If there even is a support requirement. The website is very vague.

Snap Shot

It's enough for him to be a New Zealander, legally entitled to reside in New Zealand.

My husband had not lived in NZ since 1990. By the time we came to NZ to live in 2011 he had not lived in NZ for nearly 21 years.

Could you just apply for a family category visa and get PR that way ? Your retirement plans are your own business.

As long as the NZ authorities are satisfied that your relationship is genuine and stable you should get your family category visa and therefore your PR.

If you come to retire, the NZ Authorities will probably want to know how you intend to support yourselves.

MrsFychan

I personally would not confuse the application and discuss the retirement. Just go under the family stream and have get all the supporting evidence for that and apply.

Clappy

I'm British. My wife is a New Zealander who lived in Britain for ten years before sponsoring me under the family category.

Then we moved here and I have been here long enough now that I have been granted citizenship. Under the current rules, provided all the paperwork is in order family sponsorship is not any more complicated than that.

Captainkate

Thank you all very much for taking the time to answer my questions. I think that since I know the USA has difficult rules, qualifications and long waiting times, I believed that New Zealand had the same type of bureaucracy.

What a breath of fresh air that New Zealand is so reasonable.