I am PR in Australia . Reached here last week . Now I want to visit one of my friend living in NewZealand . Do I need visa for that purpose ?

If you have Australian PR you can visit New Zealand.

But do you want to visit or move? Be careful about moving if you don't have Australian citizenship.

Well Thanks for reply . I am just asking for visit . As now i m free in australia widout a job .

Your will need to get a return resident visa stamped in your current passport by DIMIA or whoever do it. You then wont have to apply for a NZ visa or have any holdups upon your return to OZ.

If you wish to live and work in NZ I'm pretty sure you'd need to first get OZ citizenship and then an OZ passport.

Migrant visas have a 5 year re-entry facility built in.


Once again - not true, although it's not recommended for Australian PRs to start living in NZ without Australian citizenship.

Is this status noted in their travel documents? My understanding is that NZ govt will require evidence of OZ PR if they wish to enter NZ without first obtaining a visa to do so.

An Australian permanent visa (especially one that has been validated) with a re-entry facility is acceptable. The re-entry facility is clear on the face of the visa.

Ah, well that's commonsense and no doubt makes life easier for those with PR who travel. So do resident return visas apply to those with PR but not citizenship, who have been in OZ in excess of 5 years? I seem to recall someone suggesting to me to obtain one when I was planning a trip to NZ prior to obtaining citizenship. That was due to changes regarding NZC entering OZ.

Form 968i has all the detail:
http://www.immi.gov.au/allforms/pdf/968i.pdf

Most New Zealanders (other than those with permanent visas) cannot get RRVs because the Special Category Visa is technically a temporary visa, not permanent.

Yep that SCV thing came into effect after I entered OZ. I never had to apply for PR, I just applied for citizenship when the advantage of it became apparent to me due to all these changes. It was like I was already considered PR back then, simply by virtue of having arrived here before the changes took place. I never did apply for a RRV though, so I can't say that is 100% the case.

SCVs were introduced on 1 September 1994. However under special rules, SCV holders were considered permanent residents for most purposes, including citizenship.

That's still the case for those protected under the 2001 transitional arrangements, when the status of New Zealanders was downgraded.

SCV holders definitely do not qualify for RRV.