[mcleanja]

Hi

After you receive your blue stickers how much time do you have to enter NZ?, and then you are on PR after that and have it for life?

Cheers
James

[kiwijock]

From the date they are put in your passport you have 1 year to enter the country to validate them.

I think once you are approved in principle you have 6 months to pay the migrant levy and get the blue stickers so potentially you have 18 months after approval in principle before you have to enter NZ.

Anne

[IanW99]

Hi

After you receive your blue stickers how much time do you have to enter NZ?, and then you are on PR after that and have it for life?

Cheers
James

After you have the blue stickers you have 12 months to enter NZ.

When you are given PR, you will actually receive a RRV (returning residents visa) which will be valid for 2 years.

If you have remained in NZ for the majority of these two years (183+ days) then you apply for an IRRV (indefinite RRV) which you will then be able to keep for life (unless you go for citizenship of course).

Ian

[Carey]

But if you are going in with a job as a skilled migrant you must start work within 3 months from the date 'they' stick the stickers in. It tells you on the stickers when that is.

[catt]

What happens if you have to hang out for nearly the full 18 months before just visiting to get the pr stamps in the passport before returning to the UK.........how long do you get before having to go back to NZ to live? Or are there other rules? i have tried looking but there isnt much on it. Does anyone know?

[napiers]

I am by no means an authority so would appreciate anyone telling me if I've got it all wrong but this is my situation. I need to enter NZ by February 09 (got blue stickers Feb 08) and we're going over for a week in October so I can 'use' blue stickers and get visa activated. We're intending to move permanently next April (possibly August if we don't get organised). My understanding, and please please someone correct me, is that because my RRV is valid for 2 years technically I could stay away for this amount of time and return to NZ by October 2010. I know that would have implications for RRV/IRRV but from what I've read this is what I think. :confused:

[yossarian]

http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migrant/stream/alreadyinnz/residents/returningresidents/

theoretically, your plan sounds fine. however, you have to make sure that after getting in by october 2010, you don't need to get out of nz soon. to get subsequent RRV, one requirement is showing proof that you stayed in nz for certain length (184 days each year in 2 year stay)

also, when you get in by october 2010, i'm not certain if immigration would question you why it took you ages before coming back.

[napiers]

True - we do intend to be there by mid 2009 and if we were in 2010 then I would imagine we would have a really good reason. If we weren't there by then I imagine we wouldn't be going at all. I was really just checking that I hadn't got the theory wrong even if in practice it's different!

[smitjo]

Hi Napiers,
Your situation sounds pretty similar to ours as we activated our PR visas back in Oct 06 and then had to come back to the UK for varios reasons. We are now going back in Sept this year for good - on our RRV which expires in October this year. We will obvisouly not be given a IRRV but you can apply for a 1 week RRV if you need to leave the country for any reason. This was my understanding when I spoke to our case officer before we made the decision to stay in the UK after activating our visa.
Good luck with it all.

[napiers]

Hi Napiers,
Your situation sounds pretty similar to ours as we activated our PR visas back in Oct 06 and then had to come back to the UK for varios reasons. We are now going back in Sept this year for good - on our RRV which expires in October this year. We will obvisouly not be given a IRRV but you can apply for a 1 week RRV if you need to leave the country for any reason. This was my understanding when I spoke to our case officer before we made the decision to stay in the UK after activating our visa.
Good luck with it all.

Thanks and good luck to you with your move. I shall look forward to hearing how you settle.