![\"Vote](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/P3RHA22KL5B7RJM46JAOI3QDNI.jpg\")
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The Act Party wants to scrap New Zealand\u2019s Permanent Resident Visa and impose ongoing physical-presence requirements on Resident Visa holders who want to retain their travel rights.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Under the party\u2019s proposal, Resident Visa holders would receive a five-year travel facility and need to spend at least 730 days in New Zealand during any rolling five-year period to retain it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Act immigration spokeswoman Dr Parmjeet Parmar said the privileges of permanent residence should reflect a \u201creal and lasting connection\u201d to New Zealand.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe strangest immigration policy we have is that permanent residents don\u2019t have to be permanently resident.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cUnder our policy, the existing Permanent Resident Visa category will be removed, and the existing Resident Visa changed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe 730 days would not need to be continuous, but the indefinite, unconditional right to leave and re-enter the country would be removed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis ensures that those who want the ability to travel to New Zealand as residents must continue to demonstrate a meaningful connection with our country.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Currently, people who have held a Resident Visa for at least two years can apply for permanent residency, allowing them to come and go from New Zealand without travel restrictions.\u00a0<\/p>\n
People applying for permanent residency must already demonstrate a commitment to New Zealand, with several ways of meeting that requirement.\u00a0<\/p>\n
These include time spent in the country, New Zealand tax residence, investment, running a business or establishing a base here, according to the Immigration New Zealand website.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Act\u2019s proposal would instead require resident visa holders to continue meeting a physical presence requirement to retain their travel facility.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Parmar said exemptions would be provided in some instances, including for people working overseas for New Zealand employers, accompanying family members, military personnel serving overseas and those with a citizen spouse.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Exemptions could also be granted for \u201ccompelling humanitarian reasons\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Parmar said the policy would draw a clearer line between permanent residency and citizenship, giving migrants more reason to \u201cgraduate to citizenship\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Permanent residency is not required before someone can become a New Zealand citizen, according to Immigration New Zealand.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Most people can apply for citizenship after living in New Zealand as a resident for five years, provided they meet other requirements.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Act Party wants to scrap New Zealand\u2019s Permanent Resident Visa and impose ongoing physical-presence requirements on Resident…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":586119,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4619,288576,111,43,139,69,288577,135,10708,18933],"class_list":["post-586276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-act","tag-actparty","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-permanentresidency","tag-politics","tag-visa","tag-visas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=586276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586276\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/586119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=586276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=586276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=586276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}