{"id":586277,"date":"2026-08-31T22:00:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-31T22:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/586277\/"},"modified":"2026-08-31T22:00:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-31T22:00:10","slug":"act-to-introduce-physical-presence-requirements-for-permanent-residents-if-elected","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/586277\/","title":{"rendered":"ACT to introduce physical presence requirements for permanent residents if elected"},"content":{"rendered":"

The ACT party will introduce physical presence requirements for permanent residents, if elected.<\/p>\n

The party’s immigration spokesperson Dr Parmjeet Parmar said it would “bring balance” to the system<\/a>, and ensure visa holders have a “genuine commitment to our country”.<\/p>\n

“The strangest immigration policy we have is that permanent residents don’t have to be permanently resident.”<\/p>\n

Parmar said the country should be welcoming for migrants<\/a>, but the privileges of permanent residence must reflect a real and lasting connection to the nation.<\/p>\n

ACT would change New Zealand’s residence system by removing the existing Permanent Resident Visa category and changing the existing Resident Visa to require holders to receive a five-year travel facility. That would replace the current two-year initial travel condition.<\/p>\n

Resident Visa holders would need to be physically present in the country for at least two years (730 days) within any rolling five-year period.<\/p>\n

The two-year period would not need to be continuous “but the indefinite, unconditional right to leave and re-enter the country would be removed”.<\/p>\n

There would be exemptions for individuals working overseas for New Zealand employers, accompanying family members, military personnel serving overseas, and those with a citizen spouse, or other compelling humanitarian reasons.<\/p>\n

Parmar said the change would also create a clearer distinction between permanent residence and citizenship.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The ACT party will introduce physical presence requirements for permanent residents, if elected. The party’s immigration spokesperson Dr…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":586278,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[111,43,139,69],"class_list":["post-586277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586277","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=586277"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586277\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/586278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=586277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=586277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=586277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}