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71: Who may apply for residence class visa
or “Who can apply to live permanently in New Zealand”
You could also call this:

“How Immigration decides on your residence visa application”

When you apply for a residence class visa, the Minister or an immigration officer will make a decision based on the rules that were in place when you submitted your application. They must follow these rules when deciding and using any discretion they have.

If you send your application to an immigration officer, they can’t pass it to the Minister to decide first, unless the Minister gives special instructions to do so.

Even with these rules, the Minister can still choose to grant you a residence class visa that doesn’t follow the normal rules. This is called an exception, and the Minister can do this in any case they want to.

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Next up: 73: Currency and nature of permanent resident visa

or “Permanent resident visa holders can live, work, and study in New Zealand indefinitely”
Next

Part 3 Visas
Classes of visa: Residence class visas

72Decisions on applications for residence class visa

  1. Where the Minister or an immigration officer makes any decision in relation to an application for a residence class visa, that decision must be made in terms of the residence instructions applicable at the time the application was made and any discretion exercised must be in terms of those instructions.

  2. No application for a residence class visa that is received by an immigration officer may be referred to the Minister for decision at first instance, unless the Minister gives a special direction to that effect.

  3. Nothing in this section prevents the Minister, in his or her absolute discretion, from making any decision to grant a residence class visa as an exception to residence instructions in any particular case.

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