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Settling in New Zealand from the UK? How ACT's residence proposal could change what 'permanent' means

News · 2026-09-01 · 4 min read

Plenty of people who leave the UK for New Zealand keep one foot at home for years: a parent who needs looking after, a flat that is still let out, a long summer back in Britain every so often. Under today's settings, once you hold permanent residence in New Zealand, none of that puts your status at risk. A proposal from the ACT Party would change that, so it is worth understanding before you map out your own timeline.

To be clear from the start, this is a party proposal, not law. It would only come into play if ACT enters government, and even then it would still have to make its way through the usual process.

The gap ACT says it wants to close

At the moment, permanent residents in New Zealand do not have to live there. Once the visa is granted, it gives entry and exit rights with no end date and no conditions, however long the holder has been away. ACT argues this is a structural quirk: someone can keep the status for years while living on the other side of the world, with no real link to the country.

The party's case is that residence should reflect a lasting tie to New Zealand and should sit more clearly apart from citizenship, two statuses that can look much the same once someone has unconditional residence.

What would replace the Permanent Resident Visa

Under the plan, the separate Permanent Resident Visa category would go. The ordinary Resident Visa would be reshaped instead:

• Holders would get a five-year travel facility, in place of the current two-year initial travel condition.
• In any rolling five-year period, they would need at least 730 days (two years in total) physically in New Zealand.
• The days would not have to be in one block, so you could still come and go.

What would disappear is the open-ended right to leave, stay away indefinitely and still walk back in. Residence would become something you keep up by living there, rather than something you secure once and hold for good.

The exemptions in the plan

ACT has written in exceptions for people with good reasons to be abroad. The presence rule would not apply to someone who is:

• working overseas for an employer based in New Zealand
• travelling as a family member alongside a person in that position
• serving overseas in the military
• married to or in a partnership with a New Zealand citizen
• facing compelling humanitarian circumstances

Those carve-outs suggest the target is status held only on paper, rather than everyday travel. If you are a British nurse or electrician who moves over, settles and pops home for a few weeks a year, a 730-day rule over five years would leave a lot of room.

Who in the UK should pay attention

The people most likely to feel a change like this are those who plan to split their time. Think of someone who gains residence, then returns to the UK for a long stretch to care for family, or a couple who hope to keep New Zealand residence as a back-up while working elsewhere. Under the current rules that works. Under ACT's model, long absences outside the exemptions could put residence at risk.

It may also nudge decisions about citizenship. If residence came with a presence condition, the point at which you apply to become a citizen could matter more than it does now.

Sensible steps while it is only a proposal

There is nothing to act on today, but a little forward planning costs nothing:

1. Keep a simple record of the dates you enter and leave New Zealand once you are there.
2. Think honestly about how much time you are likely to spend back in the UK in your first five years.
3. Watch for news on the proposal as New Zealand's election gets closer.
4. Check the current rules for your visa on Immigration New Zealand's visa pages, which are the place to confirm any change that does become law.

If you are still at the stage of finding a role that gets you there, you can look through current jobs in New Zealand and Australia open to applicants from the UK.

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