Kiwi's in Australia and Permanent Residency

I’m a kiwi living in Australia and intend to be here permanently. Am I a permanent resident?

We have a special relationship with our ANZAC brothers and sisters across the ditch. We are able to live and work in each other’s countries reasonably easily.

Every time you enter Australia, you are automatically granted a Special Category Visa (SC 444) which allows you to stay in Australia for as long as you like provided you remain a New Zealand Citizen and abide by Australian law. However, this is actually classified as a temporary visa, so you are not a permanent resident of Australia. It is the only temporary visa in the system that does not have an expiry date.

We know lots of kiwi’s who love calling Australia home and intend to stay permanently. There are a few pathways to permanency for Kiwis living in Australia. Today we had the joy of telling one of Kiwi Brother clients that he is now a permanent resident of Australia! He is a New Zealand citizen. He has been living in Australia for 20 years. He first entered Australia as a young adult prior to 1994. He came for EXPO 88. He had to return to his home country after his holiday. At that time, when Kiwis entered Australia, they were permanent residents upon entry.

He returned again and started working and fell in love. He has been with his partner for over 20 years now. We claimed back his permanent residency status under the resident return visa. His dream now is to apply for Australian Citizenship, which he will be able to do after 12 months. He will then have dual citizenship, as he will not have to give up his New Zealand Citizenship.

This is just one way of becoming a permanent resident for our Kiwi friends. There are several other ways as well. We would love to hear from you because we are sure we can help you if this is your dream!