Permanent residency for New Zealanders living in Australia

Are you one of the over half a million New Zealand citizens currently calling Australia home? Have you considered applying to become a permanent resident ('PR')? In this blog, we look at one of the pathways to permanent residency in Australia for New Zealand citizens and explore the requirements around the Skilled Independent (Subclass 189) (New Zealand Stream) Visa for Subclass 444 ('444 visa') visa holders.

Thought you were already an Australian permanent resident?

"But I thought I already was a permanent resident!" I hear you say. Well, that depends on when you arrived.

In February 2001, Australia and New Zealand entered into a new bilateral social security agreement which meant that anyone arriving in Australia since 26 February 2001 needs to apply to become a permanent resident before they can;