The Trans-Tasman Arrangement Is Not in the Immigration Act at All - the Word 'Australia' Never Appears in It
New Zealand's only arrangement of this kind is with Australia, and the most useful thing to know about it is where it is not. The Immigration Act 2009 was read in full in the version the Parliamentary Counsel Office dates 10 July 2026 - 1,508,325 characters - and the string 'Austral' does not occur once. There is no trans-Tasman section, no schedule of partner states and no treaty given the force of law. What exists instead is three instruments stacked on each other. Item 1 of Schedule 2 Part 1 to the Immigration (Visa, Entry Permission, and Related Matters) Regulations 2010 names 'Citizens of Australia and people who hold a current permanent residence visa (including a resident return visa) issued by the Government of Australia', which puts them inside the visa waiver in regulation 18 and so removes the need to hold any visa before travelling. Section 71(1)(c) of the Act then lets a person to whom a visa waiver applies apply for a residence class visa at an immigration control area if regulations prescribe them as a class that may. Regulation 8 is that prescription: it applies to an application for a resident visa by an Australian citizen or Australian permanent resident, and says the application may be made at an immigration control area or at a port. So an Australian arriving in New Zealand is not waved through as a visitor and is not granted anything automatically - they fill in the approved form, hand it with a passport to an immigration officer or to an automated electronic system, and are granted a resident visa there and then. What that visa carries is the ordinary content of a resident visa under section 74: entry permission once granted, then indefinite stay, work and study. What it does not carry is a permanent resident visa. Those are different things in New Zealand, and the difference is travel: section 73 entitles the holder of a permanent resident visa to travel to New Zealand at any time and to be granted entry permission, while a resident visa only entitles the holder to travel in accordance with the visa's travel conditions and to apply for entry permission. The instruction that imposes those conditions, R5.66, excepts a resident visa granted at an immigration control area - which is exactly the Australian case - so the Australian's visa is a resident visa without travel conditions, and on every arrival after the first, entry permission must be granted under instruction Y3.10. Getting the permanent version is an ordinary application like anyone else's: twenty-four months holding the resident visa, a first day in New Zealand as a resident at least twenty-four months earlier, and one of five demonstrations of commitment, the plainest being 184 days in New Zealand in each of the two years. And the arrangement starts a clock running the moment it is used. Section 161 makes a residence class visa holder liable for deportation on conviction - three months' imprisonment available within two years of first holding the visa, two years' within five, five years' within ten - and section 161(5)(d) is written for this case by description: a person to whom a visa waiver applies who returns after five continuous years away first holds a residence class visa on the day they re-enter, which restarts the whole count.
At a glance
- Mentions of Australia in the Immigration Act 2009
- None - the string 'Austral' does not appear in the Act
Searched case-insensitively across the whole stored reading of the Act as at 10 July 2026, 1,508,325 characters. The arrangement lives entirely in the Regulations and the immigration instructions.
- What an Australian is granted on arrival
- A resident visa, applied for at the border under regulation 8
Regulation 8 of the Immigration (Visa, Entry Permission, and Related Matters) Regulations 2010. Not a permanent resident visa, and not automatic: it is an application, decided by an immigration officer.
- Travel conditions on that visa
- None - instruction R5.66 excepts a resident visa granted at an immigration control area
R5.66 opens 'Unless a resident visa is granted at an immigration control area, all resident visas may be granted with travel conditions'. A resident visa granted anywhere else normally carries a first-entry condition and a multiple-entry period.
- Time before a permanent resident visa can be applied for
- 24 months holding the resident visa, and 24 months since the first day in New Zealand as a resident
Instruction RV2.5. A commitment test must also be met, the plainest being 184 days in New Zealand in each of the two 12-month portions.
- Deportation liability once the resident visa is granted
- On conviction: an offence carrying 3 months within 2 years, 2 years within 5 years, or a 5-year sentence within 10 years of first holding a residence class visa
Section 161(1) of the Immigration Act 2009, as amended on 27 May 2026 by section 20 of the Immigration (Fiscal Sustainability and System Integrity) Amendment Act 2025.
- When the deportation clock restarts
- On re-entry, for a visa-waiver person returning after 5 continuous years away
Section 161(5)(d), which describes the person by the waiver rather than by nationality. An Australian who has been away five years starts the two-, five- and ten-year counts again on the day they come back.
- Electronic Travel Authority
- Not required of an Australian citizen; required of an Australian permanent resident who is not a citizen
Regulation 23E exempts 'a citizen of Australia' and nobody else by nationality, while regulation 23D makes the traveller ETA a condition of the waiver in regulation 18, which covers both.
- International visitor conservation and tourism levy
- Not payable by a holder of a current Australian permanent residence or resident return visa
Regulation 26AAE(2)(b). Australian citizens are reached by regulation 26AAE(2)(a) through the list of citizenships in regulation 4A(3)(b), which names Australia.
Requirements
- Australian citizenship, or a current Australian permanent residence visa or resident return visa
- An application for a resident visa on the approved form, in English, relating to one person, signed, handed with the passport to an immigration officer or an automated electronic system at an immigration control area or port
- Not being an excluded person under sections 15 or 16 of the Immigration Act 2009
- Whatever the officer requires before deciding: an interview, further evidence including evidence that the applicant is an Australian citizen or permanent resident, or a medical examination
In detail
Three instruments, none of them a treaty
A reader looking for the document that creates this arrangement will not find one in New Zealand law. The waiver is a line in a schedule to a regulation; the right to apply at the border is a regulation made under a section of the Act that describes the class abstractly; and what is granted is an ordinary resident visa whose content comes from section 74 like anyone else's. Nothing gives a treaty the force of law here, and nothing in the Immigration Act 2009 refers to Australia by name. That matters for how it can change: Schedule 2 moves by Order in Council, and three of its items were inserted on 3 November 2025.
Applied for, not granted automatically
Regulation 8 reads like a form-filling provision because it is one. The application must be on the approved form, relate to one person, be completed in English and be signed, and be handed either to an immigration officer with the passport or certificate of identity, or to an automated electronic system with the passport. The officer may then require an interview, further evidence - including evidence that the applicant really is an Australian citizen or permanent resident - or a medical examination before deciding. A child under eighteen has the form signed by an accompanying parent or guardian, or, if unaccompanied, not signed at all.
Resident is not permanent resident, and the difference is the airport
New Zealand has two residence class visas and they differ on travel rather than on the right to live and work. A permanent resident visa holder may travel to New Zealand at any time and must be granted entry permission; a resident visa holder may travel only in accordance with the visa's travel conditions and may only apply for entry permission. Ordinarily a resident visa comes with those conditions - a date by which the first entry must be made, then a multiple-entry period set by the category - and when they run out the holder has to vary them or apply again. The Australian case escapes that by the back door: instruction R5.66 excepts a visa granted at an immigration control area from travel conditions altogether, and instruction Y3.10 requires entry permission to be granted to a resident visa holder arriving a second or subsequent time. The practical effect is free movement; the legal mechanism is two exceptions and not a right.
What the arrangement does not give
It does not give citizenship, which is a separate application under the Citizenship Act 1977. It does not give a permanent resident visa, which takes twenty-four months and a commitment test. It does not protect against deportation: a residence class visa holder is liable for deportation on conviction under section 161, and the clock runs from the day the visa was first held, which for an Australian is the day they walked through the airport. And section 161(5)(d) resets that clock for someone who has been away five years and comes back - so an Australian who lived in New Zealand in their twenties, spent five years elsewhere and returns is treated for deportation purposes as a new arrival.
Exceptions by origin
No exceptions recorded
Nothing we have read treats any nationality differently for this topic. The rule above applies to everyone.
What the law says
«Citizens of Australia and people who hold a current permanent residence visa (including a resident return visa) issued by the Government of Australia.»Known to be out of date. The page prints 'Some amendments have not yet been incorporated' above the text.
Every other item in Part 1 adds conditions - a maximum visa length, a purpose that excludes medical treatment, a particular passport. Item 1 adds none.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Parliamentary Counsel Office publishes New Zealand's Acts and secondary legislation here, and the Legislation Act 2019 gives what it publishes a legal status most publishers in this corpus do not have. Section 78(1) lets the PCO publish official electronic versions; section 79(1)(b) says that an official version that is a consolidation 'is taken to correctly state, as at its stated date, the law enacted or made by the legislation consolidated and by the amendments', and section 79(3) adds that the presumptions apply 'unless the contrary is shown'. Each Act carries its own 'as at' date on the page: the Immigration Act 2009 read on 11 October 2026 is as at 10 July 2026. A `whole.html` address returns the entire instrument in one document, which is what makes an exhaustive negative claim possible here.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The 'as at' date is a cut-off and the page states it without calling it one, so every citation of a consolidated text needs `consolidatedAsOf`. Worse, some pages carry the line 'Some amendments have not yet been incorporated' - the Immigration (Visa, Entry Permission, and Related Matters) Regulations 2010 did on 11 October 2026 - and that is a consolidation gap stated by the publisher itself. Section 79A says the PCO's own publication notes, legislative history and machine-readable links do not form part of the official text, so the amendment notes under each section are not law. It cannot be cited for immigration instructions: those are not legislation and are not published here at all.
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«a person to whom a visa waiver applies, and who falls within a class prescribed by regulations as a person who may apply for a residence class visa—»This is the only hook in the Act for an application for residence made at the border, and it names no country. The class is prescribed by regulation 8.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Parliamentary Counsel Office publishes New Zealand's Acts and secondary legislation here, and the Legislation Act 2019 gives what it publishes a legal status most publishers in this corpus do not have. Section 78(1) lets the PCO publish official electronic versions; section 79(1)(b) says that an official version that is a consolidation 'is taken to correctly state, as at its stated date, the law enacted or made by the legislation consolidated and by the amendments', and section 79(3) adds that the presumptions apply 'unless the contrary is shown'. Each Act carries its own 'as at' date on the page: the Immigration Act 2009 read on 11 October 2026 is as at 10 July 2026. A `whole.html` address returns the entire instrument in one document, which is what makes an exhaustive negative claim possible here.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The 'as at' date is a cut-off and the page states it without calling it one, so every citation of a consolidated text needs `consolidatedAsOf`. Worse, some pages carry the line 'Some amendments have not yet been incorporated' - the Immigration (Visa, Entry Permission, and Related Matters) Regulations 2010 did on 11 October 2026 - and that is a consolidation gap stated by the publisher itself. Section 79A says the PCO's own publication notes, legislative history and machine-readable links do not form part of the official text, so the amendment notes under each section are not law. It cannot be cited for immigration instructions: those are not legislation and are not published here at all.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«This regulation applies to an application for a resident visa by a citizen of Australia or a person who holds a current permanent residence visa (including a resident return visa) issued by the Government of Australia»Subclause (1AA) was inserted on 21 June 2023 to carve out applications made online under regulation 23AA or 23A, which the same amendment made possible.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Parliamentary Counsel Office publishes New Zealand's Acts and secondary legislation here, and the Legislation Act 2019 gives what it publishes a legal status most publishers in this corpus do not have. Section 78(1) lets the PCO publish official electronic versions; section 79(1)(b) says that an official version that is a consolidation 'is taken to correctly state, as at its stated date, the law enacted or made by the legislation consolidated and by the amendments', and section 79(3) adds that the presumptions apply 'unless the contrary is shown'. Each Act carries its own 'as at' date on the page: the Immigration Act 2009 read on 11 October 2026 is as at 10 July 2026. A `whole.html` address returns the entire instrument in one document, which is what makes an exhaustive negative claim possible here.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The 'as at' date is a cut-off and the page states it without calling it one, so every citation of a consolidated text needs `consolidatedAsOf`. Worse, some pages carry the line 'Some amendments have not yet been incorporated' - the Immigration (Visa, Entry Permission, and Related Matters) Regulations 2010 did on 11 October 2026 - and that is a consolidation gap stated by the publisher itself. Section 79A says the PCO's own publication notes, legislative history and machine-readable links do not form part of the official text, so the amendment notes under each section are not law. It cannot be cited for immigration instructions: those are not legislation and are not published here at all.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«The application may be made at an immigration control area or at a port.»About this source
The Parliamentary Counsel Office publishes New Zealand's Acts and secondary legislation here, and the Legislation Act 2019 gives what it publishes a legal status most publishers in this corpus do not have. Section 78(1) lets the PCO publish official electronic versions; section 79(1)(b) says that an official version that is a consolidation 'is taken to correctly state, as at its stated date, the law enacted or made by the legislation consolidated and by the amendments', and section 79(3) adds that the presumptions apply 'unless the contrary is shown'. Each Act carries its own 'as at' date on the page: the Immigration Act 2009 read on 11 October 2026 is as at 10 July 2026. A `whole.html` address returns the entire instrument in one document, which is what makes an exhaustive negative claim possible here.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The 'as at' date is a cut-off and the page states it without calling it one, so every citation of a consolidated text needs `consolidatedAsOf`. Worse, some pages carry the line 'Some amendments have not yet been incorporated' - the Immigration (Visa, Entry Permission, and Related Matters) Regulations 2010 did on 11 October 2026 - and that is a consolidation gap stated by the publisher itself. Section 79A says the PCO's own publication notes, legislative history and machine-readable links do not form part of the official text, so the amendment notes under each section are not law. It cannot be cited for immigration instructions: those are not legislation and are not published here at all.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«produce further information or evidence (including photographs) that the officer thinks necessary for him or her to determine the application, including information or evidence demonstrating that the applicant is a person described in subclause (1):»The officer may also require an interview and a medical examination before deciding. The arrangement is an entitlement to apply at the border, not an entitlement to be granted.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Parliamentary Counsel Office publishes New Zealand's Acts and secondary legislation here, and the Legislation Act 2019 gives what it publishes a legal status most publishers in this corpus do not have. Section 78(1) lets the PCO publish official electronic versions; section 79(1)(b) says that an official version that is a consolidation 'is taken to correctly state, as at its stated date, the law enacted or made by the legislation consolidated and by the amendments', and section 79(3) adds that the presumptions apply 'unless the contrary is shown'. Each Act carries its own 'as at' date on the page: the Immigration Act 2009 read on 11 October 2026 is as at 10 July 2026. A `whole.html` address returns the entire instrument in one document, which is what makes an exhaustive negative claim possible here.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The 'as at' date is a cut-off and the page states it without calling it one, so every citation of a consolidated text needs `consolidatedAsOf`. Worse, some pages carry the line 'Some amendments have not yet been incorporated' - the Immigration (Visa, Entry Permission, and Related Matters) Regulations 2010 did on 11 October 2026 - and that is a consolidation gap stated by the publisher itself. Section 79A says the PCO's own publication notes, legislative history and machine-readable links do not form part of the official text, so the amendment notes under each section are not law. It cannot be cited for immigration instructions: those are not legislation and are not published here at all.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«The following people are waived from having to obtain a residence class visa to travel to New Zealand:»Effective 29/11/2010. The three classes listed are citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia, holders of a current Australian permanent residence visa including a resident return visa, and people granted a waiver by special direction.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Operational Manual is where New Zealand's immigration instructions are actually published, and publishing them here is a statutory duty rather than a courtesy: section 25(1) of the Immigration Act 2009 says 'The chief executive must publish immigration instructions', and the Manual's own first page says 'By publishing the Operational Manual, INZ meets its requirements under section 25 of the Immigration Act 2009 to publish Government instructions on granting visas.' Instructions are certified by the Minister under section 22; section 22(8) says they 'are statements of Government policy', and section 72(1) makes a residence decision one that 'must be made in terms of the residence instructions applicable at the time the application was made'. Each instruction topic carries its own 'Effective DD/MM/YYYY' date and, where it has been replaced, a list of the previous instructions under 'PREVIOUS IMMIGRATION INSTRUCTIONS'.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: Policy, not law. The Manual says so itself: it 'is not ... a replacement for the legislation that governs INZ operations', the summaries of statute inside it 'are declaratory only', and where a summary conflicts with the legislation 'the interpretation of the legislation is decisive'. It also warns that 'some chapters of these sections do not constitute Government immigration instructions as described in section 22' - that disclaimer covers the Border Entry, Compliance, Refugees and Protection, Administration and Appendices sections, so a Y-, D-, C- or A-coded page may be an internal operational instruction rather than a certified instruction. It is not evidence of what the Immigration Act says, only of what the Minister has certified and the chief executive has published. The address matters. https://www.immigration.govt.nz/opsmanual/ and /opsmanual/index.htm are a JavaScript shell and return 208 characters of 'Loading...' to any fetcher. The readable table of contents is https://www.immigration.govt.nz/opsmanual/toc.htm (340,787 characters), which links every instruction topic as its own small page at /opsmanual/<number>.htm. Firecrawl returned HTTP 500 for those numbered pages on 11 October 2026; `pnpm sources:fetch --direct` read every one of them first time.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«The holder of a permanent resident visa is entitled—»The five entitlements that follow are to travel to New Zealand at any time, to be granted entry permission, to stay indefinitely, to work and to study. A resident visa under section 74 gives the last three but only a right to apply for entry permission, and only travel consistent with the visa's travel conditions.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Parliamentary Counsel Office publishes New Zealand's Acts and secondary legislation here, and the Legislation Act 2019 gives what it publishes a legal status most publishers in this corpus do not have. Section 78(1) lets the PCO publish official electronic versions; section 79(1)(b) says that an official version that is a consolidation 'is taken to correctly state, as at its stated date, the law enacted or made by the legislation consolidated and by the amendments', and section 79(3) adds that the presumptions apply 'unless the contrary is shown'. Each Act carries its own 'as at' date on the page: the Immigration Act 2009 read on 11 October 2026 is as at 10 July 2026. A `whole.html` address returns the entire instrument in one document, which is what makes an exhaustive negative claim possible here.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The 'as at' date is a cut-off and the page states it without calling it one, so every citation of a consolidated text needs `consolidatedAsOf`. Worse, some pages carry the line 'Some amendments have not yet been incorporated' - the Immigration (Visa, Entry Permission, and Related Matters) Regulations 2010 did on 11 October 2026 - and that is a consolidation gap stated by the publisher itself. Section 79A says the PCO's own publication notes, legislative history and machine-readable links do not form part of the official text, so the amendment notes under each section are not law. It cannot be cited for immigration instructions: those are not legislation and are not published here at all.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«Unless a resident visa is granted at an immigration control area, all resident visas may be granted with travel conditions allowing:»The exception for a visa granted at an immigration control area is what leaves the Australian's resident visa without the first-entry and multiple-entry conditions that an offshore grant carries.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Operational Manual is where New Zealand's immigration instructions are actually published, and publishing them here is a statutory duty rather than a courtesy: section 25(1) of the Immigration Act 2009 says 'The chief executive must publish immigration instructions', and the Manual's own first page says 'By publishing the Operational Manual, INZ meets its requirements under section 25 of the Immigration Act 2009 to publish Government instructions on granting visas.' Instructions are certified by the Minister under section 22; section 22(8) says they 'are statements of Government policy', and section 72(1) makes a residence decision one that 'must be made in terms of the residence instructions applicable at the time the application was made'. Each instruction topic carries its own 'Effective DD/MM/YYYY' date and, where it has been replaced, a list of the previous instructions under 'PREVIOUS IMMIGRATION INSTRUCTIONS'.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: Policy, not law. The Manual says so itself: it 'is not ... a replacement for the legislation that governs INZ operations', the summaries of statute inside it 'are declaratory only', and where a summary conflicts with the legislation 'the interpretation of the legislation is decisive'. It also warns that 'some chapters of these sections do not constitute Government immigration instructions as described in section 22' - that disclaimer covers the Border Entry, Compliance, Refugees and Protection, Administration and Appendices sections, so a Y-, D-, C- or A-coded page may be an internal operational instruction rather than a certified instruction. It is not evidence of what the Immigration Act says, only of what the Minister has certified and the chief executive has published. The address matters. https://www.immigration.govt.nz/opsmanual/ and /opsmanual/index.htm are a JavaScript shell and return 208 characters of 'Loading...' to any fetcher. The readable table of contents is https://www.immigration.govt.nz/opsmanual/toc.htm (340,787 characters), which links every instruction topic as its own small page at /opsmanual/<number>.htm. Firecrawl returned HTTP 500 for those numbered pages on 11 October 2026; `pnpm sources:fetch --direct` read every one of them first time.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«Entry permission must be granted to the holder of a:»Effective 02/02/2015. The three cases are a permanent resident visa, a resident visa granted in New Zealand, and a resident visa holder arriving for a second or subsequent time. A resident visa granted at the border is granted in New Zealand, so the first arrival is covered too.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Operational Manual is where New Zealand's immigration instructions are actually published, and publishing them here is a statutory duty rather than a courtesy: section 25(1) of the Immigration Act 2009 says 'The chief executive must publish immigration instructions', and the Manual's own first page says 'By publishing the Operational Manual, INZ meets its requirements under section 25 of the Immigration Act 2009 to publish Government instructions on granting visas.' Instructions are certified by the Minister under section 22; section 22(8) says they 'are statements of Government policy', and section 72(1) makes a residence decision one that 'must be made in terms of the residence instructions applicable at the time the application was made'. Each instruction topic carries its own 'Effective DD/MM/YYYY' date and, where it has been replaced, a list of the previous instructions under 'PREVIOUS IMMIGRATION INSTRUCTIONS'.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: Policy, not law. The Manual says so itself: it 'is not ... a replacement for the legislation that governs INZ operations', the summaries of statute inside it 'are declaratory only', and where a summary conflicts with the legislation 'the interpretation of the legislation is decisive'. It also warns that 'some chapters of these sections do not constitute Government immigration instructions as described in section 22' - that disclaimer covers the Border Entry, Compliance, Refugees and Protection, Administration and Appendices sections, so a Y-, D-, C- or A-coded page may be an internal operational instruction rather than a certified instruction. It is not evidence of what the Immigration Act says, only of what the Minister has certified and the chief executive has published. The address matters. https://www.immigration.govt.nz/opsmanual/ and /opsmanual/index.htm are a JavaScript shell and return 208 characters of 'Loading...' to any fetcher. The readable table of contents is https://www.immigration.govt.nz/opsmanual/toc.htm (340,787 characters), which links every instruction topic as its own small page at /opsmanual/<number>.htm. Firecrawl returned HTTP 500 for those numbered pages on 11 October 2026; `pnpm sources:fetch --direct` read every one of them first time.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«hold a resident visa, and have held that resident visa continuously for at least 24 months at the time of application; or»About this source
The Operational Manual is where New Zealand's immigration instructions are actually published, and publishing them here is a statutory duty rather than a courtesy: section 25(1) of the Immigration Act 2009 says 'The chief executive must publish immigration instructions', and the Manual's own first page says 'By publishing the Operational Manual, INZ meets its requirements under section 25 of the Immigration Act 2009 to publish Government instructions on granting visas.' Instructions are certified by the Minister under section 22; section 22(8) says they 'are statements of Government policy', and section 72(1) makes a residence decision one that 'must be made in terms of the residence instructions applicable at the time the application was made'. Each instruction topic carries its own 'Effective DD/MM/YYYY' date and, where it has been replaced, a list of the previous instructions under 'PREVIOUS IMMIGRATION INSTRUCTIONS'.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: Policy, not law. The Manual says so itself: it 'is not ... a replacement for the legislation that governs INZ operations', the summaries of statute inside it 'are declaratory only', and where a summary conflicts with the legislation 'the interpretation of the legislation is decisive'. It also warns that 'some chapters of these sections do not constitute Government immigration instructions as described in section 22' - that disclaimer covers the Border Entry, Compliance, Refugees and Protection, Administration and Appendices sections, so a Y-, D-, C- or A-coded page may be an internal operational instruction rather than a certified instruction. It is not evidence of what the Immigration Act says, only of what the Minister has certified and the chief executive has published. The address matters. https://www.immigration.govt.nz/opsmanual/ and /opsmanual/index.htm are a JavaScript shell and return 208 characters of 'Loading...' to any fetcher. The readable table of contents is https://www.immigration.govt.nz/opsmanual/toc.htm (340,787 characters), which links every instruction topic as its own small page at /opsmanual/<number>.htm. Firecrawl returned HTTP 500 for those numbered pages on 11 October 2026; `pnpm sources:fetch --direct` read every one of them first time.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«A principal applicant has demonstrated a commitment to New Zealand if they have been in New Zealand as a resident for a total of 184 days or more in each of the two 12-month portions of the 24 months immediately preceding the date their application for a permanent resident visa was made»The other four commitment tests are 41 days a year plus New Zealand tax residence for 24 months, an investment of NZ$1,000,000 maintained for 24 months, a business, and a base in New Zealand.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Operational Manual is where New Zealand's immigration instructions are actually published, and publishing them here is a statutory duty rather than a courtesy: section 25(1) of the Immigration Act 2009 says 'The chief executive must publish immigration instructions', and the Manual's own first page says 'By publishing the Operational Manual, INZ meets its requirements under section 25 of the Immigration Act 2009 to publish Government instructions on granting visas.' Instructions are certified by the Minister under section 22; section 22(8) says they 'are statements of Government policy', and section 72(1) makes a residence decision one that 'must be made in terms of the residence instructions applicable at the time the application was made'. Each instruction topic carries its own 'Effective DD/MM/YYYY' date and, where it has been replaced, a list of the previous instructions under 'PREVIOUS IMMIGRATION INSTRUCTIONS'.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: Policy, not law. The Manual says so itself: it 'is not ... a replacement for the legislation that governs INZ operations', the summaries of statute inside it 'are declaratory only', and where a summary conflicts with the legislation 'the interpretation of the legislation is decisive'. It also warns that 'some chapters of these sections do not constitute Government immigration instructions as described in section 22' - that disclaimer covers the Border Entry, Compliance, Refugees and Protection, Administration and Appendices sections, so a Y-, D-, C- or A-coded page may be an internal operational instruction rather than a certified instruction. It is not evidence of what the Immigration Act says, only of what the Minister has certified and the chief executive has published. The address matters. https://www.immigration.govt.nz/opsmanual/ and /opsmanual/index.htm are a JavaScript shell and return 208 characters of 'Loading...' to any fetcher. The readable table of contents is https://www.immigration.govt.nz/opsmanual/toc.htm (340,787 characters), which links every instruction topic as its own small page at /opsmanual/<number>.htm. Firecrawl returned HTTP 500 for those numbered pages on 11 October 2026; `pnpm sources:fetch --direct` read every one of them first time.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
«an offence and sentenced to imprisonment for a term of 5 years or more (or for an indeterminate period capable of running for 5 years or more), if the offence was committed not later than 10 years after the person first held a residence class visa; or»About this source
The Parliamentary Counsel Office publishes New Zealand's Acts and secondary legislation here, and the Legislation Act 2019 gives what it publishes a legal status most publishers in this corpus do not have. Section 78(1) lets the PCO publish official electronic versions; section 79(1)(b) says that an official version that is a consolidation 'is taken to correctly state, as at its stated date, the law enacted or made by the legislation consolidated and by the amendments', and section 79(3) adds that the presumptions apply 'unless the contrary is shown'. Each Act carries its own 'as at' date on the page: the Immigration Act 2009 read on 11 October 2026 is as at 10 July 2026. A `whole.html` address returns the entire instrument in one document, which is what makes an exhaustive negative claim possible here.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The 'as at' date is a cut-off and the page states it without calling it one, so every citation of a consolidated text needs `consolidatedAsOf`. Worse, some pages carry the line 'Some amendments have not yet been incorporated' - the Immigration (Visa, Entry Permission, and Related Matters) Regulations 2010 did on 11 October 2026 - and that is a consolidation gap stated by the publisher itself. Section 79A says the PCO's own publication notes, legislative history and machine-readable links do not form part of the official text, so the amendment notes under each section are not law. It cannot be cited for immigration instructions: those are not legislation and are not published here at all.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
«if the person is a person to whom a visa waiver applies and arrives in New Zealand following a continuous period of absence from New Zealand of at least 5 years, on the date the person first re-enters New Zealand (and is granted a residence class visa) after the continuous period of absence.»The only provision in the Act that is visibly drafted around the Australian case, and it still does not name Australia.
Read it at the sourceAbout this source
The Parliamentary Counsel Office publishes New Zealand's Acts and secondary legislation here, and the Legislation Act 2019 gives what it publishes a legal status most publishers in this corpus do not have. Section 78(1) lets the PCO publish official electronic versions; section 79(1)(b) says that an official version that is a consolidation 'is taken to correctly state, as at its stated date, the law enacted or made by the legislation consolidated and by the amendments', and section 79(3) adds that the presumptions apply 'unless the contrary is shown'. Each Act carries its own 'as at' date on the page: the Immigration Act 2009 read on 11 October 2026 is as at 10 July 2026. A `whole.html` address returns the entire instrument in one document, which is what makes an exhaustive negative claim possible here.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The 'as at' date is a cut-off and the page states it without calling it one, so every citation of a consolidated text needs `consolidatedAsOf`. Worse, some pages carry the line 'Some amendments have not yet been incorporated' - the Immigration (Visa, Entry Permission, and Related Matters) Regulations 2010 did on 11 October 2026 - and that is a consolidation gap stated by the publisher itself. Section 79A says the PCO's own publication notes, legislative history and machine-readable links do not form part of the official text, so the amendment notes under each section are not law. It cannot be cited for immigration instructions: those are not legislation and are not published here at all.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
Practical notes
The claim that the Immigration Act 2009 never mentions Australia is bounded by one document: the stored reading of https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2009/0051/latest/whole.html as at 10 July 2026, 1,508,325 characters, in which a case-insensitive search for 'austral' returns nothing. It is a claim about the Act and not about New Zealand law as a whole - the Regulations mention Australia repeatedly, and so do the immigration instructions.
This record states only New Zealand's half of the arrangement. What Australia does for a New Zealander is Australian law and was not read for this record; nothing here should be taken as describing it, and the symmetry people assume is exactly the thing that needs checking against Australia's own record rather than against this one.
No treaty text was read. The phrase 'Trans-Tasman Travel Arrangement' does not occur anywhere in the Operational Manual's table of contents, which lists 1,556 topics, and nothing published by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade was read.
Instruction RV3, the route for varying travel conditions on a resident visa, and instruction RV2.10, which covers former Migrant Investor and Parent Retirement residents, were not read.
Sections 15 and 16 of the Immigration Act 2009, the exclusions that stop a person being granted any visa, were not read in full.
- consolidatesImmigration (Visa, Entry Permission, and Related Matters) Regulations 2010, version as at 1 June 2026
New Zealand Legislation, Parliamentary Counsel Office · consolidated to 2026-06-01
Known to be out of date. The page prints 'Some amendments have not yet been incorporated' above the text.
About this source
The Parliamentary Counsel Office publishes New Zealand's Acts and secondary legislation here, and the Legislation Act 2019 gives what it publishes a legal status most publishers in this corpus do not have. Section 78(1) lets the PCO publish official electronic versions; section 79(1)(b) says that an official version that is a consolidation 'is taken to correctly state, as at its stated date, the law enacted or made by the legislation consolidated and by the amendments', and section 79(3) adds that the presumptions apply 'unless the contrary is shown'. Each Act carries its own 'as at' date on the page: the Immigration Act 2009 read on 11 October 2026 is as at 10 July 2026. A `whole.html` address returns the entire instrument in one document, which is what makes an exhaustive negative claim possible here.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The 'as at' date is a cut-off and the page states it without calling it one, so every citation of a consolidated text needs `consolidatedAsOf`. Worse, some pages carry the line 'Some amendments have not yet been incorporated' - the Immigration (Visa, Entry Permission, and Related Matters) Regulations 2010 did on 11 October 2026 - and that is a consolidation gap stated by the publisher itself. Section 79A says the PCO's own publication notes, legislative history and machine-readable links do not form part of the official text, so the amendment notes under each section are not law. It cannot be cited for immigration instructions: those are not legislation and are not published here at all.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
- consolidatesImmigration Act 2009, version as at 10 July 2026
New Zealand Legislation, Parliamentary Counsel Office · consolidated to 2026-07-10
About this source
The Parliamentary Counsel Office publishes New Zealand's Acts and secondary legislation here, and the Legislation Act 2019 gives what it publishes a legal status most publishers in this corpus do not have. Section 78(1) lets the PCO publish official electronic versions; section 79(1)(b) says that an official version that is a consolidation 'is taken to correctly state, as at its stated date, the law enacted or made by the legislation consolidated and by the amendments', and section 79(3) adds that the presumptions apply 'unless the contrary is shown'. Each Act carries its own 'as at' date on the page: the Immigration Act 2009 read on 11 October 2026 is as at 10 July 2026. A `whole.html` address returns the entire instrument in one document, which is what makes an exhaustive negative claim possible here.
Standing: Maintains the text in force
Cannot be cited for: The 'as at' date is a cut-off and the page states it without calling it one, so every citation of a consolidated text needs `consolidatedAsOf`. Worse, some pages carry the line 'Some amendments have not yet been incorporated' - the Immigration (Visa, Entry Permission, and Related Matters) Regulations 2010 did on 11 October 2026 - and that is a consolidation gap stated by the publisher itself. Section 79A says the PCO's own publication notes, legislative history and machine-readable links do not form part of the official text, so the amendment notes under each section are not law. It cannot be cited for immigration instructions: those are not legislation and are not published here at all.
We re-read it every 90 days. More about this source
- issuesINZ Operational Manual, RA2.5 People waived from having to obtain a residence class visa to travel to New Zealand
Immigration New Zealand, Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment
About this source
The Operational Manual is where New Zealand's immigration instructions are actually published, and publishing them here is a statutory duty rather than a courtesy: section 25(1) of the Immigration Act 2009 says 'The chief executive must publish immigration instructions', and the Manual's own first page says 'By publishing the Operational Manual, INZ meets its requirements under section 25 of the Immigration Act 2009 to publish Government instructions on granting visas.' Instructions are certified by the Minister under section 22; section 22(8) says they 'are statements of Government policy', and section 72(1) makes a residence decision one that 'must be made in terms of the residence instructions applicable at the time the application was made'. Each instruction topic carries its own 'Effective DD/MM/YYYY' date and, where it has been replaced, a list of the previous instructions under 'PREVIOUS IMMIGRATION INSTRUCTIONS'.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: Policy, not law. The Manual says so itself: it 'is not ... a replacement for the legislation that governs INZ operations', the summaries of statute inside it 'are declaratory only', and where a summary conflicts with the legislation 'the interpretation of the legislation is decisive'. It also warns that 'some chapters of these sections do not constitute Government immigration instructions as described in section 22' - that disclaimer covers the Border Entry, Compliance, Refugees and Protection, Administration and Appendices sections, so a Y-, D-, C- or A-coded page may be an internal operational instruction rather than a certified instruction. It is not evidence of what the Immigration Act says, only of what the Minister has certified and the chief executive has published. The address matters. https://www.immigration.govt.nz/opsmanual/ and /opsmanual/index.htm are a JavaScript shell and return 208 characters of 'Loading...' to any fetcher. The readable table of contents is https://www.immigration.govt.nz/opsmanual/toc.htm (340,787 characters), which links every instruction topic as its own small page at /opsmanual/<number>.htm. Firecrawl returned HTTP 500 for those numbered pages on 11 October 2026; `pnpm sources:fetch --direct` read every one of them first time.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
- issuesINZ Operational Manual, R5.66 Travel conditions on resident visas
Immigration New Zealand, Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment
About this source
The Operational Manual is where New Zealand's immigration instructions are actually published, and publishing them here is a statutory duty rather than a courtesy: section 25(1) of the Immigration Act 2009 says 'The chief executive must publish immigration instructions', and the Manual's own first page says 'By publishing the Operational Manual, INZ meets its requirements under section 25 of the Immigration Act 2009 to publish Government instructions on granting visas.' Instructions are certified by the Minister under section 22; section 22(8) says they 'are statements of Government policy', and section 72(1) makes a residence decision one that 'must be made in terms of the residence instructions applicable at the time the application was made'. Each instruction topic carries its own 'Effective DD/MM/YYYY' date and, where it has been replaced, a list of the previous instructions under 'PREVIOUS IMMIGRATION INSTRUCTIONS'.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: Policy, not law. The Manual says so itself: it 'is not ... a replacement for the legislation that governs INZ operations', the summaries of statute inside it 'are declaratory only', and where a summary conflicts with the legislation 'the interpretation of the legislation is decisive'. It also warns that 'some chapters of these sections do not constitute Government immigration instructions as described in section 22' - that disclaimer covers the Border Entry, Compliance, Refugees and Protection, Administration and Appendices sections, so a Y-, D-, C- or A-coded page may be an internal operational instruction rather than a certified instruction. It is not evidence of what the Immigration Act says, only of what the Minister has certified and the chief executive has published. The address matters. https://www.immigration.govt.nz/opsmanual/ and /opsmanual/index.htm are a JavaScript shell and return 208 characters of 'Loading...' to any fetcher. The readable table of contents is https://www.immigration.govt.nz/opsmanual/toc.htm (340,787 characters), which links every instruction topic as its own small page at /opsmanual/<number>.htm. Firecrawl returned HTTP 500 for those numbered pages on 11 October 2026; `pnpm sources:fetch --direct` read every one of them first time.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
- issuesINZ Operational Manual, RV2.5 How do resident visa holders or former holders qualify for a permanent resident visa?
Immigration New Zealand, Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment
About this source
The Operational Manual is where New Zealand's immigration instructions are actually published, and publishing them here is a statutory duty rather than a courtesy: section 25(1) of the Immigration Act 2009 says 'The chief executive must publish immigration instructions', and the Manual's own first page says 'By publishing the Operational Manual, INZ meets its requirements under section 25 of the Immigration Act 2009 to publish Government instructions on granting visas.' Instructions are certified by the Minister under section 22; section 22(8) says they 'are statements of Government policy', and section 72(1) makes a residence decision one that 'must be made in terms of the residence instructions applicable at the time the application was made'. Each instruction topic carries its own 'Effective DD/MM/YYYY' date and, where it has been replaced, a list of the previous instructions under 'PREVIOUS IMMIGRATION INSTRUCTIONS'.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: Policy, not law. The Manual says so itself: it 'is not ... a replacement for the legislation that governs INZ operations', the summaries of statute inside it 'are declaratory only', and where a summary conflicts with the legislation 'the interpretation of the legislation is decisive'. It also warns that 'some chapters of these sections do not constitute Government immigration instructions as described in section 22' - that disclaimer covers the Border Entry, Compliance, Refugees and Protection, Administration and Appendices sections, so a Y-, D-, C- or A-coded page may be an internal operational instruction rather than a certified instruction. It is not evidence of what the Immigration Act says, only of what the Minister has certified and the chief executive has published. The address matters. https://www.immigration.govt.nz/opsmanual/ and /opsmanual/index.htm are a JavaScript shell and return 208 characters of 'Loading...' to any fetcher. The readable table of contents is https://www.immigration.govt.nz/opsmanual/toc.htm (340,787 characters), which links every instruction topic as its own small page at /opsmanual/<number>.htm. Firecrawl returned HTTP 500 for those numbered pages on 11 October 2026; `pnpm sources:fetch --direct` read every one of them first time.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
- issuesINZ Operational Manual, Y3.10 Who must be granted entry permission
Immigration New Zealand, Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment
About this source
The Operational Manual is where New Zealand's immigration instructions are actually published, and publishing them here is a statutory duty rather than a courtesy: section 25(1) of the Immigration Act 2009 says 'The chief executive must publish immigration instructions', and the Manual's own first page says 'By publishing the Operational Manual, INZ meets its requirements under section 25 of the Immigration Act 2009 to publish Government instructions on granting visas.' Instructions are certified by the Minister under section 22; section 22(8) says they 'are statements of Government policy', and section 72(1) makes a residence decision one that 'must be made in terms of the residence instructions applicable at the time the application was made'. Each instruction topic carries its own 'Effective DD/MM/YYYY' date and, where it has been replaced, a list of the previous instructions under 'PREVIOUS IMMIGRATION INSTRUCTIONS'.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: Policy, not law. The Manual says so itself: it 'is not ... a replacement for the legislation that governs INZ operations', the summaries of statute inside it 'are declaratory only', and where a summary conflicts with the legislation 'the interpretation of the legislation is decisive'. It also warns that 'some chapters of these sections do not constitute Government immigration instructions as described in section 22' - that disclaimer covers the Border Entry, Compliance, Refugees and Protection, Administration and Appendices sections, so a Y-, D-, C- or A-coded page may be an internal operational instruction rather than a certified instruction. It is not evidence of what the Immigration Act says, only of what the Minister has certified and the chief executive has published. The address matters. https://www.immigration.govt.nz/opsmanual/ and /opsmanual/index.htm are a JavaScript shell and return 208 characters of 'Loading...' to any fetcher. The readable table of contents is https://www.immigration.govt.nz/opsmanual/toc.htm (340,787 characters), which links every instruction topic as its own small page at /opsmanual/<number>.htm. Firecrawl returned HTTP 500 for those numbered pages on 11 October 2026; `pnpm sources:fetch --direct` read every one of them first time.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source
- issuesINZ Operational Manual, RA1.1 Currency and nature of a resident visa
Immigration New Zealand, Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment
About this source
The Operational Manual is where New Zealand's immigration instructions are actually published, and publishing them here is a statutory duty rather than a courtesy: section 25(1) of the Immigration Act 2009 says 'The chief executive must publish immigration instructions', and the Manual's own first page says 'By publishing the Operational Manual, INZ meets its requirements under section 25 of the Immigration Act 2009 to publish Government instructions on granting visas.' Instructions are certified by the Minister under section 22; section 22(8) says they 'are statements of Government policy', and section 72(1) makes a residence decision one that 'must be made in terms of the residence instructions applicable at the time the application was made'. Each instruction topic carries its own 'Effective DD/MM/YYYY' date and, where it has been replaced, a list of the previous instructions under 'PREVIOUS IMMIGRATION INSTRUCTIONS'.
Standing: Issues the instrument
Cannot be cited for: Policy, not law. The Manual says so itself: it 'is not ... a replacement for the legislation that governs INZ operations', the summaries of statute inside it 'are declaratory only', and where a summary conflicts with the legislation 'the interpretation of the legislation is decisive'. It also warns that 'some chapters of these sections do not constitute Government immigration instructions as described in section 22' - that disclaimer covers the Border Entry, Compliance, Refugees and Protection, Administration and Appendices sections, so a Y-, D-, C- or A-coded page may be an internal operational instruction rather than a certified instruction. It is not evidence of what the Immigration Act says, only of what the Minister has certified and the chief executive has published. The address matters. https://www.immigration.govt.nz/opsmanual/ and /opsmanual/index.htm are a JavaScript shell and return 208 characters of 'Loading...' to any fetcher. The readable table of contents is https://www.immigration.govt.nz/opsmanual/toc.htm (340,787 characters), which links every instruction topic as its own small page at /opsmanual/<number>.htm. Firecrawl returned HTTP 500 for those numbered pages on 11 October 2026; `pnpm sources:fetch --direct` read every one of them first time.
We re-read it every 60 days. More about this source