Retired NZ Visas: 2021 Resident Visa, Critical Purpose & LTSSL

If you are searching for one of these three names, you are probably working from an old forum post, a PDF from 2021, or advice from someone who moved years ago. Short answer: all three are closed, and none of them is coming back. Here is what each one was, how the story ended, and what exists instead.

The 2021 Resident Visa

A one-off residence category created during COVID for people who were in New Zealand on 29 September 2021 on eligible work visas. Announced in late September 2021, applications opened in two phases (1 December 2021 and 1 March 2022) and closed for good on 31 July 2022.

The scale was enormous by New Zealand standards:

• Over 100,000 applications covering more than 200,000 people
• 212,635 people approved by June 2024, according to the Office of the Auditor-General
• INZ reported 99% of applications processed as of 15 June 2024, and stopped publishing updates after that date

If you hold this visa, remember it carries standard resident travel conditions: to leave and re-enter freely after those expire, you apply for a Permanent Resident Visa after meeting the two-year commitment requirement.

If you never applied: the door is shut. The functional successors are the Green List pathways and the SMC 6-point system.

Critical Purpose visas

The Critical Purpose Visitor Visa (CPVV) was the vehicle for border exceptions while New Zealand’s border was effectively closed, from March 2020 to July 2022. Entry required proving a “critical purpose”: critical health workers, essential workers in nominated sectors, some family reunification cases, humanitarian travel.

The numbers from the Royal Commission’s COVID-19 review: between April 2020 and August 2022, 39,690 workers were granted a border exception and visa, and about 57,237 people actually arrived under the regime (including dependants).

It ended in stages through 2022 and all border exception categories closed on 31 July 2022, the day the border fully reopened. Work visa applications had already reopened on 4 July. Long-term critical workers who stayed in their roles were bridged onto a streamlined Specific Purpose Work Visa.

Today there is no equivalent and no need for one: you simply apply for the normal visa for your purpose.

The Long Term Skill Shortage List (LTSSL)

Before 2022, the LTSSL was one of several “Essential Skills in Demand” lists, and working in an LTSSL role opened a Work to Residence pathway after 24 months.

Two dates retired it:

• 31 October 2021: the LTSSL Work Visa closed to new applications (alongside the Talent and Silver Fern categories)
• 4 July 2022: the AEWV replaced the old work visa system, and the new Green List replaced all of the old shortage lists

People who lodged LTSSL applications before the closure kept their pathway to residence. But for anyone planning now, the LTSSL is history: what matters is whether your occupation is on the Green List, and at which tier. Some occupations that were on the LTSSL never made it onto the Green List, so an old list is not evidence of anything today. Check your occupation in the Green List Checker.

What replaced what

Retired	Closed	Today’s equivalent
2021 Resident Visa	31 July 2022	Green List pathways, SMC 6-point system
Critical Purpose visas	31 July 2022	Normal visa categories (border fully open)
LTSSL Work Visa	31 October 2021	AEWV for work; Green List for residence
Talent (Accredited Employer) Work Visa	31 October 2021	AEWV
Silver Fern Practical Experience	31 October 2021	No direct equivalent

Why old visa names still matter

Immigration forums and WeChat groups are full of 2021–2022 advice. When a post mentions one of these names, date-check it before trusting anything else it says: the entire skilled residence system was rebuilt in 2022, and wage thresholds and lists have moved several times since. The two things that do not go out of date are the habit of verifying against official INZ pages and checking the publication date of whatever you are reading.