RV to PRV to Citizenship: NZ Timeline, Conditions & Fees (2026)

The RV → PRV → citizenship timeline in one sentence: hold your resident visa for 2 years and meet one of 5 commitment tests to get a Permanent Resident Visa (from NZD $315, 80% decided within 2 weeks), then after 5 years as a resident — with at least 240 days in New Zealand in each year and 1,350 days in total — you can apply for citizenship (NZD $641 for adults), with no requirement to get the PRV first.

This guide is the action timeline: what to do at day 0, what to track during the wait, and when to file what. For the rule-by-rule comparison of the three statuses (rights, travel conditions, the commitment tests and the presence test in detail), read RV vs PRV vs citizenship alongside it.

The timeline at a glance

When	Milestone	Your move
Day 0 (RV granted)	Resident visa: live, work, study indefinitely	Record your key dates (below); check for Section 49 conditions
Years 0–2	Build the record	184 days in NZ per year keeps the standard PRV route open; guard your travel conditions
Year 2	Eligible for the PRV	File online — from NZD $315, 80% decided within 2 weeks
Years 2–5	PRV removes all travel risk; citizenship clock keeps running	Keep every 12-month period above 240 days
Year 5	Eligible for citizenship	DIA self-check → apply online — NZD $641 (adult) / $320 (child); 90% get an outcome within 3 months; ceremony to follow
Late 2027	Citizenship test begins	20 multiple-choice questions in English, 15 to pass — file before it starts and you skip it

Day 0: your RV is granted

Four things to do the week your resident visa arrives:

1. Write down three dates. The “first entry before” date if you were granted offshore (enter within 12 months of the grant — 3 months for Pacific Access Category and Samoan Quota visas — or the visa lapses); the “expiry date travel” — for most resident visas, 2 years from your first arrival as a resident, after which you can no longer enter on this visa; and your PRV eligibility date, 2 years from first arrival (or from the issue date if you were already onshore).
2. Check for Section 49 conditions. Some skilled residence categories carry them. They must be met and formally removed before you can get a PRV, sponsor anyone, or apply for citizenship. Removal is free, but it is a separate step — diarise it.
3. Start a day log. Your day counts drive both the PRV (184 days a year) and citizenship (240 days a year, 1,350 over 5). INZ and DIA hold their own travel records, but keeping your own log of every exit and entry lets you spot a shortfall before it costs you a year.
4. Plan travel around the conditions, not the other way round. Before booking anything long-haul in years 2–5, check your remaining days against both tests.

Years 0–2: protect the days, protect the visa

The rules in one paragraph — a resident visa’s right to stay never expires, but its right to travel does: if you are outside New Zealand when the expiry date travel passes, the resident visa itself expires. The mechanics and the escape hatches (including the offshore Second or Subsequent Resident Visa) are covered in RV vs PRV vs citizenship; operationally, what matters is the calendar: never be abroad on that date.

If life takes you offshore for a stretch before you qualify for a PRV, you can apply to extend your travel conditions for 1 or 2 years — or, if you meet neither threshold, INZ may grant only 14 days. The two standard tests: 184+ days in New Zealand in at least one of the 2 years before you apply, or New Zealand tax residence (12+ months of tax residence in the 2 years before applying, plus 41+ days in New Zealand in at least one of those years).

And if your work genuinely keeps you abroad long-term, know that the 184-day route is only the most common of 5 commitment options for the PRV — tax residence, a NZD $1,000,000 investment, a New Zealand business, or an established base (including full-time work of at least 9 months in the last 2 years, or a home bought within 12 months of your first day as a resident) can substitute. Definitions and evidence lists: the PRV section of the comparison guide.

Year 2: file the PRV

The checklist, per INZ: resident visa held 2 years in a row; still current or expired no more than 90 days ago; conditions met (Section 49 included); commitment shown in 1 of the 5 ways above; good character (INZ will tell you if police certificates are needed).

The filing itself is the most procedural step on the whole timeline:

1. Apply online through your INZ account: passport detail-page scans for everyone, one acceptable photo each, certified translations for non-English documents.
2. Include your partner and dependent children aged 24 or younger in the same application — but note the ordering rule: a non-principal applicant normally cannot receive a PRV before the principal applicant (separation is an exception).
3. Pay from NZD $315; 80% of applications are decided within 2 weeks. The 184-day evidence is INZ’s own travel records — nothing to compile.

Once granted, the PRV has no conditions at all: travel in and out indefinitely. One maintenance habit: keep the visa in a valid passport — apply to transfer it every time you renew.

Year 5: file for citizenship

The rules in two sentences: you need 5 years as a resident — only days holding a resident-class visa count — with at least 240 days in New Zealand in each 12-month period and 1,350 days across the 5 years; DIA’s shorthand for failing is more than 4 months out in any 12-month period or more than 15 months out in total. Any conditions on your resident visa must be met or cancelled (PRV holders skip this), and you also need the intention to keep living in New Zealand, basic conversational English, and good character. What each of those means in practice: the citizenship section of the comparison guide plus the DIA pages in the sources.

The filing sequence:

1. Run DIA’s self-check tool (5–10 minutes) against your own day log.
2. Apply online — from 28 August 2026 the fee is NZD $641 for applicants 16 and over, $320 for children 15 and under.
3. Wait: as of August 2026, 90% of applicants receive an outcome within 3 months, and 93% are granted within 8 months (govt.nz quotes an overall range of 3–14 months).
4. Attend the ceremony. You are not a citizen until you make the oath or affirmation — ceremonies usually run 2 to 5 months after approval, and attending within 1 year of approval is compulsory.
5. Then apply for the passport — a separate process.

The 2027 test, as a timeline problem. From late 2027, most citizenship-by-grant applicants will sit a test of 20 multiple-choice questions in English, needing 15 correct (75%) to pass — topics include the Bill of Rights, voting and democratic principles, the system of government and the Treaty of Waitangi, with exemptions for applicants under 16, those 65 or over and several other groups. Anyone who applies before the test becomes a requirement does not sit it. If your 5-year mark lands around late 2027, filing a few months early is a real, legal way to keep the process to its current shape.

The decision points

PRV or straight to citizenship? You never need the PRV — but at $315 and a 2-week turnaround it is cheap insurance: it removes all travel risk for the years your citizenship clock is still running, and it is the version of your status that survives any length of absence. The common pattern is PRV at year 2, citizenship at year 5.

Skip the PRV only if you are sure you will not travel much between years 2 and 5 — your RV’s travel conditions can be extended, but each extension is another application with its own tests.

Naturalise or stay a permanent resident? Keeping the PRV forever is a legitimate, common choice. New Zealand allows dual citizenship; China does not recognise it, and naturalising means automatically losing Chinese citizenship under Chinese law — the consequences for travel, property and family are covered in the comparison guide. Decide this as a family-and-nationality question, not an immigration one.

Common mistakes on this timeline

1. Being offshore when the travel conditions expire. Resident visa gone; the offshore fix (PRV or Second or Subsequent Resident Visa) is uncertain and stressful. Put the 2-year date in your calendar the day your RV is granted.
2. Meeting 1,350 days but failing 240. One long trip home — more than 4 months out in any 12-month period — can sink the application even with the total intact.
3. Applying for the PRV or citizenship with Section 49 conditions still attached. Meet them, then have them removed — free, but a separate step.
4. Measuring the PRV’s 184 days over the wrong window. It is the 2 years immediately before you apply, not the 2 years since grant. Deferred your PRV application? The window moves with you.

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Working out where you are on this timeline? The Pathway Finder maps your current status to the next step. If the resident visa itself is still ahead of you, start with Work to Residence Visa or the family visa overview, and keep an eye on NZ visa processing times as your dates approach.