Student Visa -> Residence Visa -> Permanent Residence Visa -> Citizenship can be done in about the time it takes to get a post graduate degree. It's very commonly done.
Sadly that hasn't happened for at least 2 of my friends from Global church (Krystal and Agnes). They were both here when I came on Working Holiday in summer 2011-12. They're both still here, still stuck in Student visa -> Work visa cycles.
There is no path to residency that I can see unless you're 1. obscenely wealthy or 2. working for a large, rich company who work closely with MBIE.
And because those companies work closely with MBIE, the Minister's advice gets passed down to HR. So it's extremely difficult to get jobs at such companies without already being a citizen or resident. I still think it's pretty miraculous that I was offered the job now, and barely in time for the case officer!
The solution is for HR to push back, and specifically demand that we have more people from other countries. Right now we're working on translating some software, and it would be much more convenient to have native speakers of other languages working in the company. Instead, we contract it out to a third party, but they don't have the context (and we can't share everything with them due to intellectual property considerations). So we really need to be allowed to hire some more multicultural people, it will help the company and help the world.
The Global congregation of Auckland Baptist Tabernacle, 10:30 am Sunday, 429 Queen St. One of the least "baptist" of baptist churches that I've known; started as a Bible study for non-native English speakers and grew into a whole church! We thank Jesus by singing songs, listen to someone talk for 20-30 mins, discuss questions around circular tables, then share lunch together.
My favourite church is where the sermons are convicting and the people are encouraging (and least favourite is the opposite). Global is a really great community, welcoming newcomers, and encouraging humble conversation rather than pushing a view. So please, welcome to join and worship God with us online! (and in person after lockdown's done for the food)
Student Visa -> Residence Visa -> Permanent Residence Visa -> Citizenship can be done in about the time it takes to get a post graduate degree. It's very commonly done.