Definition of 'have lived in NZ' for NZ Super and Veteran's Pension

Being resident in NZ means you permanently made your home in NZ. In most cases, you'll be resident in NZ if you lived here on a permanent basis for the required number of years.

In other cases, we may need to consider other things to work out if you've been resident in NZ. To do this, we'll look at your involvement in NZ society, for example your:

• employment
• community activities
• club memberships, and
• local churches.

To work this out, we'll look at if you were physically in NZ for the required number of years. If you left NZ, you weren't physically present in NZ for that period of time.

For example, if you went on holiday for:

• 25 days, you weren't physically present in NZ for 25 days. This means you would need to have lived in NZ for an extra 25 days to make up what is required
• 14 days every year for 10 years, that's 140 days in total. This means you weren't physically present in NZ for 140 days. So you would need to have lived in NZ for an extra 140 days to make up what is required.

If you left NZ for an approved reason, we may still consider that you were physically present in NZ.

There are times when you will have left NZ and we may still consider you to be resident and physically present in NZ.

This includes when you left NZ because you:

• worked overseas and your NZ income tax (PAYE and/or source deduction payments) was paid to Inland Revenue
• were going overseas with your partner who worked overseas and their NZ income tax (PAYE and/or source deduction payments) was paid to Inland Revenue
• needed special medical or surgical treatment and there was a good and sufficient reason for it to be overseas
• were doing vocational training and there was a good and sufficient reason for it to be overseas
• were a seaman serving on a ship registered or owned in NZ, and which was engaged in trading to and from NZ
• were serving as a member of the naval, military or air force of any Commonwealth country. This includes war service as a member of any organisation attached to any of these forces, e.g. YMCA or Red Cross
• were doing full-time voluntary work (humanitarian work) for a recognised aid agency that is:
  • a NZ charity that gives aid and assistance to less advantaged communities in one or more countries, or
  • an entity that is affiliated with, or closely related to, a NZ charity that gives aid and assistance to less advantaged communities in one or more countries
• were doing work as an accredited volunteer appointed by Volunteer Service Abroad, or
• were doing missionary work.