It’s a third of the population where I live!

No one lives here…

I appreciate how disappointing that would be.

NZ is just as hard on kiwis living overseas.

I lived in the UK for 22 years. One of the reasons why I came back was because of the requirement for me to be resident for five years after the age of fifty to be eligible for the state funded pension.

I came back just before new legislation was introduced tightening pension eligibility even further for kiwis living overseas. Now, the longer you stay overseas, the longer you have to live back in NZ to get the pension. The new guidelines don’t seem to be well known, so people will be caught out.

Here’s the new guidelines…. [workandincome.govt.nz]

There’s a distinction here between residency and citizenship. You can be a citizen, born here, but miss out on services because you don’t meet residency requirements. In other words you haven’t lived here for long enough.

I was asked point blank if I had residency on a couple of occasions when accessing services.

An example that comes to mind is access to university studies. You could be a NZ citizen and have to be resident in NZ for six months before you can apply to study a course.

@Zealandia it is all moot for me because of my age! I teach online but even if I could get in NZ, I could no longer teach at my schools because I have to reside in the USA. In fact, I can't even travel abroad and take my laptop and facilitate my classes--it is not allowed.

I don't mind being isolated.

And maybe I just wanted to move to NZ to experience the Hobbit village.

@Gwen_Wanderer
Strict re working in the USA.

After living in the crowded UK, I’m happy with the less populated environment. It’s easy to find places with relatively few people to relax at, even in the city.

There’s a few people who would like to visit Hobbiton!

I had a friend who visited and attended a banquet there as a birthday present, they really enjoyed the experience. Here’s the details:
[hobbitontours.com]

Someone on this site who is a fan sent me an interesting YouTube video:

I haven’t been yet, maybe one day when I find someone to go with. It’s about an hour and a half’s drive away.

Far away, but not necessarily lonely!

@Gwen_Wanderer I know. Looks can be deceiving.

Nice re Hawaii!

I spent a fair amount of time overseas, happy to travel around and reconnect with nz scenery now. And same, there’s the tourism vibe going on in the background there.

That’s a pity, hopefully you can make it to NZ again. It’s only about a nine hour flight….

Apparently long haul flights between NZ (Probably Oz too) and the US mainland are only allowed because Hawaii airport is a back up option if a plane loses an engine over the Pacific Ocean.

I have flown via the USA years ago, with a layover in Hawaii. Most people now travel via the Asian routes such as Dubai that have opened up with airlines like Emirates.

There’s a regular Auckland to New York City flight, it’s just over 16 hours.