1 May 2010

Annual New Zealand residency ballot opens

9:15 am on 1 May 2010

The annual ballot to give some Pacific Island citizens New Zealand residency has now opened.

The Immigration service says up to 11-hundred people from Samoa will be granted residency, with four hundred places open to people from certain other Pacific nations.

It says the people can begin to apply from today and the ballot will be drawn on July the 9th.

Those who are drawn from the ballot must still meet a number of requirements, including having a job offer that meets set pay levels.