Hi RanchDanko, welcome aboard.
Forget about citizenship for the moment as you need to have been a permanent resident in NZ for 5 years to be able to apply.
We don't really know much about you to give solid advice about the best way to get into NZ to stay, so if you could briefly fill us in on your situation, especially with regard to qualifications and job experience, we can work our way through it. There are several different visas to apply for so it's not straightforward. For example, if you are 55 or under and have skills that NZ wants you can apply under the Skilled Migrant Category. The aim is to try to get Permanent Residency (PR) which will allow you to stay indefinitely in NZ.
If you haven't seen it already, this is the official
immigration site . I'm having difficulty accessing parts of the site currently so I hope the problem will resolve itself soon. Have a read through and we'll try to answer any questions you have. Good luck.
