[jaBanks]

Hi!

My husband and I arrived in NZ about a month ago. He's here studying on a student visa for 12 months. Before we came immigration recommended I get a WHV as it would let me work for the same amount of time....so that's what I have. Restrictions on visa mention not taking up permanent employment, but I have been offered a job that has been catagorized as permanent. Does it matter if the employer seems to not mind, does the government have a way of checking the type (permenant vs. temporary) of employment you are being paid for? :confused: We also want to try and stay a while, so I am thinking of applying for a general work visa for 2-3 years now that I have an offer of employment from a NZ company.
Should I go ahead and apply now while I still have 11 months on WHV? Are my chances of being approved better if I wait until I've had the job for a few months before applying for a different visa? :confused:

Any advice is greatly appreciated! We planned this for almost 2 years, so to actually be here now is amazing and better than we could have expected. This forum has been a great source of help to us! To have to turn around and leave in 11 months would be horrible.

Thanks!

[Trigirl]

if you are going to take a job that will breach the terms of your visa then i strongly recommend you get a work permit now. immigration may never find out - but they might and the results can be pretty catastrophic (deportation plus a ban on entering NZ for a number of years - even on holiday)

of course getting a work permit depends on the job you've ben offered. is it on the skills shortage list? if so you'll be automatically eligible. if not i think the employer has to show that they advertised and couldn't find a kiwi to do it. either way being in the job for any length of time is probably not going to make it easier to get a work permit further down the line.

[veronica]

just go down to immigration and talk to them. I am prtty sure they will just say thats fine. Theres a lad at the local gyme whos been there on a whv for over a year. at the end of the year he went to NZIS in chch and said was he allowed to work for the 2nd year there and they just said fine.

[eternalkiwi]

I know of people who have gone down both paths.
If you have been in NZ previously, Immigration are likely to issue a work permit for a shorter period of time. In one case they issues an 18 month work permit rather than the usual 2-3 year permit.

As Trigirl said, depending on the job and what process the employer has already completed in recruiting an employee, gaining a visa may not be a simple or guaranteed process and can take time.