[Debs]

Hi there
Would like to start by saying thank you - everytime I post a thread I get great advise - I hope you guys can help again -
So breifly, our situation - we have been invited to apply for permanent residency under skilled migrant catergory, our deadline for submitting the completed ITA is May.
As we know there are long delays at the London Branch for processing applications without job offers we have contacted them about the possiblilty of coming to NZ once we have submitted the ITA in May, in the hope that we will bag a job and get it processed straight away - they seem ok with this - as they said we can apply for work visa whilst waiting and they will transfer our file from London to NZ.
We are very confident my hubby will gain work quickly as he has had good feedback from agencies....
So - the question I have is - To just up and go to NZ - do we need to get Visitor visas or can we just go. I know we can spend up to 6 months in NZ Visa free so it seems to me that we don't need to worry about applying for visas - as we would obviously gain work well before the 6 months was up .... is this the case ? Can we just book our flights and go and then sort the whole visa thing out once we've landed and got work ?
Obviously the Immigration office would have our completed ITA ready to process so they would have all the info on us they needed.
Advise please !

[speckythecky]

Not sure about the answers to all your questions but my understanding is that you will need a work visa from UK which becomes a work permit once you enter NZ in order that you can gain employment. If you go on a visitors visa then you would need to update to work permit once you were in NZ and had been offered employment but before you start work.

Good luck with the process

[alan999]

When I went for a recce I never bothered with even thinking about a visitors visa, however when I came back and was flicking through the passport there it was, dated and valid for 6 months. They must have stamped it when going through customs when they asked me the purpose of my visit.

Alan

[Debs]

We figure we don't need visitors visas - thanks for that info - Does anyone know how long it would take to gain a valid work permit once we got there ? The immigration office would have our completed ITA so we figure all the info would be there ready and waiting to be processed .... so can;t take too long....can it ???

[alan999]

A few weeks ago I asked Auckland office and they said 60 days, Hamilton was quicker at 30 days so I got my medical in Auckland in 3 days, came back to UK and got the visa in under 2 weeks.

Alan

[katandbob]

you dont apply for a visitor visa - its automatically stamped in your passport when you go through customs

As to Work visa - you can also apply for this heren - as you need to have a job to apply for it - the thing to remember is that you can accept a job on a VISITOR visa BUT you CANT START till you have your Work Visa (which they sort quickly)

All the best

Kat

[Debs]

Great advise,thanks......ALSO.....
so it seems we can go over no probs and look for work - once we secure a job can we stay in NZ whilst they sort out our ITA or work permits ???
Seems very costly to have to return to the UK!!

[wilson182]

Hi Debs

Providing you are still within your six months you can stay BUT you cannot work until you get your permit. You can also apply for a three month extention on your six month visitor visa it you think you will need it.

[zardell]

Great advise,thanks......ALSO.....
so it seems we can go over no probs and look for work - once we secure a job can we stay in NZ whilst they sort out our ITA or work permits ???
Seems very costly to have to return to the UK!!

I believe the short answer to this is yes.

One word of warning though and I have to admit, it's something that we never even thought of. As far as jobs are concerned, do remember to think about the time of year that you arrive.

We arrived (with PR, but no jobs) at the end of October and with no immediate rush at starting work - that was all part of our plan.

What we forgot was that starting late November, all of NZ seems to start to slow down for Xmas, which, after all is their summer holiday period and things don't really get back into full swing (employment wise) until late Jan or even Feb.

We also found that there seemed to be many more rentals available after Xmas holidays too.

Financially we were OK, because as I said, not working for a while was all part of our plan, but for someone in a different situation it could have been financially crippling.

Just my thoughts............

Julie

xx

[alan999]

Great advise,thanks......ALSO.....
so it seems we can go over no probs and look for work - once we secure a job can we stay in NZ whilst they sort out our ITA or work permits ???
Seems very costly to have to return to the UK!!

Take all your docs with you though, copies of quallies and work exp OK but they need original medicals (get them down there when needed) and police certs.

It was always my plan to return to UK after job offer but I assumed, wrongly, that it would be quicker to get it down there. I was also told, but I doubt its totally correct but you would be as well to ask, that if I got a permit in NZ I would not be able to return to UK without permission.

[Moorf]

Here's what we did:
(approx dates - my memory is bad!)

June 04 - submitted online EOI

July 04 - picked from draw

Sept 04 - flew to NZ (no visas - just a 6 mth UK citizen entitlement)

Sept 04 - found rental and gave new address to NZIS and asked for our file to be transferred from UK to NZ

Nov 04 - Woz gets job (I.T) whch allows us both to get a work visa

(at this point we rang NZIS and asked if this job would enable us to up our points on our ITA and told NO)

Dec 04 - ITA arrived (by this time our UK medicals had run out so we had to have them redone)

Jan 05 - medicals redone and still awaiting some UK references

Feb 05 - ITA completed and I hand delivered to Chch branch

2 weeks later we had PR.

[westies]

Hi There
If you are not intending to come to NZ until May, I would suggest you get your work permit from UK, you have plenty of time, and then it will be 1 less thing to worry about when you get here, once you have a job here, PR should be really quick to get from here. I have heard stories of work permits taking ages, and some are really quick.
Good luck whatever you do!
Tracey

[wilson182]

One thing to note...... You cannot get a work visa/permit until you have job offer. Unless you are the spouce/partner of someone who has a work permit.

[owens clan]

We(that is me the wife and our 2 kids aged 5 and 2) have sent off our ITA without a job offer to london but we thought the same as you , so we all fly out on 11 March this year with just our clothes and money in the bank :exit .
we think that this is our best and quickest way in .

( there is always the auckland tax route, as in don't pay the tax at the airport on your way out and they don't let you back on the plane :laugh )

We will put up post's on the forum as to how we get on ( the good, the bad, the high's and the low's ):uhoh

Keep your fingers crossed for us:nice1

[Moorf]

Good on ya, it's a risk but a risk worth taking if you don't want to hang around. We did it and it was a "heart in mouth" moment, and we don't even have kids! Keep us posted.....

[Singel]

We(that is me the wife and our 2 kids aged 5 and 2) have sent off our ITA without a job offer to london but we thought the same as you , so we all fly out on 11 March this year with just our clothes and money in the bank.
we think that this is our best and quickest way in .

( there is always the auckland tax route, as in don't pay the tax at the airport on your way out and they don't let you back on the plane )

We will put up post's on the forum as to how we get on ( the good, the bad, the high's and the low's )

Keep your fingers crossed for us:nice1
We did the same thing and it's worth the risk :yes

BEST OF LUCK, KEEP EVERYTHING CROSSED FOR YOU :nice1 :nice1

[Debs]

thank you so much to you all for your thoughts. This has been invaluable.
And we are def going to do it now - so thanks for helping us decide!!!!!!

Wellington here we come (gulp !)

[Angelonthemove]

WE did our EOI through the UKbranch. We arrived on visitor visa, you do not actually apply for this its automatice for UK passports.

got the job offer and got work permits in 2hrs as we stayed and had our passport stickers put in there and then. I got my first and hubby got open visa with no job. We got Visa and permits to allow us to go in and out of the country when ever we needed within that 12 months work visa period. Cost more but worth it in case of family emergency. You just fill out that part of the form too I then changed my job so got visa changed recently to new company, that took 4 hours at wellington as it was busy. They actually give you a letter rather than keep sticking stickers over your passport.

They are still processing our ITA through the UK branch despite immigration NZ asking for it to be transferred, do not know why.

Hope this helps