[bhun]

Hi,
I'm from Indonesia, and currently I have a job offer from a company in Auckland. The position was a programmer/developer, and listed in the LTSSL. They offer me a $36k salary, ready to support my application, and need me ASAP.

I attend college for civil engineering major, but I can't finish it (family business go awry with the country's monetary crisis back in 1999). And I only have a MCP qualifications in SQL Server 2000. I don't have any close family in NZ.

My work experience was this:
- 2 years as a product support for AutoCAD for AutoCAD agent
- 3 years as a civil technician (draughtperson) in an interior company
- 1 year as a Programmer / .NET developer for a Canadian-based CRM consultant.

I don't have any kinds of contract or payment slips with my current job as a Programmer, since it's a telecommuting job, my boss is in Canada, and I'm in Jakarta, Indonesia. I can get my boss's referrals if I want to.

The question I would like to ask you guys was this :
1. What kind of evidence do I need for my telecommuting job?
2. Should I apply for a work permit under General Work or Work to Residence policy? I would love to get a PR, but which one is the best path?
3. And as anybody seems to ask this, how's my chance to get a work permit?
4. Can I use my MCP credentials for ANYTHING at all?
5. When I'm working as a draughtperson, I worked as a MIS/IT staff too, and created an application for the company's internal network, can I use it as my work experience as a Programmer?

FYI, I've tried to go to NZ with visitor visa, but the NZ Embassy here rejected my visa application since I don't have enough funds, although I provided more than $1000 in my bank account.

Any suggestions or help, will be welcome & greatly appreciated.
Is there any way to make this easier? :no :no :no

[eternalkiwi]

For Auckland $36k is not a huge income to live in Auckland, but for a single person you will be able to live.

Programmer roles in NZ generally start at approx $35-40k for graduates with up to 1 years experience. If your employer is willing to sponsor you and present a strong case for your work visa, this could be a good opportunity for you.

ASP.Net and Java programmers are very popular with recruiters in NZ at the moment, so if you are in NZ you will have a good range of opportunities, though these roles will be harder to find when based overseas.

[Trigirl]

you can't apply under work to residence as for that visa the job needs to be a minimum of $45k. so you would have to come over on a general work visa. as the job is on the LTSSL your employer wont need to show that they have tried to recruit locally.

a few other things to consider. $36k is indeed a very tight salary to live on in auckland. a lot of your money is going to go on accomodation. you do need to consider how you are going to cover the upfront costs of flights, medicals, visas (about $250), renting a place (you may have to pay 2 weeks rent as a bond and 2 weeks rent in advance - if you are paying $200 a week rent then there's $800 gone already) etc.