[StuckInLA]

I should have a job offer coming any day now. The employer is accredited so the work permit should come through pretty quickly. Once in NZ on my work permit, do I have to wait a period of time before I can apply for PR? Or can I just take my job offer letter and submit my EOI immediately, simultaneously beginning work with my work permit?

Next set of questions: When the time comes to apply for PR (as soon as I am eligible), can I do all the necessary paperwork from NZ? I know I can do medicals, I'm worried about being able to do the background check.

-I'm coming from the USA, if it matters.

I know there are a lot of questions here...any help would be great.:clap

[Jonathon1977]

Yes you can apply for PR while on a Visa. This is quite normal and how many people choose to move forward. Also the PR process is a bit less intensive when you are already succesfully settled and contributing to New Zealand.

Regards,

Jonathon

[Toto]

Yes, we came on work visas and then when one of has had secured a position that meant we were eligible to apply for PR, we submitted our application. We got the medicals done here and applied for our police checks to the UK but did it from here. However our actual application was submitted back in London as we had a consultant working on our behalf. We did consider getting them to transfer the file to NZ but this would have slowed the whole process down so we left it there. All went very smoothly.

Sue

[mgbridges]

Are there any drawbacks to doing it this way (I'm thinking in terms of opening bank accounts, renting/buying property/cars etc.)? I might end up needing to do it this way as my new employer is keen to get me to NZ soon as, but we're waiting for police checks to come back from the UK and Australia and both have said up to 6 weeks for those.

Cheers,

Martin

[Toto]

No, we had no problems at all. We were able to rent a house, buy a car, then buy a house (including getting a mortgage), all whilst on a 2 yr Work Visa. I think you may need more of a sizeable deposit if you are buying a house on a Work Visa. As far as renting a house was concerned, we went through LJ Hooker and had to fill in the usual forms - they wanted our employment details but were not concerned that we only had work visas. We didn't even have to provide references.

Sue

[vixxann]

can i just confirm this as I thought you had to work the two years first and then apply for PR .. it says on the Immigration website...
"If you are already in New Zealand on a Work to Residence permit, after two years you can apply for residence."

[Toto]

We arrived in August 06 with our 2 year work visas and submitted our EOI in December 06. We got picked from the pool in December and had PR by the end of January 07. We had only worked 5 months before getting PR.

The work visa means that you can stay in NZ and work for 2 years, if you have everything you need to apply for PR before your 2 years are up then go for it!!

I should add that we had Work Visas and not Work To Residence - I don't know much about the Work to Residence Permits but perhaps someone else can assist?

[MattA]

We arrived in August 06 with our 2 year work visas
Hi Toto,
I'm from Brighton as well ;) . Anyway where you able to get work visa's before you went out to NZ without a job offer?

From reading your post it seems like that's what you did.

I work in IT and will be in NZ in October having a work visa without a job offer would be great, but I'm not sure you can get a work visa without a job offer....
unless it was a woring holiday visa but I'm just a coouple of years too old for that ...

[Hesh]

If I remember correctly, getting a work visa without job offer is not possible. I was thinking of coming to NZ on a visitor's visa and look for a job.. i dont know if that's really possible .. please advise

[Trigirl]

matt - you need a job to get a work visa (in general - although there are some odd exceptions like if you are applying for PR under the partnership category)

coming in on a visitors visa then getting a job and then getting a work visa is possible though

[Toto]

Hello Matt - I lived in Hove actually! :laugh ! I really really miss Brighton, I worked in the North Laines which I loved - still, had to look at the bigger picture which is why I'm now here.

Yes, I managed to get a job offer before I came here. I paid an obscene amount of money to a company that specialises in obtaining offers for people wanting to move to NZ. I don't regret paying the money because it ultimately got me here and I'm sure the process would have been alot harder if I had tried to do it under my own steam.

I'm tempted to ask you to PM me and tell all about how Brighton is so far this summer but I think I might get homesick........:(

[Oregonkiwi]

Next set of questions: When the time comes to apply for PR (as soon as I am eligible), can I do all the necessary paperwork from NZ? I know I can do medicals, I'm worried about being able to do the background check.


My husband came in on a work visa and then applied for PR. He did his medicals in Auckland but applied for the FBI check while we were still in the US. The police check is good for 6 months, so you could apply for it now and it should still be valid when you put in your PR application. You probably should apply for it now, given how long the FBI seem to be taking - maybe give them a different mailing address if you think you'll be gone by the time it's done.