[dyozh]

Hello, I'm new to the forums to go easy on me :o

I have an offer of permanent employment for an accredited employer in NZ, who has advised me to apply for a TALENT work visa. They'd like me to start on a very short timeline, (in about 3 weeks), so i've been told to apply for a 23 month visa to avoid the required police checks which I've heard can take a while.. Before sending out my application, I talked to immigration today and was told that any TALENT visa application is required to be at least 24 months, which would require a police check. The immigration person told me that any visa application less than 24 months would need to be under the General Work category, which sounds like it might take more time to process.

I've already completed the medical certificate process and everything else I required from the employer, but need to make sure that I get everything right the first time since there isn't much room for mistakes at this point.

Has anyone else gone through this process or have any insight on the best solution? At this point, I'm really just hoping that immigration lady is wrong :)

Thanks!!

[tecso]

We just did this about two months ago.

The fastest thing we got back was the FBI / police check. I got fingerprinted at one of those UPS Stores, and express mailed my card in to the FBI. If you do credit card payment, and have no record to worry about, they should get back to you in less than 2 weeks (ours came back in 10 days!).

Good luck, cheers
Jen

[WA to SI]

I just went through this process too, I think 3 weeks total is a bit tight! Here is the pertinent page on the immigration website:

http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migrant/stream/work/worktoresidence/caniworkinnz/accreditedemployersrequirements.htm

For Work to Residence (Talent), they issue a work visa good for 30 months, so you will need the FBI and medical checks. As tecso mentioned, the FBI checks are currently pretty fast, make sure you send it in overnight with a self-addressed overnight included, and write something on the outside about requesting expedited service for immigration.

Good luck, I will be in ChCh next Friday!

[stu70]

The easiest and fastest way would be to get a year long work permit based on the employment. It does not take more than a week to get visa stamped and off you go. I did mine in Canada and it took less than a week to get passport back. Once you get into NZ, proceed with your PR.

[constablechuck]

If your a US citizen under 30 you could get a Work Holiday Visa by applying on the NZIS website, it takes a few hours to get approved if you apply on a business day, it's free and good for one year and you can work anywhere full or part time, that allows plenty of time to obtain further permits after arriving in NZ.

[dyozh]

Thanks for all your responses, they're very helpful :yes

I spoke with an official at the NZ consulate today and he's informed me that my best bet is to continue with a general work application and to get residency once I'm down there working. It sounds like things are moving pretty quickly there, so as short as the timeline is, I should be fine :)

Thanks again!