[blearyjane]

Can anyone help? We are busily filling in our EOI but won't have enough points without a job offer so are also scouring for jobs to apply for. The trouble is that most of them (even accredited employers) specifiy that the candidate must be 'elligible to work in NZ'. Has anyone experienced this? Has anyone got round it? Any help gratefully appreciated!

Sue, Keith, Adam (10), Tommy (9).

[Familyofmonkeys]

What area of work are you in?
Have you tried going to one of the NZ expos?

[blearyjane]

OH is NHS manager - not on any of the wanted skills lists but there seem to be plenty of vacancies that he could handle. I am an ex-journalist/PR person so I might have a go too, but equally not on the skill shortage lists.

We haven't managed to get to an expo yet - (only really became serious about NZ recently) but on the agenda. I think there's one in London earlyish next year.

He's tied to a job for the next 6 months anyway - so we have plenty of time to look around. Have even thought about sellilng the house and renting before the predicted house price crash!

[Sam B]

Most employers in Health and Education will offer you the job on the basis that you then get a visa etc. Mine did. Just go ahead and apply.

[blearyjane]

Thanks Sam B - how long (approx) does it take to get a visa once you have a job offer? Was your employer happy to negotiate on starting dates?

[Familyofmonkeys]

Not sure about your fields of work, but several people have found the October Expos better than the March ones...so worth a second visit if you have no luck first time around. Good luck.

[Sam B]

Yes, it took 8 weeks to get PR after the job offer, but I was on the long term skills shortage which may have speeded things up. All the employers that offered me jobs were very happy to wait for however long it took.

[blearyjane]

Thanks for the advice everyone!

[tigerlily]

Remember you could always apply for a work visa if you needed to start work more quickly. Having the house sold would help too! PR seems to be taking an age these days. I was looking back at when I first joined this board, at that time people were getting blue stickers 2 months from the time they hit submit on the EOI- shocking to me now!