[Carey]

If I got offered a fixed term teaching position, ie for 1 year, what visa would I go for? Am ideally hoping for a permenant position as not sure we are prepared to risk a fixed term with 3 kids and OH not that employable.....

Any ideas?

[M&J]

You will need to get an temporary visa for 12 months, OH will then also need to apply for a partnership visa, he can then work for anyone. Kids will need a student visa. For a 12 month visa you need chest x-rays but not a full medical.

We did it this way (9 month contract) then once OH got a full time contract we sorted the PR out.

Jo

[Carey]

Did you then have to buy a return flight? Does this mean you can't claim the child benefit equivalent or any of the other advantages of having PR?

[Nick88]

There are no child benefits here. There is something called Working for Families (which the unemployed get too, so they are not discriminated against) which I imagine you would get as you are working and would have an RRV. I don't think you need a return flight as you will be here more than 9 months, but there is another thread just recently that discusses this.

[kidco]

Hi Carey,

A couple of things that should be clarified, based on the responses above:

You do not need an X-ray done if you are applying for a 1 year or less work visa. That is, unless you have visited a TB high-risk country for more than 3 months in the last 5 years. The UK is low-risk, as you probably know. All the details are found in the Work Visa form: http://www.immigration.govt.nz/NR/rdonlyres/EC9A6BEF-1152-482F-B39F-B782EE7688FA/0/1015.pdf.

I'm pretty sure you won't need a return flight, as the previous reply said. That's because you're working in NZ - and therefore, even if you do return after 1 year, they assume that you'll have the $$$ to buy return tickets. The return flight rule applies more for people going over on visitor visas.

Also, I don't think you would qualify for "Working For Families", as you won't have NZ residency yet - and therefore won't have an RRV (which is a Returning Resident's Visa, something you get with residency).

If I understand correctly, you would be a UK citizen in NZ on a 1-year work visa. As such, you would probably continue to receive any family-type benefits from the UK, until such time as you did become a NZ resident - if that is what you end up doing. That's at least how it works for Canadians: you are not supposed to be left without family assistance (whatever it's called in the UK - in Canada it's the Child Tax Benefit...) - so, until you are granted NZ residency, you continue to receive these benefits from your country of residency (Canada in our case, the UK in yours...). I believe that it should work the same with the UK - best to check directly, though.

So, I would think you should do the following:

* Apply for a 1-year work visa for yourself.
* If your OH wishes to work, then he/she also applies for a work visa for 1 year - but under partnership with you, which means that he/she doesn't need a job offer etc like you do. Check out the link for the Form 1015 above, for more info. Otherwise, your OH applies for a visitor visa for 1 year.
* If your kids are going to be in any sort of NZ school program, they will need each need a student visa. If not, they can come over on a visitor visa - which costs less. In fact, if your OH comes over on a visitor visa, then he/she can put any kids' visitor visa applications on his/hers - which means only 1 visitor visa application form and fee for all visitors. A nice way to save $$$ on the process...
* Meanwhile, if your EOI goes through and you can become residents within the year, then your residence permit will supercede your work visa instantly. At that point, you are totally free to look for any job, and you will become eligible for all family benefits.
* Not sure about health benefits while on a work visa. What I know is that the ACC covers all emergency-type costs for anybody legally in NZ. Canadians like us on work/visitor visas pay for anything else, but I believe that the UK has some sort of agreement with NZ, that will cover some more medical costs. Something I'm sure UK listees can elaborate upon...

Hope this info helps:)

Cheers,

Rob

[IanW99]

I'll try and answer the missing bits.

For health benefits, if you are from the UK then you are entitled to "Urgent medical treatment as specified in the New Zealand/UK Reciprocal Health Agreement". See Am I Eligible (http://www.moh.govt.nz/moh.nsf/indexmh/eligibility-amieligible) for more details.

For claiming UK benefits whilst in NZ, if you are not permanently leaving the UK then you can claim UK child benefit whilst in NZ for the first 26 weeks.

Ian

[Carey]

Thank you all! Never ceases to amaze me that people take time and thought to answer others questions throughly! Fabulous!