[marshanite]

Fantastic news. Just accepted a teaching job in Auckland to start in Jan 2008. Trouble is I/we haven't done anything about visas, selling houses, NZQA, etc. Its going to be a bit of a rush. Anybody any advice about what to do first? Can I leave and start a new job without my NZQA, etc

any help would be appreciated.

[Lara Croft]

Hi Marshanite - well done!

I don't know what requirements you need to fulfil for a teaching job, but I can tell you that work visas are taking 2-3 weeks to process (in London) at the moment - not taking the Xmas shutdown into consideration.

When are you hoping to start work?

Regards,
Jane

[marshanite]

hi Jane

Hoping to start work on or near Jan 29th, start of the school year I think, so we don't have much time at all. Word from the agency that got me the job is that I need to come over on a visitors permit and then apply for a temp work visa. Anyway this is very exciting and we will just keep plugging away.

[Potato]

Hello, as noted above, London are taking 2-3 weeks at the moment, although I think they claim that they prioritise based on the date you're leaving for NZ. In my case it took about 5 weeks to get the work visa.

The other option as your temp agency said is to get the work permit out there. The problem with this is that I don't think any NZIS branch in NZ do "same day service" for work permits. Looking at the Auckland site:

http://www.immigration.govt.nz/branch/aucklandcentralhome/processingtimes/

They claim:
Work permit/visa

We will decide:
75% within 20 days
95% within 45 days
99% within 60 days

Remember also that you need to get everything done before applying for the work visa/permit. In other words, medicals and/or chest-x-rays.

See here for their policy:
http://www.immigration.govt.nz/community/stream/employ/employmentprocesses/employingtemporaryworkers/howtoapply/generalwork/

I am assuming that you will be applying for a "general work" visa/permit.

Honestly, it looks like it will be a rush regardless. An important consideration is that you lose your passport during a visa application, hence it may be best to get out to NZ ASAP and do it all from out there.
If you're looking at a contract of longer than 12 months you need a full medical, blood tests and x-rays. I think the results of blood tests can take at least week, but this depends on where you do it.
If it's less than 12 months, you just need the chest x-ray.
All this stuff is cheaper in NZ than the UK. (I'm assuming you're in the UK, I don't actually know).

If your contract is longer than 2 years, you need a police certificate. This is a problem as they are notoriously slow. The UK is one of the "faster" countries apparently and can still take 40 days :(

Please check all this out on NZIS' website as they go into much more detail about the policy and what you need.


Best of luck :)