[Pete & Sheila]

When we started the immigration process i had enough pionts to proceed with the application without an offer of employment. Along the way i recieved an offer of employment which i thought great so sent the offer of employment along to my case officer on the understanding this would help the process along. When we finally got the blue stickers (thats another storie) they had a section 18A which meant i needed to work for a short period of time with the employer who offered the job when i arrive in NZ. Trouble now is it is taken so long to sell the house that the job offer has fallen through. So can no longer meet the conditions of the section 18A.
I now feel as if our dream is slipping away have contacted our case officer in London who says she will have to dig our files out of the archives and have a look.
Has anybody else here on the forum had the same Predicament.

Pete

[snailandthewhale]

Can you apply for another job? You already have your blue stickers which would make you very attractive to employers. My understanding is that you have 3 months to take up the job and you have to stick it for 3 months. As long as you take up employment similar to the original job offer, I'd have thought you'd be ok. I don't think there's a problem changing employer if the job is worth the same number of points.

[bartons]

Yes, I agree with Snailandthewhale - you can change your job as long as you take up a similar one. We even rang up Immigration to confirm this. OH had Section 18a and took it up, but we very soon realized that we wanted to be in a different part of the country. Immigration said it was no problem, as long as we got 3 consecutive months of employment in a similar job and proof of it.
The 7 months within which you can do these three months of employment only start the day you arrive in NZ. And you've got a whole year to activate you visa and arrive here. As Snailandthewhale said: find a similar job and don't worry too much. We found Immigration helpful and laid back on this issue.

[Pete & Sheila]

I could try for another job offer but am tempted to wait a bit longer and see if i can get a buyer for the house first. Once i have this i will not have any delays in taken up any future offers of employment. I have been in contact with the immigration here in the UK still waiting for a reply perhaps i should of contacted the immigration in the area we are hoping to move to.

[marcia]

Read the actual wording on your stickers/paperwork, I'm almost positive ours said something like ' take up the job offer or one of equal skill! (or words to that effect!)

Good luck, remember where theres a will theres a way! :)