[Simon & Emily]

Hi all,

I've tried to find the answer to this on the official pages, but keep coming up blank. Can anyone tell me if on a working visa the 24 months allowed in NZ starts from the date of the offer letter / stamp in passport, or do you get 12 months to get to the country (similar to PR) and then 2 years to find work, including the 3 months you have to serve to be upgraded.

Thanks in anticipation,

Emily

[wilson182]

Do you have a work visa already? You cannot get a work visa without a job offer, unless you are going down the work to residence route (which I know nothing about)

We got our work visas whilst in NZ and the two years runs from when the visa was issued.

[Kim39]

Simple question to answer. I am going down the work visa route with a job offer. This is a must, you need that offer for the visa.

My visa was issued on the 14th Dec 2004 and i have until 14th Feb 2007 to enter NZ. Once in NZ, whenever it may be, this visa will be transferred to a 2 year work permit.

Hope this helps

Kim

[Simon & Emily]

Thanks Kim and Wilson 182. I may not have worded the question correctly. We are applying for PR, but are worried that we may be given the working permit rather than PR. Whilst we won't be complaining about a working permit, we were just wondering about the timescales for it. We have no job offer.

Thanks,

Emily

[wilson182]

What makes you think you will be issued a Work Permit rather than PR? As far as I know, you will not be able to get a work visa/permit with no job offer. :nice1

[Simon & Emily]

Just the comments made by the visa officer during the telephone interview. But if you need a job to be offered this, then I guess the options will be either to decline altogether (which she indicated was not likely), to give direct PR, or to ask us to obtain job offer and then they will issue WTR (or some other similar scenario).

I guess we will just have to wait to see what they offer.

Thanks again,

Emily

[Kim39]

Emily, Wilson182 is right, no job offer no visa. If you are going down the PR route stick with, i take it your employ is on the shortages list? I am only going down this route due to my occupation not originally being on the list, but a few days before i received the visa my occupation was added to the immediate skills list......what a bummer eh :no This hasn't put us off though as we will apply for PR once we get there.

Good luck with the avenue you decide to take.

Kim

[Simon & Emily]

Kim, I'm confused by all this. How can the visa officer say they may offer a working permit if they know he doesn't have a job? Unless his skills have gone onto the shortages list since we applied (and I know they have changed but can't get the web to get to the pages) as I see it the only realistic option is PR. BUt I guess I'll just have to be paitient and wait. Thanks for your help,

Emily

[bbq]

Hi

I think what is meant is that if you apply for PR they then have 3 options

decline
offer PR
offer a 2 year Work to Residence WTR visa

\they normally offer the last for people who need registration to work in their field e.g. electricians


All the above is for people applying for PR. If yo apply for a WTR, you usually need a job offer - I think.

I hope this helps someone.

cheers

alex

[MB]

Yes. I think that

a.) Emily is talking about the Skilled Migrant (SM) 'version' of Work To Residence when she mentions a "working permit".

and

b.) This SM 'version' of Work To Residence is different form the fully-fledged NZIS Work To Residence scheme. The SM 'version' of WTR is what bbq refers to as option no.3 on bbq's list. It differs from fully-fledged WTR in that, in the SM version, there is no minimum salary hurdle* and no other major restriction on the NZ employment secured after the visa is issued other than its being skilled employment**. And you don't need an upfront job offer for the SM WTR option.

c.) I imagine that the 2 years mentioned in relation to the SM WTR option starts on the date that the visa is issued. From that date you have 2 years to find the skilled role in NZ and work in it for three months.

d.) Encouraging watchpoint: NZIS seems nowadays to be kinder in its attitude to contract work than it used to be. In other words if, say, you are a powerboat technician and get the SM version of WTR, and go over and find two concurrent (i.e., harmoniously scheduled) 15-hour-per-week jobs fine-tuning powerboats for several months, this is now more likely to be counted as your skilled work as would be one traditional 9-to-5 30-hr-a-week job fine-tuning powerboats. There are conditions to this: see the Ops. Manual for details about length of contracts past and/or present.

e.) Yes, as bbq says, skilled areas that demand NZ registration usually lead to SM WTR being issued rather than upfront PR. Another reason for getting SM WTR is if NZIS are only convinced that you have the potential to, rather than the strong probability of, settling in and contributing well to NZ.

*=as far as I know NZIS might or might not get suspicious if your nominally highly-skilled experience since landing on NZ shores only pays you $4.95 per hour. I (genuinely) don't know.

**=check whether you would be allowed to get any truly skilled work or just skilled work that is relevant to your overall case. E.g., if you go over as a dance teacher ( :cool yo! big it up for Mrs. MB ) and get skilled work as a software engineer, I just don't know if this would count towards your 3 months of SM WTR skilled work. Check NZIS Ops. Manual or ask NZIS direct.

Please verify any of this with NZIS direct :yes . I could be wrong.

[Aug & Feb]

Thanks Matt. You have been most helpful with your sharings !!! Cleared some ? ? ? I had. :?

:clap :clap :clap :P

[Simon & Emily]

Thanks to you both, Alex and Matt. Are you sure you don't work for them Matt?

The question is now redundant however, as, far quicker than expected, we have just received a letter from kiwi house .....

we have got full PR!!

Many thanks for everyone who's given us advice over the last 8 months - it's made the whole process more bearable.

I guess this is where the real fun begins,

Emily

[bbq]

let me be first

Congrats
:clap :clap :cheers :raebanana :raebanana :raebanana :raebanana :raebanana

alex :laugh

[MB]

Emily - that's terrific! I'm so pleased!. :raebanana :raebanana :raebanana :clap :clap :raebanana :raebanana :raebanana

By the way:

Are you sure you don't work for them Matt?
Emily

If I do, there's a pediatric surgery department in this town that's stumping up $$$ for a NZ Visa Officer to do its editorial and multimedia stuff. :laugh Nah, we'd just researched this whole WTR area 'cos we thought at the start that this was what we'd be likely to get.

Well done again! :nice1

[Marie P]

fantastic news .....

:clap :clap :clap

Marie x

[Diny]

Wonderful news ....... and quick too.

Well done.

Diny

[jhsay]

:raebanana Congratulations to Emily and Simon. :raebanana

Thank you for bringing up this topic. Visa processing is different in this side of the planet. Aside from longer waiting time and flying to another country for the interview, we are more likely to get WTR visa without a job offer. I'm glad that there is a WTR version for SMC.

Cheers,
Jinkee

[Kim39]

Well this thread was short and sweet wasn't it!! May i add my congratulations to you :clap

Kim

[Simon & Emily]

Thanks everyone - it just feels great to know we've made it in.

For those of you still waiting and planning - keep in there! There is light at the end of the tunnel.

Emily