[doctor]

some one applies for PR. Their occupation involves registration. So if that is the case, NZIS wont issue PR directly and instead issues WTR (work to residency), which is good for 2 yrs. One needs to enter NZ in this 2 yr period and find and employment. After continuing in the job for 3 months, send passport and evidence of employment to nearest NZIS. Then WTR is converted to PR (without again doing the paper work of police certificates, medicals etc). Please tell me if this is the correct scenerio or I am interpreting this WTR to PR issue wrong?

[chips]

Unless you get registered before you put in your eoi. For example- if you are a teacher. This is possible, but maybe not if you are a sparky!
It's a case of finding the right path for you.
Chips

[tigerlily]

I think that senario can happen to anyone who they doubt will settle successfully. I'm terribly afraid it will happen to us because OH is so specialized and may not find work quickly.

bite nails, bite nails, bite nails!

[MB]

I think you have it right, Doctor, but wait for one or two other replies from folks who are in 'registration-is-essential' profession/trade (we weren't in that boat).

Tigerlily - sorry if I have got the drift of your post wrong, but isn't being obliged to do the 2-yr-WTR route because of being in a 'registration-is-essential' profession/trade a bit different from being assigned the 2-yr-WTR visa on the grounds that NZIS is not convinced that you will settle well? The latter can happen to pretty much any applicant in any profession -- and I think can be assigned for reasons other than NZIS concern specifically about an applicant's job prospects -- whereas I believe that nobody in a 'registration-is-essential' career can be given upfront PR.
Re-reading your post I reckon you are aware of this distinction -- if so, sorry! :) But I still think it's worth emphasizing to newbies that being assigned 2-yr-WTR is inevitable if you are in a registration-essential career and that it is therefore to be regarded a little differently from 2-yr-WTR that is assigned in other cases.

Nothing wrong with any 2-yr-WTR, of course. We thought we might well get that, and we would have regarded it as a very fair way in to NZ. :clap

[MB]

tigerlily - I should add that you guys could well get upfront PR! My wife is in a pretty specialized profession and we got upfront PR, and once in NZ she also managed to find some work both in her skill area and now in a tertiary-college-teaching area of her profession.... beyond what she managed to get in the US!
Pretty much all her documentation and education ducks were in a row -- in other words, we did quite a bit of homework preparing our NZIS application so that we illustrated all her experience and had no queries from our case officer -- which may have helped a lot.
So we reckon it's hugely important to do the work for the case officer as much as possible so that they don't have to read between the lines so much as they just have to be impressed page after page by clear, simple evidence of how marketable the prinicpal applicant's skills are; what the applicant has done in past jobs, etc. :nice1
All the best!

[janeb]

HI doctor

Our friends made the move over in july last year, and they got full PR in advance, he is an electrican and had a nightmare sorting out his registration but eventually it came through and thats how they got in. He did have a job to go too as well, I think they may offer a WTR visa as it seems to be such a long winded hassle to sort our registration in advance when your not in the country....

Dont know if this helps at all, but thought i'd let you know,
Good luck

[foolsgold99]

I read this as a way to avoid doing medicals and police checks, is that right ??

If so, I'm not sure, are you trying to hide something ?

[doctor]

I dont think you have interpreted my post correctly. I submitted my application along with police checks, medicals. I am a physician, trained and working in USA for the last 6 yrs. My qualifications are recognized by NZ medical council, and did give me a letter stating that I am ready to get registration with the medical council. The actual registration wont be given until I actually interview with the medical council. Since I dont have the actual regitration upfront, NZIS does not want to give me PR. IT'S JUST BECAUSE OF MY PROFESSION. Instead they want to consider me for WTR. As such I do not have much information on WTR, I am just trying to find out from the forum members.

[Rabbit]

http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migrant/stream/work/worktoresidence/caniworkinnz/whatisrequired/

Doctor, my interpretation of this is:

Step 1: You can apply for WTR and travel to New Zealand

Step 2: Have you qualifications assessed by the medical council (something more than a paper chase perhaps face to face?)

Optional Step 3: Apply for PR (if you want it)

And the things to consider are:

a) When you apply for PR you will have to submit a current and valid medical certificate and police certificate.

b) medical certificates expire in 90 days, police certificates in 6/12 months?

c) So, if you do not want to have to redo the medical and police certificates for the PR phase then you will have to get your timing right? e.g. complete steps 1,2 and 3 in under 90 days.

[Rabbit]

Doctor

Just for info

I was reading the NZIS Operations manual regarding temporary entry.

There is something in there about Doctors; it states they need to clear themselves with the NZ medical council during their first month of entry.

You may want to take a look at that.

[jo-and-jeff]

Since I dont have the actual regitration upfront, NZIS does not want to give me PR. IT'S JUST BECAUSE OF MY PROFESSION. Instead they want to consider me for WTR.
That's really odd. We were able to get PR for Jeff, as well as provisional approval of his credentials pending that interview with the Med Council upon his arrival. I usually handle all our paperwork/financial stuff, but I'll have to get him to post the exact details of the procedure for you, as I let him take care of all of that. He does have a job offer -- perhaps that is the difference?

[lindajax]

Hi all,
I had to register with my profession - the issues I had with PR were
--to count the points for your job and experience etc you have to be eligible to work therefore if you haven't registered you aren't eligible to work (this more or less applies if you are using skilled migrant or occupational shortage scenario)
In my case I had a job offer BUT because I hadn't yet got my professional registration in NZ it didn't count on my PR as I was not able to commence work at time of application therefore reducing my points value right down - they wouldn't even take into consideration my 10yrs plus experience, or qualifications as they were all linked to professional registration - until I had registered in NZ.
I'm a nurse just incase your intersted.
Once registered in NZ my points tripled as my job offer , qualifications and work experience were all then counted.
We were advised by our case officer that PR would be an easier option thsn WTR and we had PR in 4 weeks after all the necessary regsitration was complete and paperwork supplied to the case officer.
don't know whether this is a help to you BUT it does take ages to get registered etc so it is best to get it done from UK as it can be a pain from over here .
It took over 3 months to get all my bits off to the Nursing council in NZ from the various Universities where I had studied and then for UK Nursing Council to verify my UK credentials - plus£50 for each piece of paper etc.
I suppose what i'm trying to say is whatever is quickest isn't always quickest .
If you get to NZ and then have difficulty getting registered for any reason it is hard to sort thing out from the other side of the world!

Good luck - whichever route you choose - you know whats best for you in the long run
Linda x

[Richard_from_Long Beach]

Just to clarify: If your PR is deferred (as it might be if you're not registered in your profession yet), the WTR is now good for only 6 months, not 2 years.

[jo-and-jeff]

Doctor,
As a US trained physician moving to NZ (next week!) myself, perhaps I can help you sort this out. Perhaps not, since I don't know the particulars of your situation. My situation was this, I interviewed in NZ and was offered a job. I submitted my EOI. No problem. I also immediately began the process of applying for medical registration. This is where it got messy. I too have a few years of practice under my belt, and according to both my understanding of the MCNZ website and to the word of the medical council representative to whom I spoke, the category to which I should apply was "vocational registration", a process that takes up to 4-6 months to complete, NO MATTER WHAT. Not knowing exactly when I would be coming over, I also applied for special purpose scope registration (essentially a locum tenens license that allows you to practice for 6 months), an approximately 3 week process, as a stop-gap measure in case I had to come over before I got provisional vocational medical registration.

Now, I believe that what you are saying about PR may be correct, namely that you have to have medical registration first. At the time that I applied (6 months ago), they would accept registration pending the confirmation interview, but I am not certain that that is still the case as the rules change frequently. What I can tell you is that I still have to have my interview in NZ to confirm my identity and paperwork, but I was able to get PR in advance, months before my provisional vocational registration was approved, perhaps because I was able to show registration under the special purposes scope.

Going this route is more expensive. There is a fee associated with the special purpose scope application, but most of the paperwork is the same, so your officer at the medical council can just pass your vocational registration application information on to the person handling the SPS applications. I believe that this should bypass your problems and set you on the path to PR, but check with someone at NZIS and/or MCNZ first to make sure (I never had to consider WTR myself). Good luck.

Cheers,
Jeff

[doctor]

to Jo-and-Jeff,
my story is this.
one year ago I accepted a job offer from a hospital. I applied to NZ medical council. They gave me a provisional registration saying that I need to attedn interview with the medical council upon my arrival. I applied for work visa. Granted. But due to some commitments in US, I ended up not going to NZ. Now I applied to NZ permanent residency. During the EOI stage, I was asked if I have NZ medical council registration. I told them the situation. They gave me ITA. I recently had interview over phone. The visa officer told me that though I did provide the provisional registration that was given to me one year ago, he said that it was based on the job offer from the previous employer(???). He said that, as such I do not have a current job offer, -WTR will be offered and upon moving to NZ and after working for 3 months and obtaining registration with the council, the WTR will be converted to PR.
As my ITA was submitted before the new rules, I still hope I will be given WTR for 2 yrs (if given). But if WTR is given based on the present rules i.e 6 months, I probably wont accept it as I cannot move to NZ in such a short time from US, because of commitments here.