[Juniper]

We are at the point where we figure, what's the harm in submitting an EOI, we can back out later, but we are almost certain that NZ would be a good move for us.

So, I am trying to put together a step-by-step process and timeline for immigration as a Skilled Migrant. I realize this info can be found piecemeal elsewhere on the forum and the NZIS site, but in my searches I couldn't find a really complete walkthrough.

I'm going to write down what I THINK the correct process and timeline is, so any comments on whether this is correct or not would be appreciated! My objective here is to get guidance about whether I understand this correctly. :-)

Again, this process is for the Skilled Migrant category.

1. Do a "quick check" and test your points for the Expression of Interest (EOI).
http://www.immigration.govt.nz/pointsindicator/

You need at least 100 points to apply, but criteria can change at any time. Currently, you also need a job offer, unless you have 125 points or more. 140 is the "magic number" for automatic selection, under the current set of criteria. Big changes may be in the works, for better or worse...
http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migrant/general/generalinformation/news/immigraitonactreview.htm

2. Submit your EOI, either online or with a paper form. It's best to do this online at the immigration website, because the fee is lower ($300 NZD). You need a credit card to do it online. Your partner and dependent children can "tag along" on the application, so only one person's points are considered.
The first step to submitting online is to register with "online services," which will create sort of a personal immigration homepage:
https://www.immigration.govt.nz/Registration/default.aspx

3. Your EOI is added to the "pool" of applicants, unless you messed up and misunderstood your eligibility. The EOI stays in the pool for up to six months. Your EOI can be selected at any time during these six months - there are selections made twice a month.
http://www.immigration.govt.nz/NR/rdonlyres/18799252-9C55-44F1-A0F3-F2D2C968B701/0/FactSheet20060329.doc

4. Once your EOI is selected, there is a preliminary verification process. I'm not sure what this entails, probably some kind of basic fraud screening. Once this is complete, you will see "Decision Successful" on your immigration home page (the one you created when you registered with online services). This can take 9-12 weeks or more? Seems to depend on which office is dealing with your EOI and how backlogged they are.

5. After the verification process for the EOI results in "Decision Successful," you will be mailed an "Invitation to Apply" packet (ITA), which is the actual application for residence.

6. You have up to 4 months to gather all the documentation needed to back up the info in your EOI, prove that you meet health and character standards (that is, not a burden to their health care system, and not a criminal) and turn in your application, along with another fee. Here's the checklist:
http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migrant/stream/work/workandlivepermanently/howdoiapply/residence/thesteps/default.htm

The fee depends on where you are located, and your nationality.
http://www.immigration.govt.nz/NR/rdonlyres/00B58004-04AB-46C6-B32B-5CE91FBA979A/0/1028Feb10.pdf

Many people advise getting your police check underway the moment your EOI is selected from the pool, as this can take months to process. Seek advice on your specific situation to find out what documentation you need (medicals, proof of qualifications, etc) well in advance so you don't miss your ITA deadline.

7. Once your ITA has been received, you will be assigned a Case Officer (CO). Some people report waiting weeks before hearing from their CO. They will schedule a telephone interview for a convenient time, so they can get a better idea of how well they think you will settle in. The idea here is to admit migrants who aren't going to realize they made a mistake after only a few months, and fly away home again.

8. The phone interview usually takes place within a month or two of the ITA being accepted, and has been reported to last between 10-60 minutes. The questions vary, but it's supposedly pretty friendly, not like they are trying to grill you. They will ask "Why New Zealand?" and a bunch of things about your plans, whether you have any social support in NZ, what you would do if you can't find a job right away, etc etc...

9. If your case officer is satisfied with everything, they will recommend that you be granted Permanant Residence (PR). Then this is approved by someone else I guess? i'm a little foggy on how long this step takes. It probably depends on how high of a priority they think you are. If you have a job offer you are fast-tracked through the entire process, I think?

If you are not granted PR, you may be given an alternative such as "work to residence," or else you will simply be turned down. :-(

10. Once you have PR, you will be issued a Residence Visa, which is valid for 12 months. When you arrive in NZ, your Residence Visa becomes a Residence Permit. You pay the "Migrant Levy" at this point, which is $300 NZD per person, up to $1200 total for a family.

This allows you to stay in NZ indefinitely, HOWEVER it expires if you leave NZ. So, in order to be able to travel, you will need a Returning Resident's Visa. Fortunately, if you have a valid Residence Permit, you are automatically entitled to a Returning Resident's Visa (RRV).

The RRV is good for 2 years. So, theoretically you could get PR, receive your Residence Visa, travel to NZ within 12 months, get your Residence Permit and RRV, then leave NZ right away without losing any of your hard-earned residency rights. The only thing to keep in mind is that once your RRV expires after 2 years, in order to get a new one, you have to prove some kind of commitment to NZ. The easiest way to prove this is having been in NZ for 184 days out of EACH of the 2 years. There are other ways to prove a commitment to NZ as well...
http://www.immigration.govt.nz/NR/rdonlyres/CAF71A48-28D3-40B8-9D76-5C663CCA17FA/0/1005.pdf

11. Once you are in NZ with PR, you have all kinds of rights, even voting and health care. So, it doesn't seem quite so bad that you have to be in NZ for 5 years before applying for citizenship :-)


Thanks for reading, and please make any corrections/comments as you see fit!

[Hannah]

Hi Juniper,

This is a really useful comprehensive guide for someone about to approach EOI stage. Yes I agree, well worth getting all your paperwork together beforehand. From my experience the ITA thing was nowhere near as ominous as I thought it would be. I looked on the forum, found really good advice about what was needed, and started gathering. There are creative ways round most problems (e.g. I didn't have a joint bank account so proved financial interdependence with my partner in other ways such as joint bills and cross referencing each others bank account to show we had been paying each other's bills etc). I only used 'official' info (not photos, statements from friends etc) and have had no problems.

Would just point out that applying in NZ is different in some ways from applying overseas, particularly if you are here with a job offer. For example, applications are cheaper, medicals etc a bit cheaper, timescales are faster (my EOI was declared successful within 2 weeks and ITA came out straight after). Also, I understand that if you are here with a job offer then an interview is not needed (we've not been asked for one).

Regarding migrant levy - I understood that this was paid once your application is approved and you have up to 6 months in which to pay it - at that point you technically get your visa (or permit if you are in NZ already). After this you then have 12 months to arrive here, and then 24 months RRV after that as you have pointed out.

I would highlight the 18A conditions that apply to those who have used a job offer as the basis of their application. My 155 points included a job offer outside Auckland (i.e. 95 points without the job offer) - I will not have my section 18A conditions removed from any residency visa/permit i am offered until i have worked in skilled employment for 3 months. Hence, if my application is approved, it will be 'approved subject to 18A conditions'. If the conditions (these being to remain in that job or other skilled employment for 3 months) are not met within 7 months of the start of my permit (note...permit, not VISA) then my application is revoked. This is really important and something i wasn't aware of until i received my ITA. It's caused big problems for me that i won't go into now but it is so important that people applying for PR on the back of job offers are aware of it's implications. In the wrong circumstances it can be a real pain in the a**e!!!

Cheers Juniper, I'm sure others on the forum embarking on EOI will find this useful!

[Juniper]

Thanks Hannah for the excellent feedback! I haven't looked into the whole job offer part really since I don't expect to have one...maybe if things are looking grim we will seriously try to get a job lined up :-) I've heard it's kind of a Catch 22 thing sometimes, since a lot of employers want to wait until you already have a visa of some kind...

So, about the migrant levy, once you are 100% approved, you have 6 months to pay it and -then- get your Residence Visa? So the RV is valid for 12 months after you pay the levy..okay that makes sense now :-)

I think the only thing holding us up at this point is that we are scheduling a research trip/vacation for October or November, and if we got selected quickly then it would be kind of a drag to have the ITA due before we even visited the place! I doubt a visit will turn us off, but ya never know...

[zardell]

Hi Juniper.

Remember that I am in the UK, so I am presuming that your regional NZIS has the same procedures, but probably different processing time elements.
Anyway - here goes.......

4) Ours took 4 weeks.

7) You will be assigned a CO when your ITA is being processed, not when it is
received. We have no job offer, so it may be different for someone that has.

Also, you can check on your 'home page' for Skilled Migrant Processing Times' At
the moment, it is taking London office about 4 months to to even look at a lodged
ITA. Yes, they have a backlog and hope to clear it soon.

10) See Hannahs post.

Hope that makes sense and I've got it all right..LOL

Good luck and welcome to the 'merry-go-round'

Julie

xx

[Lukas]

...however before aplying I would sugest you to think about your qualification and the demand for it on the NZ job market...

[katandbob]

[QUOTE=Juniper]...

So, about the migrant levy, once you are 100% approved, you have 6 months to pay it and -then- get your Residence Visa? So the RV is valid for 12 months after you pay the levy..okay that makes sense now :-)

/QUOTE]

Yep, so if you hold off paying the levy you can eek out the time frame to the maximum of 18months....but we paid it when we sent our ITA and the visas arrived 48hrs after our interview :nice1

Kat

[Howie]

I just wanted to add some info for those applying from the US. The FBI police check took us about a month. They ask you to put down when you need it by on the form and we left it late and only had about a month left and it came just in time. The medical in the US is also pretty straight forward because you can just go to your regular doctor. My insurance covered the cost of most of the medical. The whole medical process took less than 2 weeks from the time I called to schedule the first appointment.
Also, we were able to get an extension for our ITA because we were still waiting on our Canadian police check. We just sent in everything else before the deadline.

[Oregonkiwi]

The FBI police check took us about a month. They ask you to put down when you need it by on the form and we left it late and only had about a month left and it came just in time.

The standard processing time is 8-10 weeks, so good to know they will do it faster if needed.
If anyone wants it, all the info about FBI checks is here:
http://www.fbi.gov/hq/cjisd/fprequest.htm

[knx501]

For me I got my FBI within 4 weeks. I put in my request that I need it by the end of September which is 6 weeks away from the day I submit it. I think they will do it faster if needed. Good luck

[Juniper]

7) You will be assigned a CO when your ITA is being processed, not when it is received. We have no job offer, so it may be different for someone that has.

Also, you can check on your 'home page' for Skilled Migrant Processing Times' At the moment, it is taking London office about 4 months to to even look at a lodged ITA. Yes, they have a backlog and hope to clear it soon.


Oh I see, so there is a difference between when the ITA is received and when they start processing it...and for London at this moment there is a 4 month wait before they start processing it? Thanks for clearing that up :-)

Fantastic feedback everyone!

[Charlosparky]

[QUOTE=Juniper]Oh I see, so there is a difference between when the ITA is received and when they start processing it...and for London at this moment there is a 4 month wait before they start processing it? Thanks for clearing that up :-)

Yes- but unofficially they have two streams within their office, and aplicants with job offers are processed within a month usually, only non-job applicants wait for processing. ;) (in london NZIS that is, dont know about elsewhere)

[wilson182]

We applied from NZ, being here on work permits already. We lodged our EOI in the selection week (9th Nov) with 145 points (including the fact that OH was already working) and were selected straight away. We received our ITA after a couple of weeks, and were assigned a case officer at that time. We then had to apply to England for our Police Certs. For UK applicants, getting your Police Cert takes 40 days, no more and probably no less, it CANNOT be fast tracked and they make this clear when you apply, so dont leave this till the last minute. We got them back Mid Jan and were ready to submit our ITA by begining of Feb. We recieved our PR permits after 3 weeks, and I think it only took that long because OH has colitus and his medical had to be checked out. We did not require an interview, and I guess this is because we are living and working in NZ already and have been for 2 years. We also did not have to abide by "condition 18"

[tigerlily]

Juniper-
some people are being asked to do in-person interviews instead of phone interviews, the ITA clearly states that a face to face interview is required for people without a job offer, but I still see plenty of people getting phone interviews too- no idea how they decide this.

I seen people from this board be approved for PR the day after the interview. On another board, there was a person who waited 6 months to be approved! But my observation is that most people heard quickly.

[Juniper]

seriously, in-person interviews? :-O hopefully that's just for people near enough to an office....otherwise what a pain!

[tigerlily]

It says that they often go into the field for scheduled visits, but that if you can't make it then, that you may have to pay for them to come to you. Or I assume you could go to London, or I hope just Portland where they have a guy too. I wish you could go to NZ, as it would work as a sort of reccie trip as they call it here, but I think the office that processes all the US applications in London.

I should add, the only in-person interviews that I heard of were from folks applying from Asia, and they had to go to Singapore for their interview, as that is the office that processes them. Who knows why they were asked to come in person?

[knx501]

I have my interview in-person. I asked if I can have a phone interviews instead of in-person interview but my CO in London said no, so I have to go to NZ embassy in Washington DC and I leave in Illinois, US.
After A week I got an email from CO and it was approved for PR. I see a lot of people getting phone interviews instead of in person but I do not have any idea how they decide this. Also I think all US application go to the London office.

[Juniper]

what a pain...well i guess i'll just have to keep my fingers crossed for a phone interview!

[MB]

Your partner and dependent children can "tag along" on the application, so only one person's points are considered.

Yes, except -- and I'm almost certain you know this already -- your partner can contribute usefully to the points total. If, e.g., (s)he has a recognized qualification, the points total can be bolstered quite handily. :nice1 (This way of gaining extra points, though, I guess, assumes that your partner will be recognized as such by NZIS... usually by being your spouse or provably committed partner.)

[Juniper]

ah yes, I was forgetting about that little bit at the end of the EOI :-) It's almost a shame that my skills count only a little bit towards the family points (hubby will be the principal applicant), but at least we don't have to qualify seperately!

[MB]

ah yes, I was forgetting about that little bit at the end of the EOI :-) It's almost a shame that my skills count only a little bit towards the family points (hubby will be the principal applicant), but at least we don't have to qualify seperately!

Yes, I suppose it's an excellent thing that NZIS have geared things this way. There is a charm to the way that partners may contribute points but may otherwise 'piggy-back' on the application (yes, I know it's not exactly cause for celebration for single applicants :o , but for partners and families it's nice). Oooh, qualifying seperatey would be terribly hard for, I'm guessing, most people. It would pretty clearly not be in anyone's interests as the majority(?) of candidates NZIS really wants would probably not have partners who fit NZIS's current skills requirements perfectly. It'd be a shot in the foot all round.

[Hannah]

Of course, there is then the issue of proving a partnership! Now that's another can of worms.

Actually for all my worrying on this I had no problems - we are not married, don't have joint accounts and never kiss or cuddle in public :-) but had no problems proving partnership. I can advise if anyone have problems with this as I quizzed NZIS repeatedly about this to make sure i submitted stuff correctly!

[Lupin]

Thanks Juniper, I couldn't find info on the migrant levy but you've supplied it :)

[Juniper]

Thanks again to Hannah for amending my info on the migrant levy :-)

I just read about the latest EOI selection, and NZIS corrected some info about their criteria. Apparently if you don't have a job offer, but are claiming at least 15 points for work experience in an area of absolute skill shortage, you can qualify with only 120 points (not 125, as previously published). Rejoice, 120 pointers! (that's including the 15 bonus pts ;-P )

http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migrant/general/generalinformation/news/smc120406.htm

[Angie and Mick]

Thanks Juniper
:) That is great news re the points being 120 with out a job offer but in a skills shortage area, with that we could qualify for skills shortage area. We submitted our EOI a few days ago, thought what the heck, but with that news looks like we could be in with a chance.

I have not introduced myself properly to the forum, have posted some posts, however a lot of looking, a very interesting and friendly site.

My name is Angela and the other half is Mick, we have a 3 year old daughter nearly four. Live in West Yorkshire. Mick has a sister in Wellington a nurse.
Not sure on where to live yet, we like Richmond, however although I should get a job in that area, I think Mick would have trouble as he is in Manufacturing as a Route/Production Planner. If any one has any good sites for Mick to check out most appreciated.

[Juniper]

Hi Angie, welcome welcome :-) sounds like you might be all lined up to get your EOI selected!

Did you notice the part about claiming points for "clusters"? Manufacturing in Wellington is one of the 5 business clusters you can get points for. I believe you can claim points for work experience relevant to the cluster, even without a job offer. You should still be able to update your EOI after you submit it. I don't think you have to decide to live in Wellington, although your case officer might be curious later? No idea really since I haven't gone through that myself!

Here's the info about the manufacturing industry in Wellington, with a link to the "Wellington Creative Manufacturing Cluster":
http://www.positivelywellingtonbusiness.co.nz/mainsite/CreativeManufacturing.html

As for Richmond (the one by Nelson, right?) here's a blurb I found:

"Manufacturing

The 978 FTEs [full time employees? -juniper] working in wood and paper product manufacturing represented 5.6% of employment in Tasman. There were also 776 full-time workers employed in food, beverage and tobacco manufacturing, with a significant number of those employed in seafood processing at Port Motueka and other smaller ports in Tasman and Golden Bays.

With increasing dairy production, the dairy manufacturing industry, namely Fonterra's Takaka and Brightwater sites that process about 20,000 tonnes of milk products annually, need people qualified in food technology, automation, information technology and transport."

http://www.kiwicareers.govt.nz/default.aspx?id0=19906&id1=tasman

[Angie and Mick]

Information very useful thank you, however I do not think I can add this to the EOI unless I am corrected, I have completed the EOI for me as a Social Worker, when I completed the part for partner I could not see the area for Mick, he does not have any degree's or qualification re his role as he has learnt this through progression, started at RHM food ingredients on the shop floor progresed to something else re using stock then into the area of planning. LEft RHM after 10years, made redundant. Has covered production planning a few different areas mainly in food manufacturing approx 10yrs could be more, OH not here so may not be completly accurate. How could I ensure that this work experience is on the EOI with out a qualification in the relevant area I am sure when I tried to do this it would not do one with out the other. If I could improve from 120 pts would be great.

And definetely like the look of jobs which could be available for him in the Richmond area. Oh current job here looks a bit iffy a the moment, if he could get a job in the mean time in the dairy area would be great for applying for jobs in this area in NZ.

[Juniper]

Ah I see, if Mick isn't the principle applicant than any sort of skills shortage/cluster/future growth experience he has won't count on your EOI. I'm in the same boat, I do have some skills that would look good, but OH has more, so he's going to be the main applicant. All I get to contribute really is English and a college degree :-P On the plus side, filling out the ITA later on is all about backing up your claims on the EOI. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but my impression is that you won't have to gather a bunch of documentation about his work experience, since you are not claiming points for his experience.

Once you are selected, I bet your case officer will be pleased to hear how his skills will help him get a job, since that does count a lot towards settling successfully I'm sure.

[Juniper]

I read on another thread that once you have your Residence Visa, if you intend to travel to NZ only to activate your permit and get the Returning Resident's Visa, then fly back home for awhile, make sure to bring EVERY person who is moving to NZ. You can not just send the principal applicant and expect the whole family to get Returning Resident's Visas. Every person with a Residence Visa needs to physically go to NZ in order to get the permit and RRV.

Of course, you can evaluate who in your family actually needs RRV at that particular moment. If, for example, the principle applicant is going to stay in the home country for a year and a half before making the big move, but he's sending the wife and kids ahead of him -before- their original Resident's Visa expires (within one year), THEN the principal applicant might want to fly solo for the first trip just so he can get RRV when it's convenient for him.

[Juniper]

I have some vital clarification for anyone who is submitting an EOI without a job offer. You've probably read in this thread that you need between 120 - 135 points if you don't have a job offer, and that MUST include 15 bonus points for work experience in an area of absolute skills shortage. Not 10, not 5...

Since they don't explicitly show you how many *bonus* points you have in the points indicator tool (they just show you total points, not any kind of breakdown), I looked up a key that shows exactly how they allocate points for work experience (that's EXPERIENCE, not points for qualifications or points for a job offer in an area of skills shortage).

http://www.immigration.govt.nz/nzis/operations_manual/6936.htm

Ok, so if i am reading the current selection criteria correctly, then bonus points for experience in a future growth area or identified business cluster do NOT QUALIFY toward the required 15 bonus points (although they can still help you get to 120 total points).

SO it seems to me that at this time, if you don't have a job offer, you MUST have 6+ years of experience in an occupation on the "long term skill shortage" list.

More about "absolute skill shortage" work experience, including a link to the long term skill shortage list:
http://www.immigration.govt.nz/nzis/operations_manual/7034.htm

As with all info in this thread, I'm not an expert, just trying to compile some of what I've found on the website and elsewhere on this forum...so if you think your EOI is iffy, perhaps "online help" can assist you:
https://immigration.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/immigration.cfg/php/enduser/home.php

Or give NZIS a call :-)

Here's a FAQ about changes to the skilled migrant category activated December 21 2005. They do not specifically address the absolute skills shortage "criteria," since this extra selection "criteria" is subject to change at any time, but it is a handy guide in general. There are phone numbers at the bottom of the page if you want to call NZIS:
http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migrant/general/generalinformation/qanda/ChangestotheSkilledMigrantCategoryQAs.htm

[MB]

:clap Thanks for taking the time to clarify and explain all this for folks, Juniper. This sort of writing forms much of the bread and butter of what makes this forum outstanding. It's just the sort of thing I have in mind when I recommend or talk about the forum.
:nice1

[Juniper]

Thanks! Actually it is kind of a fun way for me to procrastinate, hehe... :D

[DrPhred]

Juniper,
Thanks for your excellent research. You have clarified some things that I didn't really understand and would have messed up for sure.

[Juniper]

So glad to hear that :-) I will have to keep research up-to-date once I actually submit an EOI and get "in the trenches" so to speak, haha

[Natasha]

Thanks alot Juniper. All of your information has been very helpful to me. We plan to put in our EOI in September hopefully.

[Juniper]

I noticed a difference in the selection criteria for the latest EOI drawing. It seems you can currently get away with only 10 bonus points for work experience (in a skills shortage area, yadda yadda yadda).

Here's the breakdown for what got selected:

(quoth NZIS site)
A selection of Expressions of Interest (EOI) under the Skilled Migrant Category took place on 10 May 2006.
The following EOIs were selected:

* All those at or above 140 points = 378 EOIs
* All those with a job or job offer claiming total points between 100 and 135 points = 98 EOIs
* All those claiming 15 points for work experience in an area of absolute skill shortage and claiming total points between 100 and 135 points = 72 EOIs
* All those claiming 10 points for work experience in an area of absolute Skill shortage and with a points total between 105 and 135 points = 101 EOIs
* Total selection = 649 EOIs
(endquoth)

Rejoice, 10-pointers! (If you are not sure how many bonus points you may have, I believe that's covered earlier in the thread)

[Juniper]

Looks like the 10-point criteria was in place for the April 27th '06 selection as well, so here's hoping that it lasts a little while...

I didn't notice any "news flash" on the site about any kind of policy change. In December it sounded like they would only set new "apps without a job offer" criteria every 6 months, but they only just started this new selection system on March 2nd...

[Juniper]

Latest selection of Skilled Migrant EOIs, May 29th 2006:
http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migrant/general/generalinformation/news/smcpool290506.htm

The full Word doc is worth downloading, there are some illuminating statistics in there:
http://www.immigration.govt.nz/NR/rdonlyres/AE4BF0DE-533F-49A1-A247-5EA86C8C31C4/0/FactSheet20060510.doc

For instance, there's a flow chart that breaks down the application process. These notes were interesting to me:
- Number of EOIs selected by Department will be less than number in Pool
- Number of ITAs issued by Department will be less than number of EOIs selected as a result of verification
- Number of Residence applications lodged by customers will be less than the number of ITAs issued
- Some applications will be declined by Department

So, basically they winnow down the pool of people at every step until they are left with the "cream of the crop."

I didn't realize that they purposely selected fewer EOIs than there are in the pool. Or maybe this is simply an observation that not all the EOIs in the pool actually meet their criteria.

I noticed that this week, of the EOIs selected that did not have a job/job offer, -all- had 15 bonus points of work experience claimed. No one with only 10 bonus points this time. Perhaps they had a creamier pool this fortnight...

Also worth noting is that there are fewer EOIs total being selected (compared to 2005 and early 2006), and over half of those selected have 140+ points.

[MB]

I didn't realize that they purposely selected fewer EOIs than there are in the pool. Or maybe this is simply an observation that not all the EOIs in the pool actually meet their criteria.

They have had that flow chart on the fortnightly Word docs since, I think, the start of the Skilled Migrant programme.

During the 15 months or so that the selection point was the same as the entry-into-pool point (100 points), the pool was being emptied at each drawing.

However, I think that when the programme started the intention was indeed to have a pool from which less than 100% of EOIs in that pool would be drawn each time. And indeed that, for example, has been the case since the cessation in Dec. '05 of that 15-month 100-point-selection era.

The pool was probably intended to be just that: a pool of EOIs which would contain a perpetual reserve of EOIs to keep the flow of Expressions relatively smooth, avoiding clumsy feast-or-famine lurches. And it gives applicants the chance to benefit from selection-point changes while giving NZIS this "airlock" of 'spare' EOIs to help keep the flow of EOIs smooth.

A related point that I think is obvious but worth remembering is that NZIS know each fortnight nigh-on precisely how many EOIs they will harvest. They can set the selection point at the eleventh hour, if they wish. They are not just playing an educated-guess game. This ability to fine-tune the drawing vindicates that "less-than-all-EOIs" formula that Juniper spotted: it is at least possible for applicants 'stuck' in the pool to be selected and thus benefit from a fairly flexible and sensitive mechanism.

Of course it is in NZIS' interest to have a constant reserve of EOIs, if possible, but it also gives the EOI applicant a relatively fair, easy and cheap way to keep their chips on the table unmolested while (s)he nips away to the bar for a few months. :laugh

[able]

great thread - thanks all.

[martin&maria]

hi, i am very new to this forum thing and don't know if this is the right bit or thread as it's called! Anyway i can try, my OH has been offered a job in chch just wondering how long the whole process of immigrating takes from here on

thanks maria

[Juniper]

Hi Maria!

It's been awhile since I checked in on modifications to the immigration process, but hopefully it is still similar enough that this thread will give you some kind of idea about how long this whole thing could take.

That's great that OH already has a job offer! That will expedite things tremendously. But truthfully, the time frame is different for everyone. It ranges from a few months to a few years, from what I've been hearing. If you are resolute and organized, with a job offer in hand, (barring big mishaps!) it shouldn't take long at all. Supposedly NZIS is trying to process folks like you quickly so you can start working.

Keep reading up, and try to find advice from forum members in circumstances similar to yours. I haven't even applied yet, myself! Try the "search" function in the top navigational bar to sift through threads for relevance, or the "new posts" link next to it, to see all activity since you last checked in.

You can also try starting your own thread, with a title asking for advice and testimonials, for example "How long did it take you to immigrate with a job offer?" Add plenty of details about your own situation so people can advise you better ;-)

[sfordjasiri]

This flowchart might be useful.

NZIS Skilled Migrant Quick Check (http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migrant/stream/work/workandlivepermanently/caniworkinnz/quickcheck/)