[jbharvey]

I am pulling my hair out due to the work visa situation.

I just don't know what to do. I have an offer of permanent employment from a Wellington based IT consulting firm, and my job is on the long term shortage list. Another person from the US who works for the same company got the exact same offer letter as me, and applied for a temporary working visa and was granted one....this was last year.

I've done the research and called three locations (LA, DC, London) and spoken to NZIS officials. They all state that in order to qualify for the temporary working visa, your offer letter must show duration of assignment.

I've spoken with my employer about this and they seem to think it's still going to get approved anyway, they're very hesitant to change the offer letter since they want me permanently and not temporarily....however they state they have never had any problems with immigration or other people getting into the country to work for them.

They need me in NZ mid November. I'm happy to do the work to residence application process but that requires FBI clearance which we've just sent off for. It takes 8-12 weeks....that would put me into Jan or February for arrival.

What should I do? I guess my only option is to take my employer's advice and send in the paperwork for a temporary working visa...and if I get denied, we'll go from there =\

Very frustrated.

[Hannah]

Sounds a bit weird to me. My partner applied for a temporary work permit (we were already in NZ) in January on the basis of a job offer letter which stated that the employment was permanent. We requested a 2 yr work permit, but was granted a 1 year permit because we did not submit medicals/xray (I hadn't realise the rules had changed and that these had to be submitted for stays over 1 yr).
Anyway, this was not a problem and indeed we told NZIS that we would be applying for residence in a few months - that the work permit was simply to allow my partner to start work. We were quite open about this and they had no problems.
My gut feeling is that if you submit this work permit application it will not be a problem that the job offer is permanent. Most job offers are permanent, surely!!? It never even occurred to me to ask whether this would present a problem. You are technically saying you are going to work in this 'permanent' job for xx amount of years - just because it says 'permanent' doesn't imply you will overstay your visa. And if you apply for PR at a later date, then i would have thought NZIS would be happy with this - your are in a shortage area of work after all.
Sometimes i have found that asking questions on the phone (to the immigration service) is not always reliable - it depends on the knowledge of the person taking the call (often a central call centre worker it appears) . We were given some really dubious info/advice on occasion that I knew was incorrect from what i had read in their own rule book, but then this is often the case when you ring large companies/organisations. Best bet is to look up the rules on the website.
I hope that helps, i think you have nothing to lose by submitting the application, maybe others on this site can advise on their experience....
Good luck!
hannah

[wilson182]

Sometimes i have found that asking questions on the phone (to the immigration service) is not always reliable - it depends on the knowledge of the person taking the call (often a central call centre worker it appears) . We were given some really dubious info/advice on occasion that I knew was incorrect from what i had read in their own rule book, but then this is often the case when you ring large companies/organisations. Best bet is to look up the rules on the website.
I hope that helps, i think you have nothing to lose by submitting the application, maybe others on this site can advise on their experience....
Good luck!
hannah

I have had experience of this too. When we first came here on a work permit my youngest daughter was too young to start school and went to a play centre on the normal visitors visa. When the time came for her to start school I had to apply for her student permit, but her visitor visa was due to run out before so I rang them for advise. The operator told me I could apply for a student permit, but INSISTED that I would have to pay international school fees. I explained that both OH and myself were on long term work permits, and that I already had another daughter at school, AND had been told by the ministry of education that International school fees would not apply, but she was really quite rude and had me in quite a panic in the end. AND SHE WAS WRONG.

[jbharvey]

Thanks for the responses Hannah and Wilson =)

Waiting on our passports to arrive and then we'll send in our paperwork.

Couple questions if you guys don't mind, or if anyone knows:

Should my OH's application be sent in the same packet as mine, I'm applying for a work visa so she'd apply under Family Stream? I would just hope they'd understand that they process mine first, then hers.

Any problem with applying for a multi-journey visa? I'd like to be able to fly out of the country while working, maybe to Australia for a weekend....hope that's not a problem...

[Hannah]

Not sure whether there is a wrong or right way of doing this but personally i decided to apply for my open work visa after hubby had obtained his work permit. This was purely to avoid confusion. I thought it would be easier to let his work permit application go through in case there were any problems, and then sent mine just after. His work permit took 2 weeks and my open work permit application was turned around in less than 48 hours (including postage to and from Palmerston North!!!!)
I was concerned that if i sent 2 work permit applications in the post that the person opening the envelope might get mixed up. I know that probably sounds a bit patronising, but the application is going to a big organisation and may pass through several pair of hands before it gets to the right person. Also, I didn't want to look too 'desperate' if you know what i mean :-) Considering how quick my open work permit application took I think it's worth waiting.
hannah

[wilson182]

Hannahs right. Once you have your work permit your wife will be entitled to an open work permit, I thinks its about $80. I went directly to NZIS in Chch, and although I had to wait around I had mine the same day (hubby was the principal applicant and had the job offer). If YOU are appling for your work permit in NZ you can also go directly to NZIS and you will probably get it the same day as you will have your contract etc to take with you.

[jbharvey]

Ugh, so if we're leaving Mid Nov and I'm not even going to submit my work visa paperwork until around Oct 15th, I guess we should just go ahead and apply for a 12 month visitor's visa for my wife eh?

If I get a 12 month visitor's visa for her, I just hope that we don't have to buy return tickets....if showing we have enough funds for a return ticket will suffice.