[Qiwi Lin]

HI everyone,

My OH and I have been very keen on moving to NZ. We have been researching it and thought about it for far too long now. We just want to do it. But we are a bit skeptical because we calculated our points for the skilled migrant category and got 130 points without a job offer. So we felt very happy and decided to contact a very highly recommended, NZ-based immigration consultant to take our case. The agency asked us to fill in their form and we did (it was preeetttyy detailed).
They got back to us and said that we don't even get 100 points and suggested we don't apply. They said we might qualify with a job offer. My husband and I are confused now. We are from a visa-required country so we don't want to apply and be refused and then also be refused a tourist visa after that which we will need in order to visit NZ and look for jobs (have heard chances of finding a job are higher if we are available for face2face interviews).

I asked the imm. agency if they could tell us where our points took a beating. This is what they wrote back:

"As I said in my assessment you are not currently eligible for residence under the Skilled Migrant Category. You do not have enough points to meet the threshold."

Well, that didn't exactly help to answer the question we asked them.

Can't understand how we get 130 and the agency says we don't even get 100!

- My husband and I are both in our early 30s
- We both have basic qualifications from universities mentioned on their recognised qualifications list (although not in the fields we work in)
- We are fluent in english (can back it up with a top score IELTS)
- He is programmer and network security expert with over 12 years experience
- His work is also on the skills shortage list as well as on the future growth areas list

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Ana&Steve]

Sorry this is happening to you! :( Something similar happened to us last spring, and we had a very rough time finding answers, as no agency wants to advise you on the proper course of action. (Something about liability.) My advice is to fill out, but don't submit your EOI online. Use it as a points guide. You will probably want to get accredited by the NZQA as well. Not sure how an agency was able to tell you that you don't have enough points, unless they submited your qualifications to the NZQA on your behalf? Another thing we did was familiarize ourselves with the NZIS site, especially the Operational Manual and appendixes; the site is confusing at first, every click brings up 3 more choices. :uhoh It gets clearer as you get familiar with the material. :)
NZIS (EOI) www.immigration.govt.nz
NZQA www.nzqa.govt.nz
Hope this helps! Don't give up hope, there are other ways to get to NZ! :)
Ana

[Trigirl]

obviously i can't tell for sure without knowing the details of what you've claimed points for. but i'm guessing from what you've said above that you have claimed points for your husbands work being in a future growth area. you can only do this if your husband already has a job offer in NZ.

one other thing that sounds like it is probably relevant is that in order to claim skills shortage points your husbands must have a qualification in the IT area he works in.

[jaycee]

Hi Qiwi Lin, where are you from? Work experience is only accepted from a list of countries that NZIS consider to have a "similar labour market" - the list is on the NZIS website.

Sorry if any of this is bad news, and I've had similar experiences with agencies, but as Ana said, there are other ways, and I would have thought that your husband's skills would mean that he would be able to find work, for example:

http://jobs.nzherald.co.nz/texis/jobsearch/rssdetail.html?id=4563f94a48d1780

Good luck!

[Qiwi Lin]

obviously i can't tell for sure without knowing the details of what you've claimed points for. but i'm guessing from what you've said above that you have claimed points for your husbands work being in a future growth area. you can only do this if your husband already has a job offer in NZ.

Oh. Thanks for clearing this up.

one other thing that sounds like it is probably relevant is that in order to claim skills shortage points your husbands must have a qualification in the IT area he works in.

According to the points table on the NZIS website, one can claim points separately for qualifications in a skill shortage area and for experience in a skill shortage area. We have only claimed points for experience in a skills shortage area.

This is where we looked:
www.immigration.govt.nz/migrant/stream/work/workandlivepermanently/pointstable.htm

"you'll need to hold a relevant qualification or have relevant work experience"

[Qiwi Lin]

Hi Qiwi Lin, where are you from? Work experience is only accepted from a list of countries that NZIS consider to have a "similar labour market" - the list is on the NZIS website.

Sorry if any of this is bad news, and I've had similar experiences with agencies, but as Ana said, there are other ways, and I would have thought that your husband's skills would mean that he would be able to find work, for example:

http://jobs.nzherald.co.nz/texis/jobsearch/rssdetail.html?id=4563f94a48d1780

Good luck!

HI Jaycee,

We are from India.

Eventhough it is not on the list of countries with a comparable labour market, here is what we found:

glossary.immigration.govt.nz/Recognisedworkexperience.htm

"If you do not have current skilled employment or an offer of skilled employment in New Zealand, your work experience must have been in a comparable labour market in order for you to claim points*.


" From 24 July 2006, the definition of recognised work experience is changing. The new definition allows points to be awarded for work experience in an area of absolute skills shortage, gained in any labour market. Applicants who do not have skilled employment or an offer of skilled employment in New Zealand, but who do have work experience in an area of absolute skills shortage gained in a non-comparable labour market, can claim points for work experience on their Expression of Interest from 24 July"

Yes. There is a lot of work available for him in NZ but he has just opened an online business and would really like to concentrate on that. I am not qualified to work in an area of skill shortage nor do I have any experience in a SS area. Ideally, if we get PR without my OH having to provide an offer of skilled employment, I would be able to take up a job and pay the bills giving him enough time to develop the biz to good profits.

Worst-case scenario, he will have to sack the biz and look for a job if we don't qualify without an offer. :uhoh

[Trigirl]

According to the points table on the NZIS website, one can claim points separately for qualifications in a skill shortage area and for experience in a skill shortage area. We have only claimed points for experience in a skills shortage area.

lots of people get tripped up on this. in order to claim points for work experience you need to have a relevant qualification. the requirements say

the principal applicant is suitably qualified by training and/or experience to undertake that work (including any specific requirements set out on the Long Term Skill Shortage List).

the skills shortage list is in one of the appendices of the operations manual (6 i think?) and it lists in there the qualification you need to be able to claim work exp points as well as a separate list of qualifications to be able to claim qualification points.

[Qiwi Lin]

Sorry this is happening to you! :( Something similar happened to us last spring, and we had a very rough time finding answers, as no agency wants to advise you on the proper course of action. (Something about liability.) My advice is to fill out, but don't submit your EOI online. Use it as a points guide. You will probably want to get accredited by the NZQA as well. Not sure how an agency was able to tell you that you don't have enough points, unless they submited your qualifications to the NZQA on your behalf? Another thing we did was familiarize ourselves with the NZIS site, especially the Operational Manual and appendixes; the site is confusing at first, every click brings up 3 more choices. :uhoh It gets clearer as you get familiar with the material. :)
NZIS (EOI) www.immigration.govt.nz
NZQA www.nzqa.govt.nz
Hope this helps! Don't give up hope, there are other ways to get to NZ! :)
Ana

Hi Ana,
Every little bit helps. All the words of encouragement and hope make it that much easier to see it through all the way. We are downloading the forms and guides and getting cracking on knowing the rules better.
Thank You!