Help with NZQA!

maccies · Posted: Wed Jun 30, 2004 6:43 pm Post subject: Help with NZQA!

Hi

First posting, so if this is repeated elsewhere on the forum, please let us know.

We are looking to imigrate to NZ by the end of the year from South Africa. Our immigration lawyer has insisted that we start by obtaining an NZQA!

My wife and I are both degreed - and I have checked the NZIS1080 documentation - and found that our qualifications and universities are indeed listed here, and the document says that "qualifications listed in this leaflet do not require assessment by the NZQA".

Our immigration guys insists it is still necessary and required - and wont commence with work permits etc until we do this time consuming step!?

Any one who can help?

Thanks :-)

karltsmith · Posted: Wed Jun 30, 2004 10:24 pm Post subject:

Hi Maccies,

Welcome to the forum Nice One

I think I'd reassess the need for your immigration lawyer if I were you!

If your institution is listed with NZIS then there is no need for NZQA assessment!

NZQA assessment is required where specific course/institutions are not listed!

Do you really need a lawyer?? If you are coming under the SMC you can do it yourself and save a heap of cash into the bargin.

You will find this forum littered with useful stuff so get reading some of the old posts and come back with your questions....someone will always repyl or point the way!

Nice One

Karl

SIMAKRA · Posted: Wed Jun 30, 2004 11:36 pm Post subject:

Hi,

I'm not too sure about this. In the past, when your University was listed, you did not need to get your degree "accepted". But now I think it is mandotory for all countries if you want to apply for PR. With work permit it might be different.
My University was also on the list, but for Germany you need to get your degree accepted by the NZQA. It did not took very lond (3 week I think it was in my case), and I think it is better you have that done, also later when you apply for jobs.

SIM

mattford · Posted: Thu Jul 01, 2004 2:30 am Post subject:

A similar question about using UK qualifications in NZ: Do employers over there require degree certificates and NZQAs when applying for jobs? Once I'm over there and applying for jobs, will I need to prove I received an education in the UK?

Matt

Graham Barnes · Posted: Thu Jul 01, 2004 3:23 am Post subject:

Whether you NEED an NZQA report does depend on your profession. If professional registration is required (E.g. teaching, medical, legal), then you will need to get your qualifications assessed beforehand. I'm not sure about IT but I think I can remember reading something in the past that they do need quals assessed because some may not be comparable to those in NZ. But if your qualification and university are on the NZIS list, then you will get the SMC points without an NZQA assessment.

The bottom line is that you can get a job without NZQA if you can persuade a potential employer than your quals are appropriate for the job! This may depend on the qualification...Eg. "Physics" means exactly what it says on the tin! But a degree in something like "Social Tourism" is a bit more vague and it is not clear what it involved.
If an employer needs to do a labour market check, Dept of Labour might require them to prove that you are the best candidate and this might include an NZQA report...might be worth phoning them up to check,

I'd also say that it is vital to take all documentation over with you for any job interviews. Take lots of certified copies just in case!

Also fully agree with Karl...you shouldn't need a consultant. A bit of reading up and a few phone calls can save you a LOT of money. It's not rocket science...just need a bit of patience and time.

Good luck,

Graham

maccies · Posted: Thu Jul 01, 2004 6:11 pm Post subject: Thanks!

Thanks all for the reponses!

I agree that you can probably go through the process without any assistance - the immigration website and other websites we have found have been extraordinarly helpful and thorough - emigratenz.org being a good example.

It took us a long time of wondering whether the $ was worth it. It turned out to cost only NZ$4k which is not too bad (e.g. NewJobZ).

Our reason for using a lawyer, is that this one in particular appears to have good relationships with NZ recruitment companies, and we've frankly had little response from recruitment companies we have contacted directly from SA - even though I have a long track record in senior IT positions. Weird.

The cost is high, yes, but if we can afford it, we hope to be able to cover as many bases as possible in our immigration process - and we will continue to market ourselves directly.

I'm NOT yet ready to just jump on a plane to see what happens Nutcase

- 3 kids, bills, mortgages, etc. If we can get at least a few interview prospects lined up, then we will go over for that time period required.

Thanks for all your input. We've decided to go for the work permit without the NZQA, although we will start the NZQA process in parallel just in case.

Thanks!