NZ House Appointments?

ewiggins · I'll Hang Around A Little Joined: 16 Jan 2004 Posts: 17

Cliff and Rae - thanks so much for your help. That's the best thing about this website, people take the time out to give you help and advice! And good advice it is too!

I have a couple of further questions to put to you if I may.......I think we fulfill all the NZIS requirements (I'm a UK citizen by the way). We don't have any joint bank acoounts but we do have correspondance to the same address for a period of months at a time, plus most of the other things you mentioned.

If I go down this route does it mean I can get a Working Visa without a job offer prior to going to NZ? And if this is the case, can I then approach companies in NZ being able to say I can legally work in NZ? How long does the visa last?

Soory for all the questions but this option is sounding really exciting! Maybe I'll get there to be with my boyfriend sooner than I thought!

Look forward to your ideas,

Emma

Graham Barnes · Posted: Tue Apr 27, 2004 11:43 pm Post subject:

Hi Emma,

I'm pretty sure that you can apply for a Work Visa without an offer under the Family category (assuming they are happy with the documentation you can provide). This is an open visa which enables you to take up any sort of employment. According to one the NZ House officers last week, it should just take 2-4 weeks in total.
I think they last 3 years (or perhaps 2)...but best check up on this.
My wife is currently applying under this category as I already have a WTR visa after getting a job offer. But most companies seem to insist on having a visa in place (E.g. they want the number), or to see applicants in person.

Graham

Raeven · Posted: Wed Apr 28, 2004 12:55 am Post subject:

Hi, ewiggins,

Graham is correct. The work visa if granted is good for 2 years. Assuming NZIS accepts your documentation as adequate, you have to give them a date certain on which you intend to enter NZ in your application before they will issue the visa.

Personally, I am finding it helpful to mention to prospective employers that I will be entering NZ with a work visa in hand. The fact that I don't have the visa yet has not kept them from considering me (but no job offers yet!).

Hope all goes well for you! - Rae

cliff · Posted: Wed Apr 28, 2004 5:10 am Post subject:

Hello Emma, (sounds better than "ewiggins") Laughing

Further to the answers from Graham and Rae, please bear in mind the following:

In addition, there has been talk about tightening up the rules for health screening, and by the end of the year, it is expected that anyone going over for 1 year or more will need to provide a medical certificate.

You will also need a sponsorship form, filled in by your boyfriend, as well as a letter from him, to show that he supports your application.

Good luck, and all the best.

ewiggins · I'll Hang Around A Little Joined: 16 Jan 2004 Posts: 17

Sounding like this is definitely the way forward! Just for clarification, by applying using this route, am I applying for a visa to work or for residency. The only reason I ask is that having looked at the immigration website under the partnership policy, I understood it to refer to residency with no mention of just a work permit. Either is just fine, but I'd quite like to know which it is!!

Graham Barnes · Posted: Wed Apr 28, 2004 8:51 pm Post subject:

This is for an application for a 2 year work visa under the Family policy, which can be renewed when it runs out.
You could apply for residency as you are a "close relative" (i.e. partner) of an NZ citizen, but be best left for the future when the system should have settled down a bit.

cliff · Posted: Wed Apr 28, 2004 9:59 pm Post subject:

Emma,

As Graham stated, the Work Visa is an application to work in NZ. This can be for any period, up to 3 years at a time, subject to the conditions previously mentioned, i.e. Medicals, etc. if applying for greater than 2 years.

If you look at the Work Visa application form, in section A12, you will find that one of the questions is: "do you intend to apply for residence under the Partnership policy?"

There is nothing preventing you from applying for a Work Visa as well as Residency at the same time. However, applying for Residency will necessitate providing NZIS with Medical, X-Ray, and Police Certificates, and will take much longer to process.

So, if you're in a hurry to get to NZ, I would suggest applying for a 2 year Work Visa under the Family category now, which should be granted within 4 weeks or so. Then, once you're in NZ, apply for Residency, again under the Family category.

Good luck.

ewiggins · I'll Hang Around A Little Joined: 16 Jan 2004 Posts: 17

Hi Guys,

Well I'm going to go for this option and am in the process of gathering all the necessary doocumentation to prove our relationship. I'm planning to visit NZ on a 'holiday' visa in July with the intention to have organised interviews to attend before I arrive....that way I'm hoping I might have a job secured in NZ before I pack in my current job. So, can I apply for a work visa before I go on this short trip, or do I have to give them a definite date for when I intend to move?

What would be ideal is to apply in the next couple of weeks for the visa, book a holiday in July and hopefully get a job whilst I'm out there based on the fact that I'm in the process of getting a work visa, come back to the UK and hand in my notice here, and then move to NZ and a new job in September/October time. Is this realistic?

Graham Barnes · Posted: Fri Apr 30, 2004 6:43 am Post subject:

NO!!! You cannot get a work visa without an offer of employment (if not on the POL, this needs to be agreed by the Department of Labour). A work visa is not for your intention to work in NZ, but for to be able to.

Graham

ewiggins · I'll Hang Around A Little Joined: 16 Jan 2004 Posts: 17

What?????????

I'm I'm totally confused!

cliff · Posted: Sun May 02, 2004 3:18 am Post subject:

Graham Barnes · Posted: Sun May 02, 2004 3:40 am Post subject:

Whoops.

Many apologies for confusing you! I should have realised this because my wife is getting her visa using exactly the same category.

Don't listen to anything I ever say again.... Nutcase

ewiggins · I'll Hang Around A Little Joined: 16 Jan 2004 Posts: 17

No problem Graham, easy to get confused with all the hundreds of threads on this website. Hows your wife getting on with her application? Did you find she had to put a definite date down for when she would want the visa to commence, or was it just a matter of starting once a job begins?

Graham Barnes · Posted: Wed May 05, 2004 7:15 am Post subject:

Hi Emma
Glad to be out of the doghouse! Nice One

We're applying for visa simultaneously at the moment and currently finishing off the medicals. Should be sending it all off by mid-May. We're on the POL, but I think most of what we fill in is the same!
Although you'd be using up some of your "visa time", it might help during interviews to have your visa organised before flying out for interviews. It means that a potential employer would not need to wait for it to come through. As a non NZ-er, in their eyes, there is always some possibility that a visa might not be issued (particularly if you're not married) and having it in place must certainly help here as well.
Re. dates...are you looking at Section A22 which asks when you will be entering NZ?. We're just putting down our outward flight dates. I'm starting my job approximately two weeks after this, but it made sense to put the same date down on both of our forms.
I found NZIS in London VERY helpful with the form when I 'phoned them up with a couple of queries. Don't forget that it is a generic form, so might not make perfect sense for your own individual situation.

Good luck!

Graham

ewiggins · I'll Hang Around A Little Joined: 16 Jan 2004 Posts: 17

Graham,

Don't s'pose you've got the number for NZIS in London? Would be handy in case I hit any probs filling in my form. Also, if my 'visa time' commenced when I entered NZ for my 'holiday' for 4 weeks in August, would it stop whilst I went back to the UK to organise my move to NZ or would it be an ongoing thing once I'd entered NZ for the first time?

I just wanted to thank everyone for all their help on this thread. The honest truth is that I would have never known this option was open to me and giving up woul dhave been a distinct possibility. As it is, all going well I could be living in NZ with my partner by Septmeber. Wow! Thanks very much everyone!