toeing the official line

ruthyroo · I'll Hang Around A Little Joined: 24 Mar 2004 Posts: 39

From my research on here and other forums, it seems that NZIS can and often do issue work permits in a far shorter time scale than the 6-10 weeks that seems to be their official line on it, both here and in NZ. So how do people manage to get their work permits issued so fast - sometimes over night? Any magic words other than the obvious ones i.e. yes we have a job offer and all our paperwork is present and correct! Do they respond to urgency i.e. a job starting date being only a week or so away? What if employers put pressure on them - does it help or hinder? Or does it just depend on which NZIS officer you happen to get - if they are 'nice' and willing to help, or officious bu***rs!
Any feed back would be grand. We are arriving in NZ with about 10 days between arrival and expected job start date, and have to get workpermits through the system in that time. DH is a teacher and his head is willing to put the pressure on, as it is a POL occupation - it's just knowing when and where to do this that's the trick!

Dave & Sandra · Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2004 7:29 am Post subject:

Hi Ruthyroo

See below copies of e-mails from my husband Dave. he arrived in Palmerston North on 15th May - first day in the office on 17th May. The lawyer didn't charge for certifying the quals., he knows we will want to buy a house Wink

e-mail dated 18th May

I've been to the NZIS office and got the Work Permit form which requires a photograph and my quals docs copies certified by a lawyer and the job offer which Trish is re-typing as an offer to work in Wellington as a civil/structural engineer. I will get the photos this afternoon, and see a lawyer with my docs, and open a bank account, and meet an estate agent to look at a place. The NZIS process takes 2 ~ 3 weeks. Criminal record doc not required.

e-mail dated 19th May

I went - an hour ago - to the NZIS office to hand in my completed form together with certificated copies of qualifications, job offer etc. I walked out ten minutes later with a two-year work permit in my passport! Done deal.

Later e-mail dated 19th May

The proof of experience problem went away, basically because the Immigration Service man was on my side - he wanted me to get a work permit and went out of his way to make sure the application worked at the first attempt. For example he got to the part where he needed to know if the job offer - which he had in front of him - was for a permanent position or not, which it didn't actually state. Instead of sending me away to have it rewritten to say 'permanent', he simply called OSA to confirm. Peter (my boss) was engaged at the time, so the IS man and I chatted about pubs and bars and I moaned about the 'big screen, pool, and juke box type' pubs which are ubiquitous. He invited me to join his club which does food and caters for wrinklies, and drew a map for me showing how to get there! He called Peter again - and got a simple, "Yes.". He looked at the photocopied references, pressed a button and printed the work permit. Clapping

Hope this answers your questions. Dave is lucky in that the NZIS office is two doors down from his office. He obviously got a non-officious official.

Sandra

Dave & Sandra · Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2004 7:31 am Post subject:

Deleting double entry

ruthyroo · I'll Hang Around A Little Joined: 24 Mar 2004 Posts: 39

Hi Sandra, thanks for that. My DH boss emailed last night to say that he has been in touch with the NZIS personally, and he's going to take us there when we arrive to have the WP issued on the spot, as long as all our paperwork is okay. Should be after sweating over it all for so long! thanks foryour help, good to know that they can do it in ten minutes!