Theshrews81

Hi All,

My wife and I (plus a 1 year old) are looking for a new challenge.

I work in sport and have done for 15 years with a BA hnrs degree, my wife is an accountant with 8 years experience.

I am 35 years of age and she is 29 years of age.

The plan would be 2-3 months travelling before identifying a place to settle and find long term work.

Looking through the visa options is the only option open to us the skilled migrant route? Both are on the skilled migrants list but I dont see how we could get anywhere near the 160 points.

Any advice would be appreciated.

escapedtonz

Yes, that's about it for you.


So you can either go the temporary work visa route (e.g. Essential Skills or Work to Residency Visa etc) or the permanent visa route (RV via Skilled Migrant Category).
For the temporary work visa you will need a written skilled job offer from an accredited employer and you use the job offer to get the temporary work visa for up to 5 years depending on which one you go for. Your partner and child can then get visas via the family stream - partnership and dependent. Once here you could then apply for Resident Visas.
Or, go straight for RV but as you say you don't think you'll have enough points on the EOI so you'd need a skilled job offer anyway for that route also in order to score enough points.


The other option is to all come in as visitors. Since the UK is a visa waiver country and assuming you meet the basic criteria for health and character you could all come here as visitors for up to 6 months. In that time you could both look for work and with a written job offer from either of you that person could apply for a temporary work visa. Once that person secures that visa, the partner and child can then get visas based on the family stream. You need to be able to prove your partnership for at least 12 months living under the same roof.

Theshrews81

cheers for this. Arent the immigration officers wary of people coming in on visitors visa's and then looking for work? Speaking to an agent they mentioned the look, see, decide option but research suggest this may be a risk and we get turned down in auckland?

escapedtonz

Not any more. Since the changes last year it is now ok to be here on a visitor visa and look for work. Have a look at the revised text for visitor visas.

Theshrews81

ooh yes so it does. is that 3 or 6 months in length?

Theshrews81

just looking again so as a brit i can come for 9 months no visa for free?

escapedtonz

No. 6 months for a Brit which is the maximum length of time allowed for a visitor from a visa waiver country.
You can then apply to extend but you have to have a legitimate reason for doing so and just wanting to stay longer doesn't cut it.

Theshrews81

If i dont find skilled employment before I come to NZ on a 6 month visitors visa how long will it take for an application to go through if I get a job offer in that period? Also, if it takes 4/5 months to get a visa can I apply for an extension to my visitors visa whiles the other is processed?

MrsFychan

you can apply for a temp work visa to enable you to start working, then apply for a more permanent one at your leisure, not sure if you can extend visitors visa because another visa to allow you to stay will be seen as special circumstances.

Theshrews81

Thanks for the reply. Can I apply for a temp visa before I get a job offer or only on the offer?

If the latter, do you know the approx time bit takes? About 3-4 weeks?

MrsFychan

only once you get an offer. timelines depend on which one you go for. 12mths is going to be quicker as it does not need a medical 2 year ones needs medicals which obviously you can then use for the permanent visa.

it depends on how much you want to pay and how long any employer is willing to wait.

Theshrews81

Brilliant. Would prob go 12 month initially to get started in work the build up the evidence for the 2 year application once in the role.

BEVS

If the employer is entitled to offer you a job and you have the quals & work exp to match the work, then you would go for a temp work permit . It should just be a few weeks to process as long as you have all your paperwork lined up.

Theshrews81

Thank you

MrsFychan

once in the role, which as Bevs says needs to match the appropriate criteria you can then start the application for PR, no need to extend a temp work visa if you want PR