Arthur Dent 666

Hi guys,

Our time to NZ is slowly decreasing from 'a few months' to 'a few weeks' - very exciting! However, I think I just found a wrinkle which is going to be costly for us, and wanted to throw this open to the wise old owls on the forum...

We are arriving on visitor's visas, and hoping to upgrade to Essential Skills or (preferably) SMC visa as quickly as we can whilst in NZ. Our 40' container is being quoted on shortly, but the wrinkle is GST and Customs in general - I know that you don't have to pay anything other than normal Customs duties and fees if you have *any* flavour of Work visa, but what if you are transporting goods whilst only in possession of a visitor's visa? Is there a bond or deposit which can be paid to stop Customs from slapping GST on everything we own? Could we place all our stuff in a bonded warehouse until we have the visa sorted out at the NZ end?

What do people think - are we just going to have to pay 20-30% of the value of all our stuff again?

Bo-Jangles

Since you currently have no right to live in NZ for more than 1 year then you definitely would have to pay GST, so just best you leave it all in the UK until you have got more certainty over your ability to stay in NZ permanently.

You can have the shipper store the container in the UK until you are ready to ship it - it doesn't cost too much per week.

escapedtonz

You can ship a container of your worldly goods to NZ even if you are on a visitor visa but you lose all concessions on those goods by not having a sufficient level visa that allows you to live in NZ. Some shippers may also refuse to ship your items because of your visa status and because you don't have the right to live in NZ, so this may cause your shipping costs to be higher anyway ?
You will be charged GST on the majority of the shipment other than personal clothing and maybe Manchester items (sheets/linens etc). Everything else in there will be +15% GST and it is +15% of it's equivalent value in NZ, not the price you paid for it or it's value in the UK. There is no other option but to pay it. You can't dodge a tax that you are obligated to pay. Once the GST is paid your goods will be released for you to take away and use.

Massive risk though in my opinion and if I'm honest you are going about it all the wrong way but that's up to you. I ain't your papa!

It could backfire tremendously if you subsequently did not get a job offer to then be approved for a temporary work visa......no way you'd have the time to be approved Resident Visa via SMC in the maximum 6 months duration of your visitor visa from the UK. Even if you landed a written job offer within the first month of being here, when you consider the time required to submit EOI, wait for EOI selection, get through preliminary checking, receive ITA, submit ITA with all your evidence / medicals / police reports / relationship history etc (which you would have a 4 month deadline to collect), getting RV via SMC approved in the 5 months before expiry of the visitor visa is a MAJOR ask.

Hopefully you've read the rules and requirements of the visitor visa where it speaks of proof of funds, onward travel etc and the fact you cannot work whatsoever, even if that work is voluntary, or for a box of beers.
Requesting a variation of expiry date for a visitor visa is also unlikely to be approved unless you have a very good reason, and you waiting to be approved for a permanent visa isn't Immigration's priority.

I urge you to leave your goods in the UK until you hopefully have a work visa. Store them in the container ready to ship or just store in a lock up facility. It may cost you more to store in a container than standard storage as you are renting the shipping container as well as the space for your goods.

simonsi

Check with customs directly, from memory there may be an ability to reclaim the GST paid if you fulfil the visa requirements at a later date (within a stipulated timeframe). All from memory but worth asking.