HopefulMigrant

Hiya,
I am sure I cannot be the only person to have experienced this...

I am looking to emigrate with my young family, but need a job offer before I can submit an EoI which would actually get selected. Without a job offer I can only hit 100 points, so the chances of being randomly selected are presumably very low.

I have many years of IT experience which should get me in, under the SMC, but for every job application I complete,I get a reply suggesting that I have to get a Visa before I can be considered for roles. Even from 'accredited employers'

Can't get a Visa without a job, cant get a job without a Visa

Of course... if anyone wants to offer me a job, it would be appreciated

MrsFychan

employers don't seem to understand the system, you have to inform them of the processes, job offer would get you the visa basically.
and you are correct 100 points would not get you selected at all

HopefulMigrant

Thanks MrsFychan - I will have a go at 'informing them' in my cover letters.

BEVS

It does seem to continue to be the case that NZ employers don't really understand that it is job offer first and then a visa .
You will need to make that clear on your covering letter. You may also need to consider adjusting your CV to be more Kiwified.

I know it can be very hard to gain a job offer from remote. Some have done this via Skype interviews.

Good luck

tiger mama

I agree re the kiwified CV. PM me if you want a template and I can send you the template my OH used (I don't feel comfortable putting the template publically as it was sent to me by someone else so I'm not sure if I can widely distribute someone else's work).

This was our headache up to around 3 months ago. We hit brick wall after brick wall with recruitment consultants and other 'professionals' who told us time and time again that there was no chance my OH would get a job offer without a visa, and that our only chances were to sell up and go out there on the hope and prayer that something would come up when we were out there, which we just couldn't consider in our situation. We were also told that in the unlikely event that any employer would consider his CV, the chances of getting a skype interview were minimal and that he'd probably have to fly out there for an interview, which obviously wouldn't be feasible to do numerous times each time an interview came up since you can hardly schedule them back to back.

All I can say is don't give up hope, because if it wasn't possible then work visas wouldn't exist as you have to get a job before the visa with those! And a lot of people wouldn't be able to go down the skilled migrants route either as many people's points like yours do rely on the job offer.

The penny drop moment for us was when we realised that there is a very long list of accredited employers available here - http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migra...loyersList.htm

These are employers that are accredited to employ migrants in the "Work to Residence (Talent: Accredited employers)" category. With this you get a 30 month work to residence visa that allows you to apply for residency after 24 months. However our thought was that even if that's not the visa route we go down, the fact that all those employers have gone and gotten themselves accredited obviously shows that they are willing to employ people from overseas. And we were right! My partner got offered a job at a District Health Board in the finance dept a short while later. (Public sector is a good shout; obviously all these have IT depts! Mainly because a. you don't have to apply through recruitment consultants, they list jobs on their websites for direct application, and b. they seem to be very experienced in handling migrants and can offer lots of helpful advice).

So my advice would be to go through that list and hone in your job search on those employers. If they have any suitable vacancies, go for them, and if not then you can always email around and put your name out there.

Good luck! (Also, we were deadly set on going down the Skilled Migrants route but in the end we found it far easier, quicker and cheaper to go down the Work to Residence route, so don't rule it out).

EDITED ***Ahh sorry, just reread your point about accredited employers. If anyone is saying that to you then I would respond and ask why they're accredited. I would imagine you are probably speaking to some 'computer says no' employee who doesn't understand their own company's policies, either that or you're dealing with recruitment consultants who are iffy about migrants. Have you tried any public sector jobs yet?***

HopefulMigrant

Thanks for the info...

Since your posts, I have made a couple more applications which have not yet been returned with the "Get a visa first" blurb... I guess my newly written 'informing them' section may be working

I will let you know ...

Catchafire

Are you applying outside of NZ? Then you might be finding the visa objection is a way of fobbing you off.

Employers are more likely to consider applications for people already in the country and available for interview.