guidance and advice please.
 

My family and I intend to sell and move to NZ.As we have been unable to secure work and dont want to pay a consultancy firm and dont have enough points to submit an eoi we thought that we should bite the bullet and move.How long can we stay on a visitors visa and is it possible to secure work and then get a work visa and then apply for a pr?Any advice gratefully received.:)

Re: guidance and advice please.
 

Hi himmeus,

Yes, you can come here as a visitor and look for work. If you hold a UK passport you will get a six month visitor permit on arrival. There is no law against interviewing for a job,but it is illegal to take on any employment until you have a work permit, work holiday visa, work-to-residence permit, special talent visa/permit or permanent residency.

You will also need to have onward passage booked. A ticket to Australia would likely suffice.

If you find an employer who is willing to sponsor you (assuming you have the skills and qualifications needed and no local Kiwis could be found) and the employer makes you a job offer then you could go ahead and get a work permit. These permits can be valid for one, two and three years. If the work permit is valid for less than twelve months then police clearances and medicals are not required. However, if the permits are for two or three years then you will need cop shop reports and the meds.

Let's assume you have been successful in finding 'skilled' employment and now have those work permits firmly pasted into your passport. If you have enough points as a result of holding 'skilled' employment in New Zealand you certainly may submit at any time your expression of interest (EOI) for possible selection. If the New Zealand Immigration Service (NZIS) deems your employment as 'skilled' and if you have enough points (140 points ensures automatic selection for 'skilled' applicants) then you will be selected and you will get an invitation to apply (ITA). Here you will need to supply documentation for all the claims you have made n your EOI plus police clearances and medicals to ensure good character and reasonable health.

There you are, easy as falling out of a boat, eh? Who needs a stinkin' immigration agent anyway, huh...

Re: guidance and advice please.
 

Thanks Happynz that info really helped.Would a return ticket suffice or does it have to be an onward passage.Dead scary all this unknown.My husband is a Panel Beater which I believe is a shortage presently and we have spoken to some employers who have invited him to call in when we are in NZ sothis may be fruitful.Could you lso tell me if it is better to bring furniture etc and is it possible to arrange shipping when we dont yet have a forarding addres.Do youhave any immediate accommodation you could recommend in the Bay of Plenty area?Sorry loads of questions as we are all very anxious but know we want to do this.EOI of 105 if I was principal applicant but we thought it wouldnt be worth applying yet until work in place.

Re: guidance and advice please.
 

As far as I know an onward ticket will do.
No it's not. It's lots of fun and provides hours of enjoyment. ;)
The key I think is to get your husband's boots on New Zealand soil. I would hazard to bet that he would stand a far better chance of securing employment. I'm no expert on shipping household goods as I and my family basically just showed up here in New Zealand with duffel bags and backpacks.

However, if you have stuff you love and if it would help you with a successful transistion then I think you should bring what ever you can stuff into a container.

As far as logistics go...beats me. As I said I haven't dealt with shipping goods so I am fairly ignorant in that area.
I live on the South Island, so sorry, I can't help you with that.
Great fun, huh?
Yup, a further 50 points gained with the job offer would be a boost.

Good luck.

Re: guidance and advice please.
 

Hi Himmeus,

We did the same came over on a vistors visa had return tickets,brought all our stuff over on a container and never got charged for it,cause apparently you can't bring your stuff in unless you have a visa of some sort!(store it in UK) Hubby got job offer,his boss gave him a contract took that and all other bits and bobs(marriage cert,work cert,passports,birth cert) down to immigration one very early morning,came out with one year work visa,went home applied for PR and that was granted in Dec we arrived June last year!
Good Luck

Helen

Re: guidance and advice please.
 

tell me off if I'm wrong all those wise senior members please, but... If you are on a visitor permit and want to put kids into school then you have to pay international student fees, which we've been advised can be 10k NZ dollars per month. You may not have children but if you do, how they are to be schooled would be worth a thought. Good luck & enjoy!:D

Re: guidance and advice please.
 

No, I won't tell you off. Why would I do that?
That is likely...
Who told you that? Hoo-boy.

Nah, school fees are nowhere near NZD$10,000 per month. For example, St Andrews College is a well regarded day and boarding school here in Christchurch and their fees for day students are somewhere in the neighbourhood of NZD$14,000 per year. That's certainly nowhere near the NZD$10,000 per month you were quoted.
My 11 year-old goes to a pretty good intermediate school and things seem satisfactory so far.

Re: guidance and advice please.
 

The 10k was for two children in primary and we got the figure for the department of education. When we made our enquiries about which permit to go for we thought about just coming out and putting the kids in school and getting a job once there and living off savings in the interim. It was the fees that made us decide that we needed a job and res before we come and at that price we would find ourselves skint much before we hoped! Don't tell me we were given the wrong advise!:confused: anyway I think now that we have nearly secured a job it was best this way.

Re: guidance and advice please.
 

That would be way over the top even for two children. Yup, some one has sold you a bum steer telling you that school fees would be NZD$10,000 per month for two primary school children. The going rate for international student fees at public schools would be no more than NZD$15,000 per year per student.

Re: guidance and advice please.
 

oh well, least it hasn't changed our plans, and others will learn from this. Thats why its good to have such clever people checking what dingbats like me say! The rest is right as far as I know!!

Re: guidance and advice please.
 

You're not a dingbat. You aren't here so how would you know what schools charge here without asking?

Good luck with this immigration thing-a-ma-jig. :)

Re: guidance and advice please.
 

If you're a dingbat, then we are all a bunch of dingbats. :lol: Blimey. We have all been there with questions and confusion. :blink:

Your husbands Panel Beating is on the Immediate Shortage List. Any NZ employer who wants to employ him can do so.

As HappyNZ has said, you can come in on visitors visas and quietly look for work. You will need to have onward passage air tickets.

Once your hubby has a job offer, then you apply for a work permit just to get you settled and started.

I really would hold off putting the kids into school until you know that a job offer is on the table. Once you have that, bung the offspring into school and explain to the school that a valid work permit is on the way. Odds are they will waive international student fees pending sight of your work permit.

Collect various quotes from shippers and pick one. Arrange to have your stuff stored in the UK and don't ship until you have a work permit in place.

You don't need a permanent address to ship your household effects. You need a contact address only. That could be your husbands new employer.

There is some concern that people who enter the country on a visitors visa still get stung for duty /tax when they bring their household goods into the country despite having a valid work permit in place. I'm not sure about the facts on this or how this tax is refunded or avoided , if at all. Normally if you are on work permits no tax is paid when you bring your household goods in.

Re: guidance and advice please.
 

Thank you all soo much for your replies,they have been most helpful and appreciated.I can sense a plan formingand its starting to feel more exciting now and less daunbting:cool: