Most appropriate visa advice please.
 

Hi. Can anyone give advice on which visa would suit us best please. We are a family of 4 (2 x secondary school age kids). My husband is a structural engineer, project manager of many years and is BEng, CEng, IStruct E plus more that I can't remember. In the past he has designed bridges and shopping malls etc, but it wasn't something he enjoyed. He has also done loss adjusting work along with expert witness work. In short, he's a jack of all trades within his field. He has been doing this sort of work for many years and we have run a business ourselves for 18 years doing this sort of work too. He is age 52. We don't know/aren't bothered where we end up but I prefer North island as it's a bit warmer:lol: and maybe slightly less prone to earthquakes?!!!

I'm conscious of his age, so we are a bit restricted in that respect. We would also, for security, like to gain citizenship as quickly as possible.

We were wanting to avoid an agent and do it ourselves (we went through the process to get an Oz Permanent Residency visa with an agent so think we have a good idea of what to do). Does anyone think there is benefit to an agent/did anyone have one and think they couldn't have done it without them?

Does anything immediately spring to mind with anyone?

Many thanks.

Re: Most appropriate visa advice please.
 

I would first check out the skills list to see if any of his work and qualifications relate to anything on the "shortage" lists as that would be the easiest route, the qualification needs to match that listed and cannot be anything above or below it.
Skill Shortage List Checker – Immigration New Zealand

if not then it would be trying to secure a job by an accredited company.
Accredited Employers List

There are no short cuts to citizenship, if you get PRV then its 5 years if you get WTR then its 7 years.

Most people on here have done the visa themselves, at the end of the day its all about providing paperwork so why need a middle man that prolongs the process and is the first line of contact for the Immigration department.

any questions just come back and ask

Re: Most appropriate visa advice please.
 

Thanks for that. His profession is on the Long term skills shortage list. I think we may have run out of time which is a bit depressing. By the look of it we would need to be out within a year which with running off the business and domestic complexities it's just not long enough. I can't see an employer would be interested in giving a job to someone who won't be there for many months. One thing I'm not sure about is that it says that candidates who are on the Long Term Sills list can apply for citizenship after 2 years. Am I reading that correctly?

Re: Most appropriate visa advice please.
 

I think he can still apply up to 55yrs old. also where and actually what are you reading regarding the 2 years? it might be confused with Permanent Resident, you get travel conditions for 2 years which means you have to be in the country for a set amount of days to qualify to remain as a Permenanet resident.
with a Work to Residency visa you have to be here 2 years before you can apply for Permanent Resident then with both you have to be here 3 years afterwards to get citizenship, so 5 years for PR and 7 years for WR but getting you PRV entitles you stay for as long as you like so not necessary to actually go for citizenship. well at the moment anyway.

Re: Most appropriate visa advice please.
 

Ah, yes it looks like I've confused the two. Thanks for that!