salmoncolour

Hi,
my husband will very soon be 55 (we have an incredibly small chance of submitting an EOI before he turns 55 so let's say he will be 55 at time of application). He will be the main visa applicant.
With a job offer he will have 145 points.

Now if we apply under the SMC, can someone please clarify the following to make sure we understood it correctly:
1. what we get then is a permanent visa with travel conditions for 2 years?
2. after the expiry of those 2 years, can he leave the country at all or will he lose it even going abroad on holiday (due to travel conditions)?
3. are there any other options, given his age? Is there a way you can get resident permanent visa straight away (without having millions in the bank etc. so mere mortal options please)?

thank you!

Persephone

Hello and welcome to BE,
If you're wanting to move then you'll need to get on with it soon due to the age restrictions. Unfortunately your husband will need a job offer to guarantee being selected from the EOI pool. What does he do and what are the chances of him getting a job from overseas? Could you be the principal candidate? Only the principal candidate needs to be 55 or less,


Hope this helps.
P

salmoncolour

It does help, thank you very much.
He would have to be the main applicant due to his job being on the immediate shortage list all over NZ so his chances of getting a decent job offer are much better than mine. Yes, we realise he needs a job offer before we can even apply. The plan is to try to arrange a few interviews and then go for a trip over in October/November.

Would he able to get a permanent residence visa though as he would then be 57? This is the bit I am confused about as, if I understand it correctly, when the initial visa's travel conditions expire (2 years on), he will still be allowed to stay in the country permanently but as the travel conditions have expired - can he leave at all, e.g. for a holiday?

MrsFychan

The two year travel conditions are really just there to see if you are committed to the country. you would of had to have been in the country during those 2 years for a certain amount of time and adhere to a few other conditions, and of course pay for a new visa to be added to your passport. don't think age, once you have a valid visa, comes into it

Persephone

It's only the Resident Visa ie the initial application under the SMC that has age restrictions.

Once your travel conditions expire after 2 years you apply for a PRV or further travel conditions [if you don't fulfill the requirements for a PRV] which allow you to leave and re enter NZ as a resident. As I said most people coming to NZ will get a PRV and can then leave NZ for as long as they want yet still return and take up residence.

No need to worry- even INZ don't get you here and then leave you in the lurch like that You are right in thinking that you don't need to renew travel conditions if you never ever leave NZ...

Another point you may or may not have realised but those on the immediate SSL do not claim bonus points for a job/offer in absolute shortage under the SMC. It's the Long Term SSL only.
Being on the ISSL means that you may have more luck getting a job offer and it sounds like this is what you meant

salmoncolour

Woohoo, so as long as we get the initial one before he hits 56 we are ok? Brill, thank you both so much.
Yes, it took a lot of link clicking but I have worked out that we don't get those bonus points. It should, as you say, help with finding a job and getting a decent wage.

Persephone

Yes, but you'll have to get a move on! It may not be that easy to get a job offer so the more time you give yourselves the better

salmoncolour

On the case as we speak. Thank you very much.
Found a few websites that supposedly help people currently in the UK find NZ jobs, joined New Kiwi (or something like that) and the search is in 5th gear.

MrsFychan

just please be careful about agencies finding you jobs, do not pay out any money.
what field of work are you looking under?
would you need to get qualifications accessed, licence applied for? all this would add time

escapedtonz

One of the eligibility rules for the skilled migrant category is age.
A person must be no older than 55 years at the time of EOI submission which is classed as the moment a person formally starts the application process.

Assuming you have enough time before your husband clicks over to 56 years to get a job offer then all good, however just as a back stop and to give you an extra 6 months grace and assuming you meet the minimum EOI points (100) to submit then you could submit just prior to his 56th birthday, without a job offer knowing the EOI would not be selected but it would remain in the pool for a period of 6 months and at anytime during the time in the pool it can always be updated with a job offer and points recalculated.

salmoncolour

Roger.

Alarm industry. He needs to register, not sure about much else yet, awaiting replies.

salmoncolour

Thank you, good to know. I hadn't realised you could update it.

MrsFychan

if you were to get a job offer, what do you points indication come out to? please be in mind that the offer will have to be approved by immigration and their criteria for a job offer. My husbands job offer had to be rewritten 3 times before immigration was happy with it, luckily the company didn't mind doing it but could see some just saying its all just to hard and looking for someone who is already eligible to work here.

salmoncolour

Oh dear. Thanks for the heads up.
A few companies we got in touch with seem to be interested in him but I don't know whether they'd be prepared for this kind of hassle with the offer...
It remains to be seen. I will update as soon as we know anything more.
He'd be at 145.

MrsFychan

so are those companies approved to offer him a job?