ellakendo

Hi all,
my husband has just accepted a job in Christchurch and due to start end of next month.
Mu husband is a NZ citizen I am a Romanian citizen and we're concerned re visa for me.

We are in S Korea at the moment and will be moving to NZ from here. My questions are:
1. What is the best way for me to arrive in NZ as we only have 4 weeks until we leave? I am planning on entering as a visitor (I don't need a visa and can stay for up to 90 days as I did previously)
2. Do I need a return ticket if I will just be honest to immigration that I am intending on staying for as long as my husband's job lasts?
3. Once I'm there (if I manage to get in ) ) what type of visa shall I apply for? We found two types - temporary work visa or resident based on my husband's citizenship. If I can stay in NZ for up to 90 days which one of these visas will take shorter time to process? I found that I need same documents for both of them so not sure which is quicker to process.
4. We have lived in 4 countries so I'll need police checks from all 4 plus my residency one, how long does it take for these checks to arrive - translate etc?

As you can see I am mainly stressed about the 90 days time frame when I need to get a different status in order to stay in NZ.
Thank you so much for your help and looking forward to any advice

MrsFychan

can't answer on how long the police checks will take as that is down to each individual country.
As for entering the country on a visitors visa you will need an onward flight out of the country or the airline won't let you board the plane.
check out the Immigration website to get the best possible visa for your situation, costs and time frames https://visaoptions.immigration.govt...e/Landing.aspx

moving2NZ2013

Can you not get all the paperwork together now?wouldnt be easier for you to sort out the correct long term visa prior to leaving.
Re police checks uk ones took 21 days, Irish ones took 2 days. I'd imagine they vary in length of time it takes.

ellakendo

we only have one month until we need to be there, so not enough time to get the papers for both of us from UK, UAE, Sweden, Romania etc
We called the Immigration in NZ but they give us different answers from different people. Probably they are more confused than us.

I was hoping someone else was in same situation before and can help.

I asked if I can enter as a visitor (my husband and 2 kids are NZ citizens) then apply for a work visa/partner resident visa (depending which one is quicker to process as I have only 90 days), but different persons from NZ immigrations told us yes and no.

MrsFychan

if the only visa you will have on entry is the visitors. 6mth stay, you will have to have an onward flight out of NZ or you will not be able to fly.
get the visa for yourself started now, it can always be transferred over to NZ to complete, just make sure you have submitted all the relevant paperwork to not slow the application up. If you cannot get all the police checks sorted in time make sure you set up a mail forwarding service either to NZ or to a trusted friend who can then forward on to Immigration for you

Persephone

You can enter as a visitor and then convert to another visa once there. However you have to be aware that immigration may have a problem with that on entry, how do they know you will actually get a visa and not just stay illegally? [not suggesting you will but it's their job to stop people doing that]
You would also need a flight out of NZ to a country you have the right to enter if you enter as a visitor.
If you do decide to do that, have a contingency plan in case you are refused entry. I would also make sure you are very clued up on which visa you are going to apply for and explain how you intend to fulfil this. Also be clear on why you haven't already applied eg short time frame, difficulty getting police checks in time etc...
It might be better to at least start the visa process as much as you can so it looks like it's underway.
You may be completely fine of course!

I suspect you are getting varied replies because it all depends on what the officer decides on entry so they can't tell you that you'll be ok entering as a visitor.

If your intentions are to stay in NZ for longer than two years then you will need to apply for residency anyway. Ideally you apply for this first if this looks like you can get the visa within 3 months. Processing times for the Chch branch here: Processing times Temp visas are usually faster to issue.
How long have the two of you lived together [not how long married as it's the living together that is important]? Not being nosey as it could be relevant.

Hope this helps and hasn't just confused you more!

Persephone

Ellakendo is a Romanian citizen so only gets 3months on entry to NZ as a visitor hence the 90 day concerns

ellakendo

Thank you Persephone!

You can enter as a visitor and then convert to another visa once there. However you have to be aware that immigration may have a problem with that on entry, how do they know you will actually get a visa and not just stay illegally? [not suggesting you will but it's their job to stop people doing that]

I am aware they might ask these questions but they should also think outside the box. Why would I stay there illegally with NZ husband and 2 small NZ children? His job is also as a project manager for a big NZ company so why risk working illegally? Also I have been to NZ twice before as a visitor and I was never asked if I'm planning to stay etc.

You would also need a flight out of NZ to a country you have the right to enter if you enter as a visitor.
Yes, we think is best to get a refundable ticket, probably back to the UK. We might even use it

If you do decide to do that, have a contingency plan in case you are refused entry.
That's our worry, we are due to arrive in 4 weeks just before he needs to start his new job. If I am refused I can't leave him in NZ with 2 small kids when he needs to go to work. Also I can't go anywhere else with the kids on my own as we don't have anywhere to stay/live. And NZ is not really anywhere close to visit him while we live somewhere else or do to a visa run.


How long have the two of you lived together [not how long married as it's the living together that is important]? Not being nosey as it could be relevant.
Married for 4 years and together for 6.

Hope this helps and hasn't just confused you more!
Yes, it was reassuring. Thank you

MrsFychan

they are not there to "think out of the box" but to adhere to the immigration guide lines.
All we are saying is if your husband comes in on a work visa and you and the children on visitors visa you may get problems if you do not have onward travel booked. If you start the process now before you leave and they do ask questions you can at least show them that you have started the process. If you have onward travel then I can't see there being a problem unless you get an awkward customs person.

ellakendo

my kids and husband are all NZ citizens. I'm the 'dodgy' one ;-)
I assume I'm the only who'll need a return ticket?!

ellakendo

and thank you for the link above, re Processing time, it seems that we have priority "First priority – Partnership and Dependent Child applications (where sponsored by a New Zealand expatriate). " So hopefully it will take under 90 days...

Persephone

Yes, it's only you that's dodgy . Everyone else has NZ passports so have the right to live in NZ indefinitely.

You might well be perfectly fine on entry, it's just that you don't actually know until you arrive. They do have discretion so it's up to you to be ready if they ask any questions. Their thought process may be that you will just stay and not bother with the visa once you have entered, you might not be working.
Presumably you were just visiting on your previous visits and this was obvious. Once they know you are there because your husband has a job then they may ask more questions about what you're planning on doing because there's more risk of you staying illegally. Please don't take from this that I think you're planning on doing that, I don't. But it's immigration who are on the lookout for those who might, that's what they're paid for.

Last time I entered with my NZ husband we got asked plenty of questions about where we'd been and what we were planning on doing in NZ. We were returning to live and I am a permanent resident. He might have just been being nosey but they did seem to be spending a lot of time with people that day.

Anyway, not meaning to panic you! Just be honest and know exactly what you're going to do visa wise. That way [if asked] you look like you've researched it, are ready to go and know exactly what to do. Carry any documents needed for the visa in your carry on.

You'll probably just breeze through immigration with a 'welcome' after all that

MrsFychan

I know of a couple of ladies that are married to NZ citizen and have children with them that have both fallen foul of having the incorrect visa to re-enter after spending sometime out of the country. one was just coming back from holiday but did not realise that the holiday overlapped her need to update the visa she was on after the 2 years so became invalid for her to enter on. Luckily for her it was able to be sorted, she could not enter on her UK passport as she did not have an onward flight.

Myself and the kids entered on visitors visa's with OH being on temp work visa, he had been working for 3mths and came back to collect us as it were, as the permanent visa had not been approved by the time we flew. We did have onward flights as we always intended to return for a family celebration 5mths after was landed and had no problems, but did have all the copies and details of our application to show. We got our permanent visa's approved I think 3 weeks after landing, but that was skilled migrant and had been in the process for over 3mths . Your application should take a lot less time to process.