Skilled migrant Visa questions.
 

Hi everyone,

I am researching this Visa category and from the nz immigration site if my partner applies for this with a job offer in place we meet the points requirement and eligibility criteria to apply.

question: is it 1 application for all of us as a family or is it 2 applications one for him and 1 for me and our children with 2x the Visa costs?

we are looking at Christchurch as it's an area where his trade at this moment is in demand. I know this can change. We ideally want to be in NZ this time next year.

Re: Skilled migrant Visa questions.
 

Also been reading through old threads and read a few things I want to check. Being a uk passport holder we can travel to NZ on a Visa waiver for 6 months.
could this option be used to effectively interview for jobs then apply for appropriate Visa whilst in NZ?
the vacancies we gave seen advertised are for tradesmen in NZ already.....hope this makes sense.

Re: Skilled migrant Visa questions.
 

yes you can come over on visitors visa and look for work but I wouldn't let it be widely known that was why you are visiting. My suggestion, as this is the way we did it, was to get the person with the best chance of getting a job which has the relevant criteria to uplift a visa, over first and see how the land lies.

Re: Skilled migrant Visa questions.
 

Depends on your circumstances, if you can <really> afford to burn through 6mths-worth of living expenses in addition to any costs you can't avoid in the UK (mortgage/rent), then all coming over could work - it gets complicated if the children are school age for instance.

Personally I'd do my best to uplift a job for the most likely (my wife at the time was on the Skills list and we secured a job before coming over), or send that most likely candidate over on their own (less cost), to explore and uplift a job if possible while here.

Then, depending on employer timescale, they may need to get a temp work visa if applicable, start work, then the rest of you can follow while a residence visa is applied for. By "meet the points requirement" you do mean the 160pts? Meeting 100pts for submission doesn't get you anywhere.

Re: Skilled migrant Visa questions.
 

Simonsi by way of the calculator if my partner gets a job in Christchurch we would have 190pts.
In terms of visas its it one Visa for all of us or is it separate visas. My children are primary school aged so would they need student visas?

Re: Skilled migrant Visa questions.
 

I can confirm that your approach is possible - we are using that exact route ourselves, currently. I would caution that it is a bit difficult, maybe even dangerous; it took us nearly four months of searching for a job on a 6 month Visitor's visa waiver until we found one, but after that things have gone smoothly. The missus has a good job (in Christchurch, funnily enough) and both of us have Temporary Work visas tiding us over for a couple of years - long enough (we hope!) to sort out the Skilled Migrant Category visa situation. So it can be done, but be careful... Good luck! :thumbup:

Re: Skilled migrant Visa questions.
 

Assuming the primary applicant applies for a Work visa of some kind, and that Visa support a family application, then you would apply for a Work visa (I would suggest, in case you want to work <at all>, and the children apply for student visa's - but you all get processed together.

Re: Skilled migrant Visa questions.
 

Just for the benefit of the Shiningfaery_001 if you are a little confused.

If you go down the route of applying for Resident Visa via SMC which is a permanent class visa it is one application that covers the principal applicant, partner and any dependents. This is the points based visa where you need minimum 160 points to gain automatic EOI selection. Without at least that score AND a job offer in NZ/work experience in NZ/study experience in NZ you'd be wasting your time and money as it wouldn't be approved.

If you go for a temporary work visa - e.g. Essential Skills for the person getting a job offer then these are for the individual only. Depending on the job offer, the employer, salary etc your partner and dependents could secure their own individual visas based on your temporary work visa. If this is the case your partner would go for a Partnership based visa and your children dependent study visa if school age or dependent visitor visa if below school age.
You can apply for all these individual visas together as it makes it easier for immigration.

You can also apply for RV via SMC at the same time and have that ticking away in the background.

Re: Skilled migrant Visa questions.
 

thank you for explaining that so well. It has certainly helped me understand the different ones.