sunny side

Hi,

You learn so much by just reading the posts on this site. I have found them very helpful.

We are planning a visit in the next few weeks to see our family, who are there for more than 5 years. But at the same time we will also be looking at potential employment opportunities. Any advice or suggestion would be highly appreicated.

How easy or difficult is it to change a visit visa to work permit? Is the Immigration Department very tough on it?

Thanks in advance.

Mari

Spacecake799

Hi,
We came here in November as visitors. My husband got a job offer,we got medicals done here but bought our police checks with us. We had no problem filling in forms and sending them in to get a work permit. They say allow 60 days but its usually about 2-3weeks. Good luck
Carole

sunny side

Hi,

Thank you for your reply.

I wonder how easy it is to secure a job in the travel field.

Also we have growing children who will require to go to school. Do work permit holders pay local or international fee?

What if we tell the Immigration that we have job interviews lined up for our visit? Will they have a problem in granting visa?


Thank you,

Mari

Spacecake799

Hi Mari,
I suggest you check out employment opportunitys before you arrive. You need a job offer to get a work permit. You apply for that (or your partner) when you get it the other person applys for one off the back of the other. You then put in study permits for your children. They will be granted for the same length of time as your work permit. You dont pay school fees then. Actually you do pay $100 or so for the year and you have to buy all their stationary.
If your coming for a holiday, with the view to staying you will need a return ticket. Just make it for about 5 months later and tell them your having a good look round. Don't say anything else. You will need police checks for anyone over 18 for your work permit. You can get the medicals done here much cheaper and within a day or two. Hope you understand all this.
Carole

sunny side

Hi Carole,

Thank you so much. Yes, I know what you mean!!!

Actually I am not from the UK and it may not be possible to get 5 months but will try and get at least 3 months. Our family are there is 3 cities and may visit Australia also while we are there. Need lot of convincing!!!

We are contacting some poeple but they are all asking for the work permit. I am not sure if they are aware that work permit is only possible with a job offer! chicken or the egg situation!!!!!

Thanks again

Mari

mazi

I am Uk-ese so the situation may be slightly different but I went on the usual tourist visa (6 months) and was offered a job while I was there. I got the relevant forms for the work permit and visa, filled them in, sent them off, whole lot took about a month to come back - no medical, no police checks, nothing. I was there for three years and renewed my permit and visa a couple of times - no medical, no police checks, nothing.

Having said that, Boyfriend is Kiwi-ese so that may have had something to do with it - but having a Kiwi Boyfriend does not preclude me from having a crminal record or life threatening diseases.

happynz

Here is what you need to do. You don't need to tell passport control anything unless they ask you. Most times they don't ask anything. I mean, they have a lot of people to get through the queue.

Okay, you are through the airport and hopefully you have a place to stay, a phone and a list of potential employers. Take a break. It's been a long flight.

You're now rested. Start fronting up to your potential employers. Hopefully they will be so impressed they will go the extra effort to help you get the work permit. The prospective employer needs to show to NZIS that they have made a real effort to hire a qualified local Kiwi but none could be found. They can do this by producing classified adverts from newspapers.A letter from WINZ (the government benefits office -- the dole place) stating that they couldn't send anyone qualified is also usually needed.

You would need proof of your qualifications, educational background if relevent to the position and proof of previous employment. For your partner you'd need to show evidence of relationship -- photos, letters, bills with both of your names on them -- that sort of thing.

Take this paperwork down to NZIS (Christchurch office is good) and chat with the help desk people and hopefully they can get you in to see a case worker. Sometimes you'll be asked to just drop off your documents and come back later or they may ask you to stick around for the interview right there and then. The latter was our experience. The interview took about ten minutes, mostly the case worker was asking my wife about how to prepare certain Thai dishes. The case worker then pasted in one year work visa and work permit stickies for the missus, my daughter got the student visa and permit and I got my work visa and work permit as well.

If you are given a one year work permit it isn't necessary to have the police clearance certificates or medical certificates. These are only necessary after one year. At least that is what our experience was. YMMV

Well, I gotta run.

Suerte...

mazi

I didn't need them at all in 3 years!

happynz

Lucky you. We had to do the meds and police thingies first renewal, but we didn't for the second nor third. Of course after four-and-half-years of farting around we applied for PR and then we had to do the whole shooting match.

mazi

Didn't they just offer you PR after all the renewing?

sunny side

Hi,

Many thanks for the very helpful info. I shall let you know how it goes.

Have a great weekend.

Mari

happynz

Perhaps that is the reason my PR experience went so smoothly. Maybe they were thinkin', 'Let's just give him the PR so we won't have to see his ugly mug again!'

shell and mark

hi guys ...great thread... me and the missus are just getting prepared to do the exqact same thing(selling house and everthing else) ....1 thing puzzles me what would airport immigration think if they went through your bags and found lowdzzz of paperwork and cirtificate quals etc and we said we were there for a hol? would they kick us out ....would it be better to give someone at home a NZ address and have them posted to us once we were safely in?

regards
mark and michelle
cant wait for the house to selll

happynz

Unless you have something agricultural your chances of being searched are slim to none. However, if you write lowdzzz on your work permit application...well, that may be a whole 'nother story.

Suerte.

stacey19

Other half had already secured a job from the uk so we came out on tourist visa's. Didnt dare bring any paperwork over with us, we had it sent on and it arrived 2 days after us. Passport control was a breeze.
Jason had to stand in line at imigration at 4AM to get his work permit on the same day, he said the line was massive by about 6AM. They did require things like, contract, references, written job offer etc: And he got his 12 month work permit no problem on the day. You can post it but they say allow upto 8 weeks by post so...........