visitors visa
 

please can anyone give advise on the following

1 how long max can you stop in nz on a visitors visa.
2 can i rent a property just as a visitor with no job(will be looking for work)
3 once we have job offers can you apply for work permits on a visitors visa, how long do wp's take to come through and how long do they last for.

any advise greatly appreciated :unsure:

Re: visitors visa
 

I'll give it a shot.

Assuming you have a British passport you'll get six months on arrival. You won't need a visa to enter. You'll get a visitor permit on arrival. As a visitor you may need to show onward passage.
Sure. It will be up to the letting agency or landlord whether they will rent to you or not.
Yes, if you have job offers that New Zealand Immigration Service (NZIS) finds acceptable you can apply for work permits. The work permits are usually valid for one, two or three years respectively. If the permit is for longer than twelve months you will need to have medicals and police clearances.

Work permits can be processed rather quickly if all of your documents are in order. The last time my wife and I applied (July, 2005) it didn't take more than an afternoon. Of course it took a couple of weeks waiting on Work and Income New Zealand (WINZ) to get off their duff and producing a document saying that no suitable Kiwis could be found to do the sort of work for the job offer we were given. Once we had that bit of paper, marched into NZIS on a winter's afternoon and walked out sorted with blue stickers in our passports.

I would like to advise you that 'advise' is a verb and 'advice' is a noun. You should be asking people to advise you or to give you advice. OK, I am a insufferable pedant, but my advice is fairly good nonetheless.
:)

Good luck with it all and I hope it all works out to your satisfaction. If you have any more questions, fire away and someone on here will try to help.

Re: visitors visa
 

Hi happynz

Since the original poster didn't thank you for your help, I will! I was wondering more or less the same, so I'm glad you took the time to reply, thanks!

We recently submitted an EOI and were lucky enough to be selected from the pool straight away (26 March), now let's see how long it takes for them to get back to us! :)

There's one more thing I was wondering though, and would be grateful if anyone out there knew the answer. Should we get tired of waiting, and decide to just take the plunge and go over on a tourist visa.... Could we start looking for work whilst our ITA is being considered, and could this be (potentially) a quicker and safer route to being accepted, or would it be too risky?!? :confused:

We have no real ties here as we sold our house to go travelling 2 years ago, and are currently renting. I am not working at the moment and OH only has 1 week's notice at work. The only other ties are friends who we rarely see anyway as they're spread all over the country and his family who also live far away and we don't see often either.

I'd be very tempted to pack my bags and go next month, I don't think he's so thrilled with the idea but you never know, he might change his mind at the last minute... although I'm trying very hard not to push him (not easy though).

I'm just not happy here anymore - can you tell? :blink:

Anyway, guess I'd better stop rabbitting on.... Any advice highly appreciated! :)

Re: visitors visa
 

Thanks for the kind words.

Yes, you can come here as visitors and look for work. You will need to have onward passage booked (otherwise the airline may not allow you to board the plane). Do be aware that it is illegal to work until you have a work permit pasted into your passport. You already know the drill about getting a work permit, right?

If you have no ties and you have the resources to get you here and keep you while getting set up -- I see no reason why you shouldn't go for it. Do be aware that it is autumn here and we are headed into winter so coming from winter in the UK to winter in New Zealand will make for a long year. It ain't all palm trees and romps on tropical beaches here I'm afraid.

:lol:

Good luck.

Re: visitors visa
 

Hi Waterlily,

You're in a similar situation to me. I'm planning on going over in the next 3-4months to look for a job and see the other half who's living there [long story, do not qualify under relationship grounds so going under SMC]. Also no house or major problems here to deal with.

Obviously going on a holiday visa and will be looking at coming back here I think, maybe do some travelling or some locum work depending on how the savings are panning out or whether I find a job!:confused: So many decisions:eek:

Just a word of warning, don't get too excited about your ITA arriving yet. I was selected on 5th December and still not arrived. My case officer is on holiday :mad: I really do hope yours comes through a bit quicker than mine:thumbup:

Hoping it arrives soon so I can send it in and go across without having to worry about it for a while!

Good luck and all the best
Sue :D

Re: visitors visa
 

Hi Guys,

I did exactly this, as a family we sold up lock stock and the old smoking barrel and headed of last year to Wellington. We rented a small place without any hassle at all, got IRD numbers, bank account, bought a car, etc, etc, etc.

For our onward travel arrangements we'd booked tickets to Oz as it was cheaper than return flights back to the UK and we were also confident that I would find work (I'm in IT). The only thing we needed for onward flights to Oz was a visa which we got online for about $20 each (http://www.eta.immi.gov.au/) and you need this registered against your passport before you can enter Oz. Doing it this way, we had no problems nor queries re entering the country.

After being here a little less than 3 weeks I got my job offer and after submitting my paperwork after the written offer had come through from the company, it took just over two weeks for my work permit to come through.

One downside to entering initially as a visitor is that you need to be aware of a new change in the Law as of last November! From then if you first enter NZ as a visitor and subsequently obtain offers of employment and get work permits, you are then liable to pay GST on all your goods that you then subsequently bring into the country. If you are able to leave the country, get a work permit and then come back, you avoid most of it. So you'd need to weigh up the pro's and con's and the finances I suppose...

I hope this helps!!!

Re: visitors visa
 

Hello all, many thanks for your replies, I really appreciate them!

(Sue, saw your message on the other thread and replied, best of luck! keep us posted...)

happynz, thanks for your comments, I did consider the fact that you're headed into winter, but apparently we're headed for another cr*p summer over here anyway, so it probably wouldn't make that much difference! :D

I don't know the drill about getting a work permit exactly (I did look into it, but didn't read it in full detail), I will have a closer look now. I realise the risks of working without a permit and we wouldn't do it, don't worry! :). We also knew about the onward ticket as we spent 6 months over there last year, I thought we could just buy a ticket to Oz (as you did, Simon) and either bin it if things work out or use it to visit some friends there.

Hubs is an IT person too (do you mind me asking what you do? He's a developer), so I don't think he'd have much trouble finding work either, you have given me hope!!! ;). In any case, luckily we have some funds to keep us going for a bit as we sold the house 2 years ago to go travelling, but were sensible enough to return before the funds run out, so that we would have a safety net if we couldn't find work straight away etc.

We don't have any kids, so just having each other to worry about, I think we are in an ideal position to be adventurous and just go for it, and although hubby agrees (at least in principle), like I said before he doesn't seem too excited at the prospect. I can understand that, as this is his country and I guess he's worried about all he'd be leaving behind (I've done it all before so it'd be a lot easier for me to cut the few ties I have here), but I don't think I can live with the uncertainty much longer! (are we staying? leaving? is it going to take 3 months, 6, 9, 12? I hate not being able to organise myself! :unsure:)

Ah well, sorry about the rant, I just don't have anyone to talk to about this as I don't know anyone in my position and need to get some things off my chest! Guess you guys will understand me better... ;)

Simon, how are you finding Wellington? We only passed through it on our way to visit the North Island but found its reputation for being really windy was probably well deserved! :)

Re: visitors visa
 

It does, thanks!! Had no idea! Something important to take into account...