Haynesy78

Hi all,

I'm new to this site, however have been in NZ for 2 months on a visitors visa. I was hoping to find a job in the IT sector before I have to fly back to the UK next week for my sisters wedding. However... still no joy as yet. I am planning to come back to NZ after my sisters wedding... but my question is:

1/ Will I be able to get back in on my exisiting visitors visa which is stamped in my passport for 6 months... and still will have 3 months to run?

2/ If not... will I be able to fly back to NZ 3-4 weeks later on a new visitors visa?

Any advice greatly appreciated!

Simon

simonsi

Well, two things.

Visit visa, valid for 6 mths but normally I understand curtailed to 3mths if you are job-seeking so sticky wicket #1 as you may be deemed to have mislead immigration on entry.

Re-entering after leaving so soon may be taken as an attempt to stay longer than permitted and/or to overstay so sticky wicket #2.

I would suggest approaching NZIS regarding #2 BUT you would dump yourself in it for #1 in doing so.

Do you qualify for the working holiday visa on age?

Any other approach involves potentially misleading immigration on the reasons for interrupting your holiday (ie visit, not work), which would involve some sort of "unexpected" element to the wedding I guess...

Persephone

I'm assuming you're from the UK and on a visitor's permit stamped into your passport on arrival in NZ, rather than a visa as such. If that is correct then you will have a permit allowing you to stay in NZ for 6m.
This will be cancelled when you leave and when you arrive back in NZ you should get another 6m stamp. However you cannot do this indefinitely-you can only stay for a maximum of 6m in any 12m period as a visitor as a general rule. You will still need to have a ticket showing that you intend to leave NZ.

The second time I came to NZ, I entered as a visitor, decided to go across to Australia for a couple of weeks and then returned to NZ. I was nearly at the end of a PR application and had no problems with immigration though maybe I was just lucky-the visitor permit is not meant to be for job hunting but many have and do. I then returned back to the UK as I had planned. They checked that I had flights out of NZ each time. Looking back I probably had all the hallmarks of a potential overstayer if they'd asked too many questions Visiting my OH, looking for a job, no job or home in the UK...