MrsFychan

Have you looked at working holiday visa, this will allow you come to NZ and work a few months here and there to enable you to afford to live here but will also have you in NZ to enable you to go for interviews where you can explain to employers that once you have a job offer you can then apply and get a more permanent visa. Most employers over here do not seem to understand the system and its offer of work then visa in most cases.

Persephone

MrsF-they've already done the WHV thing

As for bonus points in an area of LTSS: you can claim for bonus points for work experience and a qualification without a job offer. However you need a job offer to claim the points for work exp and a qual in a future growth area.
I thought the lack of a degree was a problem though?

Many on here have reported the catch 22 of no job because you have no visa yet needing a job to get a visa. Employers don't seem to know about how the visa system works. All you can do is educate them.
Can you add a bit to the application forms explaining this? I was lucky in that I got residency without needing points for a job offer.

I think your suggestion of saying that your EOI is ready to go and just needs the job offer to enable you to submit it is good. You are right in that if you don't find a job within 6months you lose the cost of the EOI and you should be selected at the next fortnightly draw once you submit with a job offer. As long as you submit immediately a job offer is in place, you won't gain any time by submitting earlier.

Have you tried sending a CV out to any companies he might be interested in? What about contacts from your previous time in NZ?
All my jobs have been gained from sending off CVs to anyone who might need someone, none were actually advertising at the time. That might work more for my profession than for others but could be worth considering.

All the best
P

Jenpen17

Thanks Persephone

Yeah we've had to abandon the LTSS route because of the lack of degree.

We want to go for SMC when we can get the points from a job offer. And use the temporary work visa plus partnership visa to get us over there in good time.

On the EOI we selected to claim bonus points for work experience etc but it wouldn't calculate it and add on any more points. After much trawling through the website I finally found a small paragraph that said they only count when you have a job offer...

We also thought we might be able to get points for my NVQ qualification, but then realised we were looking at a list from 2011 and it's completely changed since then - how annoying!

When we planned our epic round the world backpacking trip we only planned on working in NZ for a year to top up our funds along the way and that was it - it was only in our last month there and we were starting to come to terms about leaving and never coming back that we began to realise that we didn't really want to leave because it felt like home! However, we had already planned (and had some bookings in place) the rest of our trip, which was 4 months backpacking Australia, South East Asia and China. A few people told us about visas and the fact that we could get residency because of my partners profession, but no one mentioned that it would be a LOT harder to do it from England - if we knew then what we know now, we wouldn't have left - we would have extended our WHV and then applied for SMC... nevermind... hopefully we can still get there the hard way!

Thanks for the tip, he has already put out some feelers to his contacts but he will try again and attach his CV this time.

It seems crazy that employers (especially one's advertising on sites specifically recruiting from abroad!) don't understand the system! We're trying to be as clear and concise as possible about explaining our visa situation in the cover letter, but perhaps we need to add a little more detail if they really don't understand how any of it works!

Jenny x

Persephone

That's odd
You can claim bonus points for work experience in an area of absolute skills shortage [ie LTSSL] without a job offer. However you would not be able to claim them unless you fill the conditions on the LTSSL which you don't.
You cannot claim bonus points for anything to do with a future growth area without a job offer however.

Keep on trying, you never know what might come up

Jenpen17

Persephone you are, of course, completely correct! My idiot of a partner didn't mention to me that our 125 points already includes the work experience bit, despite my research showing that's a grey area because although he has performed more than one job on that list, he doesn't have a degree. So I guess because of a technicality we actually only have 100 points...

Which does of course mean that we are completely dependent on him getting a job offer.

He had a skype interview with someone from a recruitment agency last week (completely different person and agency from the last one) who said that his CV, skill set, experience and attitude were all fab, but he's not in NZ. He's in England. It's not impossible she said, but most employers want you to already be in NZ and won't consider offering you a job without a visa whilst being in a different country. Great.

I have read other peoples stories of getting that job offer whilst still being in the UK and even the employer willing to wait three months for visas despite never knowing anything about the system, but I'm starting to think that those jobs are much higher up on the demand list than I.T.

So now we look at more options; any options that will get us to where we want to be! As you can probably tell, I'm getting quite stressed and frustrated with all of this now! I'm so desperate to be back in Welly!

The more I think about it, the more I think it might be worth my partner going to Wellington for a couple of weeks to try and find a job. Perhaps end of September time so he can put a date on any job applications he submits now and so can line up as many interviews he can for when he is there.

If he has a return ticket and indeed uses it to come back, is it ok for him to look for work on a visitor visa?

Jenny x

Persephone

Yes, some can get jobs from the UK. It does depend on the job and how difficult employers are finding it to hire someone.

Sometimes going over to NZ can help, it would be the next step since it's unlikely you'll get a visa without a job offer. If it were me, I'd contact any possible employers prior to going and say that you were going to be in the country and would be available for interview.
I know you want to go to Welly but have you considered other areas if NZ? Treat the job as a stepping stone. Once you have residency you can change jobs [once any conditions relating to the job and visa are fulfilled].

You can legally enter NZ as a visitor and look for work, I wouldn't make it too obvious though His main reason is a holiday....
I am overseas at the moment, but would like to visit NZ and look for a job. - Immigration NZ Knowledgebase

P

Pom_Chch

My partner works in IT and had a job offer whilst still in the UK. The company is on the accredited employers list so he managed to get a Work to Residence Talent (Accredited Employer) visa, which we have now turned into permanent residency. This is in Christchurch though, where skilled IT workers are in shortage. Perhaps that could be an option? Go where IT workers are needed first and then move to your preferred area later? On the downside it's not where you want to be. On the plus side it gives you chance to explore and experience another part of NZ. All part of the adventure

Jenpen17

We have talked about it, but the problem is that our lives have been nothing but stepping stones for the last 5 years! I left a job, backpacked Oz, worked there for a bit, came back to UK, temped for 6 months (a few hours here and there, not proper work) before finding a permanent job (recession) then had to lie for two years working there because we were saving to do our round the world trip (whilst having to live with parents), quit our jobs, travelled, got jobs in NZ but only for 10 months, travelled, now back in UK (living with parents again), hardly any temp work so had to apply for permanent jobs and lie again because we are planning to immigrate asap so to now go to Auckland or somewhere for it to be 'just for now' and potentially lie again and then quit and up and leave is possibly one stepping stone too far! Wellington is the city we fell in love with and the reason we want to go back and although we're desperate to get back to New Zealand, I guess in a double standard sort of way we do want to hold out for Welly!

That quote is exactly what I was looking for but couldn't seem to find on the site so thank you! I'm not surprised that there is so much speculation around the subject on forums though because it's not really black and white is it!

With the amount of travelling we've done and the fact that we do have genuine friends living out there to go and visit, I don't think it would look too dodgy going to look for work - but keeping it quiet like you said.

So now I have two scenario ideas floating around:

Scenario 1) He tries to get two weeks off work (unfortunately this will be a push for him and there's no way he'd get any longer than that) to go out there. With lots of planning and organisation he could have as many interviews lined up as possible and also get together with all of his contacts there. Hopefully he can secure an offer, fly back to the UK to sort out the visa, hand in his notice, me sort out my partnership visa, get the EOI submitted etc and get going. Drawbacks - with a two week time limit it might not be enough to secure something and it could be a waste of time and money, although if it didn't work we still have jobs here to keep ticking along and trying. Also with all the blunders he has made so far in this entire process (he has the skills on the list, but I've got the common sense!) I'm so afraid that he will make some kind of stupid mistake that will cost us everything if I'm not there to keep an eye on him! He isn't good at articulating himself or doing thorough research and fully understanding things (hence him letting us leave NZ ensuring me that it would be a piece of cake to get back because he was sure he had enough points on the EOI and qualified for the LTSSL!) I know that sounds a bit bad, but I do love him and he honestly is very good at his job!

Scenario 2) After a few more months of saving a healthy sum of money we take the plunge and both quit our jobs, go out on tourist visas but have a return flight booked (if it all fails we use it, if we succeed we cancel it and can justify the money being lost because we bloody well made it!) I help him in looking for work (have lots of things lined up before hand as well though) without such a tight time limit, also moral support so he isn't alone convincing himself he's not good enough (he puts himself down when he shouldn't) and then when he gets the job offer he can convert his visa whilst there, I can then get my visa and look for work. Drawbacks - quitting our jobs is a huge risk obviously, also for our main intention to be to holiday we can't bring too much stuff with us, I'd be worried in case we got turned around and sent straight back on a plane, generally it's just such a massive risk! But, it could be the only thing that works...

Any thoughts?!

By the way I really don't know how I'd be getting through any of this without your help so thank you so so sooooo much! I'm sorry to be so stressy and ranting on and on!

Jenny x

MrsFychan

what does he do??

has he contacted his old employers ?

Jenpen17

Mrs F, he's in I.T. he has two diplomas but no degree (oooh that rhymed!). He does a lot of technical, hands on stuff ranging from support and solutions and is mainly involved with networks and systems. He has had a good amount of experience in managing projects and leading teams, although technically has not had a management role. He's also had a little experience as a business analyst, which was in Wellington, but isn't really enough to obtain a permanent BA role.

His skills and previous positions would definitely come under these two from the LTSSL:
Computer Network and Systems Engineer (263111)
Network Administrator (263112)

Although the list seems to indicate that you need a degree to do those jobs when you don't! He's worked his way up through experience, which for this line of work I think is better than a degree anyway.

His old employers said to him when he was working for them that they would be able to help him with visas if he wanted to stay, but he's tried contacting them a few times to take them up on that offer but they haven't got back to him. I don't think they can help him when he's in another country and no longer working for them. They were a middle-man company who contracted him out so he has been in touch with all the people he worked with on those contracts, all of whom are contractors too so they all have all sorts of connections. They've been very helpful and supportive putting in good words and passing around his CV etc, but ultimately they can't offer him a job.

Pom_Chch when he's looked at the job boards there's not much in Christchurch really, no where near as much as Wellington and Auckland. What area of I.T. does your partner work in? From looking at the job boards it looks like developers are the highest in demand. Also experienced business analysts and managers. Unless the job description strictly makes specific requirements like 5 years of solid management experience etc he is still applying for jobs that seem out of reach because, hey, you never know, it's worth a shot! He's also applying for stuff a little below his skill level and there are great network jobs that are perfect for him, but still no responses are coming

Jenny x

MrsFychan

MrF is in IT, Wellington based, albeit Management, not that he has any qualifications to show Management skills all experience related.
He to had problems from being outside the country finding work as lots of initial interviews were "lets have a coffee" interviews.
MrF claimed for a degree he had which was unrelated to IT and the job offer but was gained from an approved establishment, just meant he got fewer points for it so it may be worth looking into that and seeing if that improves the point score.
Personally I feel there are not the glut of vacancies out there in the IT field, I know someone who has been here for over 2 years in the Telecom side and has not managed to secure even a temp job. Took MrF over 6mths to move from one Company to another and has moved from a Permanent role to a 2yr contract but needed to move on.
I do know a few people who are contracting via Potentia on temp to perm visa's. so maybe worth contacting them if you haven't already done so but not sure how easy it is to uplift the temp visa to a more permanent one

Pom_Chch

There are no where near as many jobs in Chch, you are right in saying that. But also, there are no where near as many people applying for them so your partner may stand a better chance at being successful. The job my partner now has was advertised for six months in NZ with no applicants before they looked overseas. I was chatting to one of my clients the other week (she works in software development) and she mentioned Chch are crying out for skilled IT workers. I think that's a mixture of people wanting to leave because of the earthquakes and as Chch continues with the re-build more and more businesses are opening up. His exact job title is "Infrastructure Support Specialist" (your partner will prob know more about what he does than me )

We know from first hand experience that companies will be put off by you not being in the country. Our plan A worked out well and we got the job on the accredited list. Our plan B was the same as yours - save for a little longer, quit jobs and come out to NZ.

Pom_Chch

* just a correction to my previous post. When I said "no applicants" for the job my partner applied for, what I meant was no successful applicants. They had people apply and had interviews but no one suitable was found...

BEVS

Just a quick note on this.

What it means is that this is the level of qualification that the NZ immigration service will look for as a match for the occupation.

Persephone

It's because there is a difference between what ANZSCO and the SMC require to be classed as skilled and what the LTSSL requires.

Hmmmm no easy answers I'm afraid. You would have to do whichever you feel more comfortable with. Scenario 2 is more risky but may be more likely to succeed however scenario 1 is safer financially if he doesn't find a job and may just work.
I don't know much about IT work so can't help you there