work to residence visa
 

Hey everyone,

I was just doing some browsing about how long (on average) it takes for a selected EOI changes to an ITA, and saw one post stating " it can take nearly two years from the EOI selected to actually getting a work to residence visa"... is this true??

I would hope it was faster than that as if I get a job offer in NZ the employer would never wait that long/ my funds would be used up and I would not be able to stay in NZ that long with only a 6 month visitor visa..

any information is greatly appreciated!

cheers

Paul

Re: work to residence visa
 

Hi there,

I hope the information I give is correct, if not feel free to correct me!!

I don't know about the time scale for EOI's but from just reading on the Government, Immigration site if you are applying under the work to residence visa you don't need to supply a EOI, you need to meet the rquirements of the catagory under which you apply ie; Talent (Acredited employers), Talent Arts, Culture and Sport or under the LTSSL.

EOI's as I see it only need to be submitted if your applying under the SMC visa.

Hope this info is useful and correct, advise if i'm wrong!!

Re: work to residence visa
 

Karen,

It's my understanding that the EOI is the first step to getting the WTR visa under the skilled migrant category...

There is only one visa, the WTR... there is not a SMC visa, it's just a category that you can apply under

Paul

Re: work to residence visa
 

Karen is correct. EOIs are used to apply under the SMC and not for the WTR visa.
Some of the confusion may be because NZIS have two WTR visas which are both completely different [though looking on the NZIS website today it seems that one of them is now called a SMC job search visa which should help!]

The WTR visa is not connected to the SMC or involves an EOI. It involves a job offer which fits certain conditions and the applicant is granted a temporary work visa. After they have worked in this job for 24 months then they can apply for residency. This may be where the 2y that Elasmo mentioned comes from?

Elasmo, if you apply via the SMC and send in an EOI, get selected, receive an ITA and return this then NZIS will decide on what to issue. They may issue a resident visa [ie residency], decline your application or a WTR visa [now job search]. This WTR visa is a temporary work visa which allows you to travel to NZ and spend 9m looking for suitable work. Once you have found a job and worked for 3m then you can convert this to a resident visa. Not the same as the above WTR visa!
So yes the EOI is the first step to a WTR visa under SMC but it is also the first step to a resident visa. There are two visas that may be issued under the SMC, not one.
From what I can gather WTR visas are generally issued to those who need occupational registration but cannot gain it prior to starting work. Though that is only my opinion from those who are on this forum. You can be issued residency straight off under the SMC without a job offer in place [I did and so did many others on here]
Does this make more sense to you???

Re: work to residence visa
 

it does Persephone, thanks for clearing that up!

:thumbup: