Tom1983

Hi All

Has anyone else been in the situation I now face

On the 2nd December, my application for residence was delivered to Wellington. As it has been 6 weeks (taking away the 2 week shutdown), I thought i'd best give the Immigration team a call to see what is going on

Ok, bit of good news, no information is missing as it is now in the box awaiting for a case officer to pick it up

The potential bad news

It could take anything from 3 to 6 months for a decision to be made. My problem, my visa expires on the 16th April 2014. As I am on a 2 and a half year WTR visa, the person I spoke to today informed me that I cannot get an extension

Great!

He did say a potential solution was that I could get a work visa but that's not easy as I came on an Accredited Employer WTR visa. Apparently there isn't an Accredited Employer work visa and there's no Visa extensions. He said that my option may be to apply for an Essential Skills but then do I encounter a problem which is that it means my company has to oblige with all the details that they've looked for someone etc and also I have to meet the requirements. This includes correct qualifications, which based on my application he's seen - i'd be more than likely to be turned down due to not having an IT qualification, forgetting the 6 years experience I have and 2 in New Zealand *angry face*

My son would have to get a visitor visa for the duration we're waiting and my wife might be able to get a partnership based work visa. The little problem is that this is a no go if I don't get approved as if I applied for her now, she'd have to leave on the 16th April due to me being the visa i'm on.

So has anyone else been in this situation I potentially find myself in? Any advice would be really helpful

Pom_Chch

Are you applying for permanent residency via the skilled migrant category, Tom?

BEVS

No. If the company is NZIS accredited then they are free to offer & keep on offering the overseas person the work without having to do the prove no NZ resident or citizen thing.

So, if you do need to extend your work visa by another 6 months or so, then that should be fine.

Your kids do the student visa thing and your wife the partnership visa form.

That lot (NZIS) want to get themselves sorted though. The accredited employer pays to gain the employees they need and so shouldn't have these types of hassles.

Neither should you.

BEVS

Please search through HERE . Which most matches your occupation.

Does your work exp exactly match what your NZ accredited employer requires?

Tom1983

Yep.

It's very vague as I do a lot more than that.

Pom, I'm applying for residency via the residence through work category. You need to have been in your job for 2 years. Just a shame that there are external requirements you need before you can send the applications off. It's far cheaper than paying around $2,000 for the skilled migrant visa.

BEVS

What is vague.

Find the occupation that most suits your job.

You will need your employer to pull for you in this. An accredited paying employer has some clout.

For clarity. Tom is applying for Residence through Work. Opposite end of WTR.

Tom1983

The information about my job - Software Tester, i'm a lead therefore do much more than that

I do a lot more than what the ANZSCO says

All my company does is provide letters, they do nothing about visas etc as that's down to me.

BEVS

If there is no occupation on the ANZSCO list that matches your job and your particular work experience prior to your arrival in NZ, then the accredited company can help the case officer understand that. Comprehensive job description from the company + letter to explain why you are The One.
IT is in shortage here in NZ,not that it comes into a WfromR application , however, if you are also now tailor made for this company , then stating that will strengthen the case
Comprehensive proof and details of your work experience + any quals you do have.
It's all about helping the CO to understand your position and so facilitate your application as the CO will be working from a base requirement.

With the skilled migrant category I feel you would come up against the degree thing. For IT roles as far as I am aware , NZIS look for degrees. Further , with the SMC you would be choosing an occupation from the skilled occupation list as per the ANSCO listing.

The Case Officer is being simplistic . This is not a SMC application matching exercise . This is a WTR application with an NZ accredited employer.

If a tanker driver can gain residency for their extra skill and pay , then you should be able to also.

I will tweak this thread title for you & drop it down into the main forum for a while. Those in IT might be best placed to say what has and has not been acceptable to NZIS.

TheCockneyKiwi

Tom - I would be interested to see what happens as I will be in the same boat in a couple of years.

I seem to recall that you can apply for an Interim visa whilst a major application is being processed??

http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migra...rimvisafaq.htm