karonious

School telephoned the other day to see if we had any other verification of our residency than just the sticker in the girl's passport. Well, I knew there was the letter that came with the visas so I eventually dug it out.
Ahem
We were meant to keep in touch and tell them any change of address - have moved twice from the original address
We were meant to inform them once I had been in work for 3 months and before 7 months to the section 18A conditions could be removed.
Well, it's done now but surely I can't be the only one to have been completely oblivious to this? I don't recall anyone else mentioning it so if you came on a resident's visa, may be worth looking at

Boopy

I had to continue work at Welly hosp for 3 months to validate our PR. Counted the days down as I didn't have a good experience there, after 3 months left, once restrictions were removed.

lardyl

Our 3 months is about due and we had a letter from the NZIS that came along with the passports to remind us - the kind lady that handed me the passports in the Henderson (W Auckland) office also reminded me and as it is near to when MrsL will reduce her hours then it will be done within the next few weeks.
FYI - we would have had enough points even if neither of us had a job and even with me as primary applicant we would have been OK, but the processing times meant that MrsL had to go back and get her job made back into full-time on the proviso that it could be part-time again!! Confused? - you will be!!!!!!

SirEglamore

Aaaaarrgghhhhh.......... thanks Karon

karonious

That's a relief - I'm not the the only after all!

mickey_d

No you're not, we're really stressed now & we've been here 11 months

karonious

Sorry, didn't mean to upset anyone, just wanted to find out if anyone else had forgotten too. In fact, it's not forgotten, I don't remember ever hearing about it or being told either. They can't be too bothered or they would make a bigger fuss about it. I guess the problem would come when you wanted to leave the country and had to produce your passport.
My initial letter requires:
a letter on headed notepaper from my employer confirming my employment with them for 3 months, signed by a person authorised to confirm employment.
copies of recent pay slips.
a recent bank statement confirming employment or an IRD summary of earnings.
a covering letter from me specifying I am requesting the removal of section 18A conditions including my contact details.

I got my secretary to furnish all those details and drop it off on his way to his full-time employment - thanks Steve

happynz

At my daughter's current primary school it was just a case of living in the school zone and showing proof like an electric bill. Student visa was never asked. I guess it depends on the school. The previous primary school she went to, Elmwood Normal School, wanted to see her student visa and the electric bill. That was about it.
It seems like you have your child in a school with an uptight front office.

karonious

The uptight front office is correct. They also posted me a $20 bill for her music lessons that we think we had already paid. Of course, there is no receipt to be found
I love the phrase 'Normal School'! It's so Kiwi!

RobClubley

Er, ooops! 18 months and no contact with them! I vaguely remembered something about doing a survery after six months but never heard from them then moved house and forgot about it!

mickey_d

Did you have the 18A conditions removed from your visa, ie. proof of working for 3 months etc. & contacting them before 7 months?

RobClubley

I don't recall having conditions on our visas!

mickey_d

Probably depends on the type of visa.

Kimi-Deacon

Just checked our PR visas and there arent any restrictions on them. We were just told in our letter that we had to contact an immigration officer in the area that we choose to live in, just to let them know our address.

mickey_d

If it mentions section 18a on your visa, you will need to contact immigration when you have an address, then let them know when you have worked for 3 months before you have been in NZ for 7 months, just like we didn't. We just forgot about it with doing up & selling the house etc. in the UK & we didn't get to NZ until almost a year after getting the letter.

Don't miss this as we did, as we went through 36 hours of hell on Thursday/Friday, being told by the first person we spoke to, we would most probably have to leave NZ Thats all you want to hear when you've just bought a house!!!!
All sorted now though after we spoke to someone else, but be warned, it's a very serious matter.
We have also told immigration it would be good to have a reminder about this in their welcome packs etc. the only literature you ever get on this is on your visa acceptance letter & if like us you may be too excited to take much notice of the important bit on page 3