crumpy10

I have seen a couple of posts where they say that the immigration lot will accept a letter from the EWRB to say that they will register them when they get to NZ,

is this still acceptable?

does OH still have to get provisional registration first or does the letter superseed this?????

if anyone can help clear up my confusion it would be great.....

Thanks

Anna

dave77

Hi Anna,

I'm going through all this at the moment, so I may not be a 100% correct!

Basically, once you send off your qualifications to EWRB they will issue with a letter informing you that you will be offered a provisional license. They will also state what exams you need to take to be able to get full registration (I believe you have a year to do this once they issue you with a provisional license)

This letter is what you send off with your ITA as proof of registration

You can't actually get your provisional license until you have secured employment in NZ, your employer should support this and will sign your application to say that they will supervise your work whilst working under a provisional license. I think the Health & safety course will need to be done before a provisional license is issued (I might be wrong on that but thats the assumption I'm going on!)

Nick Chandler is the guy to talk to, he is running a course at NZ house in early October, otherwise he is based in Auckland if you wish to use him in NZ - it will be much cheaper than the UK course too

HTH - let me know if you have any more quistions

crumpy10

Hi Dave

Are you self employed over here? reason i ask is because we have been self employed for the past 6 yrs, since OH left the RAF, so are finding it a minefield to be able to do the employer references side of things.

and also, when are you able to go self employed in NZ? can we just arrive and get started? (me thinks it wont be quite that easy!)

OH has been in contact with Nick Chandler earlier this year, so he is putting together an email this weekend.

thanks for replying though, its good to know we are not alone!

Anna

Flower Pot

Hi
Daves right, thats what we did.
OH has been employed here for a wk now. We just provided our case offficer with the letter saying prov reg would be granted once employed.
OH was also self employed in UK but only for 1.5 yrs, he managed to get a ref from his previous employer and also a company he did some self employed maintenance for.
Been through the whole shebang so any Q's I'd be happy to help, it can be very daunting!

dave77

Well done Flowerpot!! I knew there was someone else on here whose OH had been self employed, just couldn't remember your name!! I blame old age

dave77

Sorry Anna, I've never been self employed and guess this puts a different perspective on things. It would definitely be worth asking Nick Chandler about the references and how the provisional license would work for a self employed spark.

Best of luck, where are you heading btw?

crumpy10

Hi Dave, we are heading hopefully for the north island, not too sure where though!

how about you?

we are just waiting for monday to come so nick will pick up his mail! so frustrating when you need answers over the weekend!

I think if anyone is to know its bound to be him, i will let you know what he says, as soon as we get the info, as it will undoubtedly help others....

Thanks for the help.

Anna

dave77

Hey again!

I'm waiting for it all to be confirmed but looks like we should be heading for the 'deep south'

Yes the weekends a killer, you never know you may hear tonight

It might just be that your hubby will get his full registration as soon as he completes his exams etc. there must be something in place for people going down the self employed route

Let me know how you get on, good luck!

KevinS

Hi, I have been trying to get the EWRB to give me a practising license since I got here to no avail. I am ex-RAF (ground electrician) did an ONC at college and have worked as an Electrical engineer for the past 30 years. I didn't have enough specific documentation to fulfill their requirements, and as all my electrical work was done eons ago I was unable to obtain the details they wanted. They required the type of light fittings and sockets I had installed, they eventually suggested I work as an apprentice for an electrical company for 2 years to get the required "experience".
Make sure you get as much detailed information as you can, and if you don't have house bashing experience you will really struggle to get any recognition at all, this may hopefully change if they adopt a new regulation structure.
Also the weird thing I found was that my qualifications and experience were assessed by the NZQA, cost me $600 and was supposed to prove I was qualified to work here. I was assessed as having the equivalent of an NZCE in Electrical/Electronic engineering - believe it or not the EWRB do not recognise the NZQA assessment
I worked with electrical companies over here and eventually started my own Limited company, only way to get a decent wage to be honest. I will restart my business when I return to the UK next year.
Good luck with the venture and remember you can't have too much evidence.

crumpy10

Hi

We had an email from the immigration lot, who have stated that a letter from the EWRB saying that they will register OH will be fine. (dont know why they dont just put that on that pink piece of paper as well...)

we now have the problem that is if we are approved we may only get WTR and 3 months to move, this is just not possible, trying to wrap up a business, sell house and go is silly!

the only way round it is to get a job offer, but cant think how thats going to happen, so we have emailed immi again and hope the nice lady there can shed some light on things.

OH has RAF history, as avionics mechanic for 13 yrs, so thats got to stand for something?

how come your coming back to the UK? (if you dont mind me asking?)

thanks for the info though,

Anna

KevinS

Hi,
Many reasons for going back, I work as a Control Systems Engineer. I got on a plane in 2003 and flew over here and got a job offer from an Electrical company - took a lot of knocking on doors but did get a letter of intent in the end.
We came over in late 2003, we stayed with my wife's sister until we got our own place, the pay I got was roughly half what I earned in England but the tax and mortgage rate was much higher, hated where we were living got ripped off by builders and estate agents, so upped and moved areas - more expensive to live in Wellington (house prices). The only way I can earn enough money is to work abroad, there is very little industry here so not much call for my skills - so I am away in Oz or the UAE for months at a time, not the plan when we came here. My daughters can't get work, my youngest has been trying for almost 4 years and no one will give her a chance, she has no friends here.
I am being offered work in the UK on a regular basis, houses are cheaper and with my own business in the UK I will be financially better off. We came too late in life (I was 43) and with insufficient funding.
Have you been here before? If not I must advise you to do that before selling up, has many people say on this forum - the grass isn't always greener.
If you need any more info on work/ living private message your email and I will try and give you some more detailed info.

Good Luck

princey

Hi

If your intending to do the NZQA to be registered as an Electrician in NZ i wouldnt bother doing the course at NZ house in London with Nick Chandler, he is a helpful guy but really he is manipulating uk sparkys, it cost me £300 for a 1 day course and i ended up doing the same course as part of my college course in christchurch anyway of $2500 ( £1000) which cost me best part so i ended up paying twice.

keith