tiger mama

I'll try to keep this brief:

- My OH needs a job offer to get a PR visa

- Job hunting has been brick wall after brick wall as noone wants to know with no visa in the pipeline

- Found a Chch recruitment consultant who has interviewed OH in person and says he is confident he can line him up with a job now that he has met him, and get round the visa situ by saying that an immigration consultant with a near 100% success rate has forms all ready to submit and has assessed that we should be granted a visa upon receipt of a job offer. He says that's pretty much the only way he can convince the employers to take a risk on someone overseas with no visa to show for themselves.

- The immi adviser he works with and has recommended has assessed us and condfident we will get a visa with a job offer, so we've decided to grit our teeth and stomach the huge expense as it seems the only way.

- Before investing any money we told adviser about situation with my eldest child's birth father (in a nutshell never been involved in life, his choice, not on birth certificate and no parental responsibility, solicitor says legally he doesnt have to be consulted or provide consent as not on birth cert, birth father showed flicker of interest recently via one belligerent email saying he wanted access but has not followed it up, done that twice before years ago and did not follow up then either so confident he isnt going to bother)

- Immi adviser is insisting we get birth father written consent before he takes on the case, even though it is not a legal requirement for us to do so, and even though we have been told by nz house that they will process our visa without

- Long story to explain why but this is not an option we can consider, so unless he has a turnaround we are stuck

.....so feeling defeated, is it the end of the road? Any words of advice? Before anyone suggests it, unfortunately OH can't get over to NZ to job hunt or interview in person. The meeting with the rec consultant took place in UK.

MrsFychan

forget the advisor and spend the money on getting you OH out here and looking for work himself. lots of employers don't understand it is offer first then visa and just explaining it to them often gets over that hurdle, the Immigration agent damn well knows that but will butter it up that you can over overcome with his help, you don't.
My hubby came for a reccy holiday, landed on the Tuesday, Interview on the Friday and was working on the Monday.

Persephone

Agree with MrsF. Forget the advisor. I don't know how much they've quoted you but from costs others have posted on here it is often cheaper to buy return flights to NZ to look for a job than pay for an advisor
You can do the visa stuff yourself especially as the advisor is telling you to take a course of action that could cause more problems for you ie needing the birth father's permission. If NZIS have said you don't need it, then don't give the father something to bargain with [that is a euphemism for cause trouble]

How about you telling the employers yourselves that you have the forms all ready to submit and are good to go? Unfortunately they do not know the visa system so need they need educating on this.

tiger mama

We did talk about him going over for a reccy instead as the cost for that plus accommodation would be about the same as an immigration adviser. However he'd need interviews lined up before he went otherwise it could he a completely wasted trip and that's the only time he could ever afford to do it. But no agent or employer will even consider him because of the lack of visa, even though in his covering letter he explains that we will be eligible for a PR visa and this will be processed quickly as soon as a job offer is received. So how is he to get through to people and get them to interview him in order to make a trip worthwhile? Because if he just lands on nz soil with no plan he wouldn't know where to start.

MrsFychan

lot's of other people do it and its not a problem once you are here to get interviews (?) sorry forgot what industry he is in ?

I know its another cost but he could get a temp work visa until the ITA goes through, that's what my husband did, was issued the same day he applied so was able to start work the next working day. He actually didn't come home from his reccy tour.

If you can see job suitable on Trademe then I would say apply for them stating that you are willing to come over for the interview. get onto some agencies and ask them about prospects of interviews as soon as he arrives

BEVS

Forget the adviser and certainly do not open up a further can of worms with regards your ex. at this time.

( I'm still confused as to that situation. He is not on the birth cert. but is in your lives somehow, as has your personal email addy & knows your plans. )


So. Tigermama need a job offer. With that it will be a temp work visa. From that , if they meet the criteria they could apply for residency.

To save us all from looking back through your posts, put up a precis of what your OH does for a living please. His quals. His work exp. etc.

Snap Shot

OP I realise you have family issues but you might just have to make that leap of faith and come to NZ to find work. Easier said than done, I accept.

It's galling, I know, that some people get their job offers prior to leaving the UK, sometimes swiftly, then apply for a visa and it's a 'done deal'. MrsFychan's husband got his employment sorted really quickly on arrival in NZ. You, in turn, will have your story.

Our emigration to NZ was not a smooth process (more like a badly written soap opera or slow motion car crash dependant on your point of view), and I'm still out of work and unsettled even now.

OK, I'm married to a kiwi so that's the visa sorted. Please believe me, that's ALL it sorted.

To be blunt, what happens when two years or more have gone by and you still might be waiting for the job offer/visa situation to resolve itself ? Would you just chuck in all your plans ? Is that fear enough to motivate you ? When we purchased our house here in NZ I asked myself, 'how would you feel if you lost it ?' i.e. another buyer beat us to it. I couldn't get the second viewing done and the offer made fast enough ! In September, we will have lived in this house for 2 years.

moonie2011

We spent 2 years looking for a job, OH had 3 telephone interviews. It was only the last one where he asked 'do you understand your visa system.' They replied 'no'. He explained that we would qualify for a temp or WTR visa and current immigration times were 5-10 days and hey presto, he got the job.

Believe you me I know who you feel, 3times in that 2yrs I said enough is enough but each time another glimmer of hope was put in front of us and we carried on.

It is I'm afraid a long journey of job application, emails and phone calls

Good luck

Assanah

Did you talk to a UK lawyer and make sure that the birth father has no parental rights and no say in where his child will live? Just to be on the safe side. If he has rights and you take the child to another country without his consent then you could be in trouble.

tiger mama

Thanks all. I think with regards to going on a reccy and meeting employers he would do it buy just not sure how to actually go about meeting them if he can't get past the barrier of recruitment agents all saying "computer says no".

I would so love to drop everything and go out there and take a chance and so admire those who've done it. But with three kids and a few debt repayments to stay on top of we just cannot afford to have that gap of no income sadly.

It is reassuring to hear that with perseverance people have got there eventually - it does just feel like you are bashing your head against a brick wall doesn't it!

Son's bio father has never met him (his choice) and had no involvement whatsoever (does not pay child support either). He has my email address still from when he knew me around the time my son was born, I haven't changed it. He doesn't know about our plans, it was just a horribly timed coincidence.

Yes we've spoken to a solicitor (two in fact) and confirmed he has no legal rights as not on the birth cert and thus we don't need his consent to emigrate legally.

OH is a CIMA qualified senior management accountant/finance manager with 8 years public sector experience.

Thank you again for your advice

Snap Shot

Yeah, I realise there's reasons why you can't just up sticks and hope for a safe landing (Like we did )

My husband is a Senior Management Account/Finance Manager, Public Sector background. He works for an nz govt. department now but I wouldn't wish our story on a family with kids. Unless they think our slow motion car crash was some sort of adventure.

tiger mama

Sorry you had such a rough ride to get there! Glad he's found a role now. Is the public sector quite wary of migrants? He has been told there are good opportunities in Chch at the moment as they are in need of finance folk to get involved with the rebuild but so far nothing has turned into anything.

I emailed the migration adviser this morning to tell him our position on his advice and he has responded saying he understands and is happy to work with us nevertheless. Maybe my OH was being a pessimist. So we are going to mull this over again now....

MrsFychan

have you looked on Trademe for jobs?

lots of ex pats I know seem to work in finance here in Wellington, not sure what level but may be worth a look.

as already said, save your money your really don't need an advisor, glad we ditched ours before formally hiring him cos half the things he told us where incorrect when we checked with London Immigration. I know the phone can be a pound a minute, unless you use the cheap line - see my signature, but calling those that actually deal with applications is going to be cheaper than a advisor who will basically just collate all the paper work you give him.

AndyEvs

I can understand why people want to use an advisor the whole process can seem impenatrable, but seriously save your money. There are enough people on this site who have done it recently that you can get all the advice you need for free here. We did it in 2003/04 so it has probably changed a bit since then but I know I had to read a lot of stuff and get really organised but the actual process was well within my 'ability'.

Snap Shot

Thanks for your support even though it's your thread !

I should probably shut my gob but that's what we were told when we lived in Christchurch 3 weeks after the Feb 2011 earthquake. The exhortation from employment agencies at least was, 'help us rebuild Christchurch'. However, as you already know, nothing has turned into anything.

Would you consider looking for work elsewhere in NZ with the ultimate goal of living in Christchurch one day ?

Good luck.