Dolph

Hi all. My first post, and I'm hoping someone can give me a bit of helpful advice

I'm currently living in the UK, and I work in the North Sea on a month on/month off basis. I'd love to emigrate to NZ, but at the same time I don't want to leave my job as it pays rather well.

Do you think it would be feasible? I've been told that I'd have a major problem getting a visa, as I'm not actually getting employment in NZ. I would have thought that so long as I was willing to pay my taxes to the NZ government, they wouldn't be bothered where I was working, so long as I was in gainful employment and not going to be a burden on their system.

I'm just looking at coming over on my own, no family, and have a long term girlfriend living in NZ. We're already looking at buying a place together, but as yet don't fulfil the requirements for a partnership visa.

Thanks in advance for any tips, advice, suggestions, or otherwise.

M_and_M

I suggest you checkout immigration New Zealand to check you could even get residency and citizenship. It's calculated on a points system.

Genesis

Apparently some bloke in the Met Police lived in Oz...he did 'compacted hours' and did one month on one month off. You would not really need any visa either until you wished to stay for more than six months eh? Not sure about reciprocal medical stuff if you did it that way, but I am sure you could get your travel/med insurance one month at a time when you are in NZ.

You would also benefit from the cheap flights you would get booking from the UK. Alas all flights to the UK from NZ are much, much more expensive than the other way round...another kiwi rip off alas.

Bo-Jangles

Assuming that hypothecally you obtained a visa (doubtful) how many times would you be on and offshore per year. You have to fulfill certain criteria. i.e spend 184 days per year in any country to be considered a resident.

The jetlag would be a killer and for that reason alone I would not even contemplate such a plan.

whitesand

This is a tricky one. If your girlfriend lives in NZ then I imagine you will be able to come here at any time, so why doesn't she come to Europe and you could get a place somewhere nearer your work and enjoy the opportunities that your job brings by travelling around Europe or other places nearer home.

londonbee

The government views tax as an obligation not a benefit of visa application so a successful applicant will have to demonstrate economic and social benefit beyond the paying of his dues.

You have 4 options to live in NZ
1) marry your GF (the best I say as she is LT)
2) work in NZ gas industry (Taranaki etc)
3) get another job in NZ
4) start a business in NZ

beyond that there aren't many options (I know, we got our NZ business visas after a 12 month application last year)

jmh

What sort of work do you do? If it is the sort that would draw in good money in the mining sector in Oz, you could consider a fly-in fly-out job there. Plenty of kiwis do it.

Bo-Jangles

Actually thinking about it, I don't know why you need a visa at all, if you're working one month on, one month off and will be just visiting NZ in between and you're not expecting to work here, that should be fine.

Nothing at all to to stop you having property or a home here. You'll likely need to fulfil the UK residency requirement of being in the country however many days a year it is, but should be doable.

Woodlea

Hi Dolph,
As you want to emigrate then it is not doable, it would be OK to be a visitor but you'd never get residency unless through your GF. Bear in mind that you wouldn't get citizenship as you have to be in the country for 270 days in each of the 5 years prior to applying. I wanted to keep my old job in ABZ and commute, but it is too far, I commuted to the Middle East for a while but that was too far from NZ too. What rig/boat/platform are you on?

sr71

Not really a problem, loads of people commute like this these days. I do Australia to Singapore at least once a month, with 4 USA trips in the last year on top of that. Plenty of our US based staff commute once a month to Singapore from New York and London.

Dolph

Hey. Thanks for all the replies. Guess it looks like I'll just be a long range commuter for a few years, and otherwise have nothing to worry about.

One more question tho. Which country would I be liable to tax in?

Quick answer to a few of your questions. I'm a freelance saturation diver. I work from various boats, no fixed installations these days.

Jet lag? Not a problem. I work shifts, and my body clock has to reset every time I go to work.

londonbee

If you plan to live in NZ, whether on an itinerant basis as described or permanently - you will need a visa. You *will* get stopped on future entries at the border and they will refuse you entry as your movements will be suspicious.

As for tax, you will pay tax in the UK even if you live most of your time in NZ as HMRC will claim you have not severed ties with your home country.

You sound enthusiastic now but I bet after several months of doing it the travel and uncertainty will wear you down. I suggest you reconsider what you're doing and seek out deep-sea work in NZ.

Dolph

Argh! 2 steps forward and 1 step back. Thanks for your input LondonBee.

I'm heading offshore in a couple of days time, then planning another trip out to NZ to visit my girl after that. Hoping I can get in to see INZ in Auckland to see what options are open to me.

londonbee

You missed a trick when the Rena hit the rocks off the Bay of Plenty
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/ar...ectid=10777946

In fact, the wreck is still there and will be so for a few years so maybe ongoing work.

simonsi

Apply for an NZ visitor visa?? From last time I looked it allows you 18mths in-country over a 3yr period. As you will be (roughly) 1month on, 3 weeks off, 1 week travel you should be OK for just under 50% of your time in NZ. Agree that trying to do this using the UK visitor waiver will flag up questions /refusal on the 3/4/5th entry...

Use the time to build up your relationship history being VERY clear when you apply that you have only worked off-shore (so don't base your service company in NZ - although you could equally base it in the tax-haven of your choice I suspect), despite having shared accomodation and bills with your LTGF....your residency application <might> be a bit of an unusual case so maybe worth getting an immi lawyer/specialist to advise now to make sure you tread the required path to the letter....