MarkMcKeown

Hi there,

Some very kind people on this forum have offered me great advice in the past so I’m going to try and call on it again!

I’m from Scotland, and have been living in Auckland for one year now. I love it here, and the intention is to stay permanently. I have a long term work visa until April 2017 and I’m about to start the process for residency.

A couple of months after moving here, I met my partner, who is from Chile but was here studying at UoA. We were together and lived together for 7 or 8 months and then she had to move back to Chile in August last year. The terms of her scholarship here in NZ meant that she had to move back to Chile (for a minimum of 2 years) to contribute to her country. So effectively she cannot work or study in any other country until August 2016.

With that in mind, we were both determined to work hard on a long distance relationship until that time expires, because she is keen to move back to New Zealand, or perhaps we might both move to Canada as she has lived there in the past and I’ve always been keen to live there for some time.

The problem is that we’re both finding long distance much harder than expected. What can I say? We are very much in love and the distance hurts like hell. We’ve seen each other twice since she left, once when we went to Scotland together in September and then I spent Xmas and NY with her family in Chile.

So let me cut to the chase. I am thinking of working here for another 6 months, and then moving to Chile for 1 year and then returning to New Zealand with her. I am a professional in the construction industry and I’m looking to get a feeling for what NZ companies attitudes are towards long-term sabbaticals or remote working. I am a very valuable employee to my company and I have a great relationship with my boss. I’m thinking of approaching him with one of two options;

1. I work here for another 6 months. I then move to Chile for 12 months and my job is kept open for me for when I return.
2. I work here for another 6 months. I then move to Chile for 12 months and continue to work for the company remotely.

Option 1 might be a reach but I know that there are competitors here in NZ who want me working for them. I don’t think my employer would want to take the risk that I return to NZ and take a job with one of them. Also, the money I could save in 6 months would see me through a year in Chile easily. My girlfriend is based in the South of Chile in a small rural village where everything is obscenely cheap.

Option 2 would be my dream. I love my job, and all I need to do it is a computer and a printer. At the end of the day I suppose it all comes down to trust, and I’d be willing to propose a trial period.

Has anyone here had experiences with long term absences from work or working from home/remotely?

Additionally, has anyone here spent any long time in South America? As a UK passport holder, I can spend up to 90 days there without a visa. I’ve read on some websites that if you want to stay longer, all you have to do is take a quick hop across the Argentinian border and back to get another 90 days all over again. I’m sceptical as to how long this would work for. I get the feeling after the 3rd or 4th attempt they would start to ask some serious questions.

Anyway, I know that’s a lot to take in but I appreciate any help anyone can offer! Thanks.

TommyLuck

Considering you have a great relationship with your boss, if I was in the same situation I would sound out the options with him/her now, if not very soon.

Option one is asking for a sabbatical, if this is the case you need to be 100% sure that you are going to return to NZ, perhaps offer to put your signature on the fact you will come back.

They should be able to tell you if it is and if so what is possible and how they'd like to or need to do it.

You're already thinking about ideas and options (trial period) which demonstrates to me that you're willing to be flexible in order to make this possible.

I think it's likely that your boss will be sympathetic to the situation and will do all they can to help.

Although neither option may be possible and if this is the case and you decide to head across the Pacific if/when you come back to New Zealand you put yourself in a very strong position to be re-recruited with your honesty, openness and pro-activity.

You also appear to have the benefit of knowing the industry and having options with competitors - employment wise you're in a strong position to leave and come back to NZ I would say, although nothing is guaranteed.


I can't impart any advice on visa restrictions in South America, I'm afraid! Although I suspect with option 2, as you'll be earning NZD's there may be some tax red tape you'd have to cut through in both NZ and Chile.

Also you might want to check the conditions for your NZ visa if you're going to be out of the country for an extended period. Having been in Auckland for a year and your stated intention to stay longer term you'll set yourself back on the PR and Citizenship front, in that you may not be able to arrange or qualify for these as soon as you might if you stayed in NZ - check and consider the potential ramifications of this.

MarkMcKeown

Hi TommyLuck,

Thanks very much for your response, it helped a lot