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Was on temp work visas - Help to return to NZ

Was on temp work visas - Help to return to NZ

Old Sep 5th 2015, 1:48 pm
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Question Was on temp work visas - Help to return to NZ

Hi,
I am a newbie to using any sort of forum at all, so please be gentle with me!
I am currently going through a process with the NZ Ombudsman where they are investigating a complaint about Immigration New Zealand's processes. I won't bore you with the details but basically it looks like NZ immigration inadvertently processed my partnership temporary work visa application, as an independent application and awarded me a 3 year open work visa, with no conditions stated on either the visa in my passport or the supporting documentation sent to me. I am trying to find someone who has been issued a temporary work visa as the partner of someone who already holds an NZ work visa, to see if the wording on the letter or visa stamp differs from what I have been issued. If anyone is willing to provide a scan of their letter and passport visa (personal details blanked out of course) then I would be extremely grateful. The outcome of this Ombudsman process, will determine whether or not we are able to return to NZ to live and work (for the 3rd time - don't ask! Children are complicated!). Thanks for reading
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Old Sep 5th 2015, 8:15 pm
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Default re: Was on temp work visas - Help to return to NZ

Hi Charlotte, I can't help with your specific request but just wanted to welcome you to the forum Fingers crossed someone can help!
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Old Sep 6th 2015, 4:03 am
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Default re: Was on temp work visas - Help to return to NZ

Hello and welcome to BE! We're quite tame on here. really!

I am a little confused. I was under the belief that if you are the partner of someone with a NZ work visa then you get offered an open work visa for the same length of time as your partner's. I'm not sure what conditions you would have on that apart from the length of time.
Maybe I'm reading this wrong?

You wouldn't be awarded an 'open' work visa independently, they all have to be attached to a job
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Old Sep 6th 2015, 6:13 am
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Default re: Was on temp work visas - Help to return to NZ

Originally Posted by Persephone
Hello and welcome to BE! We're quite tame on here. really!

I am a little confused. I was under the belief that if you are the partner of someone with a NZ work visa then you get offered an open work visa for the same length of time as your partner's. I'm not sure what conditions you would have on that apart from the length of time.
Maybe I'm reading this wrong?

You wouldn't be awarded an 'open' work visa independently, they all have to be attached to a job
Hi, yes I was awarded an open visa where the only restriction was that it had the end date of my husbands. Whilst in NZ the company that my husbands visa was tied to, ceased trading, but as my son was struggling to settle due mainly to being issued a 3 year student visa (1 week before his 18th birthday) that he was too old to use for domestic education, we decided to return to the UK. I had a permanent job and before we left I asked if my visa remained valid until it's end date and if i would be able to return before it expired. I was advised before we left, and twice when we returned that my visa was an open visa and could apply for jobs in NZ. I did this and secured a job offer to return to NZ. It was only when we applied for a partnership visa for my husband, and the same advisor we had previously dealt with, saw the application, I was advised that my visa was not valid and had expired when my husband's circumstances changed. I am now trying to establish if there should have been some conditions detailed in the documents I received, as no reference was ever made to the partnership element which meant that even NZ immigration staff both in NZ and London failed to identify this status. I hope this helps, but basically I'm trying to establish how I was so wrongly advised by so many staff, right up to the point I had resigned my job in the Uk, booked removers and identified a rental property in NZ. Thanks
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Old Sep 6th 2015, 6:33 am
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Default re: Was on temp work visas - Help to return to NZ

gosh what a dilemma, my understanding that all visa's gained off the back of a main applicant have to adhere to the main applicants conditions, so if the main applicants conditions change then so do the visa's attached to the main applicants, as that was how those visa's were obtained and not under their own criteria, if that makes sense
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Old Sep 6th 2015, 12:16 pm
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Default re: Was on temp work visas - Help to return to NZ

Originally Posted by bourbon-biscuit
Hi Charlotte, I can't help with your specific request but just wanted to welcome you to the forum Fingers crossed someone can help!
Thanks
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Old Sep 6th 2015, 12:33 pm
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Default re: Was on temp work visas - Help to return to NZ

Originally Posted by MrsFychan
gosh what a dilemma, my understanding that all visa's gained off the back of a main applicant have to adhere to the main applicants conditions, so if the main applicants conditions change then so do the visa's attached to the main applicants, as that was how those visa's were obtained and not under their own criteria, if that makes sense
Yes, that makes sense and when we applied for my partnership visa that was our understanding. However, when the documentation and visa in the passport did not state any link whatsoever to my husband's visa's conditions, I thought that maybe the only restriction was the duration not being in excess of my husband's. It was only when we were deciding whether to return to the UK that I sought clarification, first from INZ in New Zealand, then again, just to be sure before I started applying for jobs in order to return, with INZ in London. I was advised verbally and twice by email that there were no restrictions on my visa other than the expiry date. On that basis I went ahead and obtained a job offer. Even when we submitted my husbands partner application, INZ in London telephoned him to suggest applying for a longer visa, and he actually had to raise with them the fact that the partner visa could not exceed the expiry date of my visa. They said everything was fine and that they were sending the application to the next department for processing and sending back to us. It was only at this final stage that the advisor who had dealt with our previous applications saw the application and stopped it. I honestly think if it hadn't gone via this advisor, the application would have been processed without query. What I'm trying to establish is why we're so many advisors and departments, both in NZ and the UK, unable to spot that my visa was a partnership visa and provide me with such wrong advice on so many occasions. I suspect that it was mistakenly processed as an independent application and this is why none of their staff could see a problem. Unfortunately, I don't know what a partnership application letter wording looks like to know if this was indeed the case. This is what I am hoping someone who has received the same visa might be able to tell me.

Last edited by Charlotte68; Sep 6th 2015 at 12:38 pm.
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Old Sep 6th 2015, 7:25 pm
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Default re: Was on temp work visas - Help to return to NZ

that's the reason for the second check, to make sure everything is above board, doesn't help you though, I think you could probably make a formal complaint against the first CO.

I'm going to tweak the title and hopefully someone with the relevant visa will be along soon to help.
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Old Sep 7th 2015, 5:37 am
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Default re: Was on temp work visas - Help to return to NZ

Originally Posted by MrsFychan
that's the reason for the second check, to make sure everything is above board, doesn't help you though, I think you could probably make a formal complaint against the first CO.

I'm going to tweak the title and hopefully someone with the relevant visa will be along soon to help.
Many thanks
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Old Sep 7th 2015, 11:26 pm
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Default re: Was on temp work visas - Help to return to NZ

You are using the term 'partner'. Is your husband an NZ citizen or resident please? Or are you both from overseas i.e. the UK for instance.


edit ....

Ah! I see what case you are trying to argue.

I will try to come back to this later on.

For the time being.

What is your occupation and is the prospective NZ employer accredited or otherwise eligible to offer you a job. Is your occupation on any of the shortage lists please?

Last edited by BEVS; Sep 7th 2015 at 11:33 pm.
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Old Sep 8th 2015, 5:37 am
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Default re: Was on temp work visas - Help to return to NZ

Hi,
My 'partner' is my husband, who is also a UK applicant. He had already been granted a 3 year work visa with a specific employer.

I am a Clinical Academic Training manager at a uK university medical school - not an occupation on the skills shortage lists unfortunately. The job offer I received was from Capital & Coast DHB in Wellington, who are an accredited employer. My husbands occupation is not on the lists either.

Thanks.

Last edited by Charlotte68; Sep 8th 2015 at 5:40 am.
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Old Oct 14th 2015, 12:19 am
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Default Re: Was on temp work visas - Help to return to NZ

Hi Charlotte68

I will have a look at our paperwork as my husband got his visa as my partner and on my visa it clearly states I can only work in Auckland with the Employer and the Job I was given but on my husbands visa it says he can work anywhere in NZ with any Employer.

It was a joint application as I was offered a job while in the UK not even thinking about a move to NZ so it went through as Essential Skills as my Employer tried for a year to find someone in NZ with no joy.

What does the letter look like that you are looking for?

Thanks
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Old Oct 14th 2015, 1:09 am
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Default Re: Was on temp work visas - Help to return to NZ

Originally Posted by bramble22
Hi Charlotte68

I will have a look at our paperwork as my husband got his visa as my partner and on my visa it clearly states I can only work in Auckland with the Employer and the Job I was given but on my husbands visa it says he can work anywhere in NZ with any Employer.

It was a joint application as I was offered a job while in the UK not even thinking about a move to NZ so it went through as Essential Skills as my Employer tried for a year to find someone in NZ with no joy.

What does the letter look like that you are looking for?

Thanks
This is correct.

You were principle applicant and tied to the job offer . With a temp work visa there is an end date after which one would need to renew.
Your OH is given an open work visa under family stream & so could remain in a job, any job , for the same length of time as your own work visa. After which they would also have to renew.

However, the issue comes with entry and re-entry to New Zealand.

If your OH changes work , then he must let NZIS know.
They will either wish him to take up a new permit or apply for a variation of conditions.

For yourself with the open work visa, you would still need to reapply for a new visa once the expiry date becomes due.

If you both leave NZ and do not return then NZIS would see that as a visa expiry. What they would do would be to look at your OH visa dates as main applicant. See he no longer works for the specified employer and so rendering the visa invalid. As your own visa was issued on the 'back' of his, yours would also become invalid.

Last edited by BEVS; Oct 14th 2015 at 1:15 am.
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Old Oct 14th 2015, 1:21 am
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Default Re: Was on temp work visas - Help to return to NZ

The confusion here is that the OP feels she was given incorrect information about how , when and if her own open work visa would expire if her circumstances changed. Her circumstances did change as she returned to the UK so the temporary visa became invalid.

I am not sure why she didn't simply know that it would be a brand new application based on a new job offer with an accredited employer & that the way to go was to uplift a temp work visa as the main applicant with her husband this time gaining the open work visa on the back of her application.

As the employer is accredited , they should have really known the correct procedure and advised her accordingly.
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