I love Kiwis - good old NZIS

Just thought I'd drop this post to encourage folks.

Rang up NZIS to confirm about onward travel arrangements on a visitor visa (Claire and the Kids) and when she anwered my query and asked "is there any other questions about the immigration process you'd like to talk about" I thought, sack it......let's confirm EVERYTHING I've learnt over the last 2 years. 45 mins later she did confirm everything to be ok but a couple of things struck me.

1.) Going the WHV route was actively encouraged as being the best way to do things where possible, particularly if you're reliant on a job offer. Medicals can be done cheaper and by any healthcare professional in NZ, you can stay on top of your case officer, it's not only getting your application prioritised the time saved with postage etc. is beneficial, you have the flexibility of trying out a few jobs til you're comfortable to get your application in.

WHich is great cos I thought that whilst, it was a perfectly legitimate way of doing it, it was a bit of a back door way in exploiting a loop hole, but it seems well accepted as a good way in by NZIS.

2.) The draws they've since the rule changes (140 points blah blah) have all been below quota so most people on 100 points and EXPERIENCE, not neccessarily job offers even were selected. People with Job offers were ranked higher still, so seems like the whole 100 points or more thing is just as relevant as it was originally before the changes, at least for the time being. Good eh?

Hope that makes sense, like I say, just a pickmeup for some of our silent surfers. Buzzing after speaking on the phone to such a helpful person in NZ. Should really sleep now :icon_cool: :icon_biggrin: Had the phone on loud speaker half the time so Claire could laugh at there (cool) accent. Awesome!!! :icon_mrgreen:

I was looking at the nzis site about the whv scheme and it said you must "hold medical and comprehensive hospitalisation insurance for the length of your stay" - did/do you have to get this and at what cost?

Also, the nzis site shows that you must meet the medical/police check requirements - if you get these done and then try to get pr later will nzis still count these or would you have to get new ones again?


[quote:9216545751]Going the WHV route was actively encouraged as being the best way to do things where possible, particularly if you're reliant on a job offer. Medicals can be done cheaper and by any healthcare professional in NZ,[/quote:9216545751]
Was the nzis person you spoke to saying that medicals could be done after receiving the whv, hence in nz?

-sincerely,
Brian & April

Good post, Stevey. I'm sure a lot of people will find it useful to have confirmation of those points. :smiley20:

Hi stndrd

We don't need the insurance as the UK has a reciprocal health agreement with NZ which means healthcare will be provided for emergencies during our stay. It would still be a good idea tho I think, just to be sure. I don't know if the US has a similar agreement, I suspect not tho as they're not keen to dish out free healthcare in general are they.

Regarding medical checks....you don't need these or the police checks if you only take the 12 month WHV. Again tho, I'm not sure how it is for the US, maybe the scheme is slightly different, these things are generally reciprocal so often the rules are a tad more relaxed for UK would be immigrants given the commonwealth and sovreignty etc.

So given that information you can understand I won't be getting medical checks before I arrive so will have to get them done in NZ. Which is fine. Like I said as it's in the country any doctors surgery or hospital can do it in NZ rather than the 'panel doctors' that have to do it elsewhere in the world. Which is pretty cool.

Does that make sense? Hope this helps

Steve

Hi Stevey

Not sure if you can answer this or not, but I'll give it a go. I'm planning on heading to NZ towards the end of this year - OCt/Nov time - with my NZ partner. So, lucky me, I've got a shoe-in visa wise. Unlucky me, I have nae cash, having just been a student for the last 3 years. Anyhoo - If it were going to save me sorely needed pennies to wait till I got to NZ before applying for a working visa through the partnership route, I seriously need to consider it. From what you've said, am I understanding you correctly that it could be relatively quick and painless to get my meds and have my application processed, so I could start working without too much delay? Or is that why you'd have to be on a WHV first, because the processing might take a while? I'm trying to weigh up whether to spend the money from this end to make sure I'm able to work when I get there or try to penny pinch but risk being unable to work for 3 months. Did the conversation you had with NZIS give you any info that could help me?

Thanks so much!

Lil.

Hmmm, can't you just apply for a WHV anyway, it's only 45quid.

However, if you can afford to and are fairly confident you can get a skilled job in your chosen field that you've just been studying presumably, then maybe it's worth looking once you're there. However you will have the whole chicken and egg visa and work thing going against you do it this way, which is why the WHV is such a flexible option. I can just turn up and say look I'm ready to work.

With applying for PR before you arrive unless you're lucky and get offered a job before arriving then you'll be relying on your qualification to score you enough points, not sure what shape you are in points wise.

Back to your original question tho, I got the distict impression that it would be faster and definitely cheaper and more conveniant to apply for work permit when in NZ and get medicals etc (it shouldn't take 3 months). But you'll still need that job offer which may be hard to get without a visa of some sort. It will probably depend on what degree you've just obtained (assumingly).

Does that help? :icon_confused:

Steve

Hi Steve

Yes - that is helpful. Unfortunately, I've already had a WHV which I used to live in NZ for a year in 2001-02. And don't you need to be 30 or under? (I'm 32) I don't suppose they'd give me another year now that you're allowed 2 years on the WHV???

I was assuming that I could arrive on a visitor's visa and then apply for a work permit as the long-term partner of an NZ citizen without worrying about points and so apply for any job that was going...temping work or whatever...just in case the dream job I've been studying for doesn't come up (my degree is quite specialist, so it's a possibility!). And presumably, it would be a good idea to get police checks sorted before leaving here (UK)??

Thanks again,

Lil.

Oh Ok, bummer.

So are you applying for residency as a spuse of a kiwi essentially. Inwhich case it doesn't matter does it, you can do anything like you say. Police certs are taking 3-4 months apparently for many UK immigrants.

Crystal Lil,

Sounds like your best bet, under the circumstances, would be to enter NZ on a visitor?s visa. When you get there look for work and as soon as you get a job offer, apply for a Work Permit (shouldn?t take too long, could even only be a couple of days). That will allow you to stay in NZ and will allow you to work legally, whilst giving you some breathing space to sort everything else out.

You certainly wouldn?t be eligible for a second WHV as you?re only allowed one bite of the cherry, plus the fact that you?re over 30. I was under the impression that the police checks would take about 40 days, but perhaps Stevey?s got some inside info on that. Had a feeling that Nattydread posted something about it, but I can?t find it at the moment. Police checks last for 6 months before you'd have to do them again if you hadn't used them by that time.

soooo, can u submit EOI and then go on WHV? Can u say on EOI getting WHV and is that a good thing?

Stevey, fab post, very informative!! I will be getting Mike to read and making notes. Thanks muchly!! :icon_biggrin: