Visiting NZ after visas granted, but before moving

Our residence visas were granted about a month ago.

Two of the four of us are planning to fly over in mid-November, to try to find a place to live and make other preparations prior to actually moving.

Does anyone know if it's possible to make a trip like that without activating our residence visas? I would rather not start the 3-month must-start-work clock ticking until later if I don't have to. We will of course have return air tickets in hand, so it doesn't seem like it should be a problem, but I'd like to know for sure.

Hi,

If the residency visa is in your passport, then thats the one they will activate as it takes priority over any other visa. I wouldnt worry too much about the working thing, no one we've come across has ever been checked up on! Did you get residency without a job?

What I was hoping they could do is just stamp our passports with a visitor's permit.

I had a job offer before the residence visas were issued, so they have the Sec 18A limitation -- "must take up offer of employment within 3 months of the grant of the first residence visa, and must remain in that employment for at least 3 months".

Do they have separate lines in the immigration / customs area for visitors and for people who are having residence permits issued?

Hi Ace,

Yours is a more unusual situation in that you want to delay activating your PR whereas other people are often concerned about getting to NZ in time to activate theirs. I've hunted around the Net to see if I could find out what happens in a case like this, but haven't come up with anything.

Is there any restriction on your Sec.18A PR that stipulates you must take up your job offer within a certain period (that is, assuming the job offer is still valid)?

The only way I can see around the problem is for the 2 people wishing to visit NZ in November to have new second passports. Presumably then you could enter the country 'incognto' on Visitors' Visas, then use your original passports when you finally enter NZ to stay. The second passport shouldn't be tied to your PR application as it will have a different number. I wouldn't like to say how legal it is to possess another passport, suffice to say I've heard of many people who do have one e.g. those with Israeli stamps in them who then want to visit Arab countries where you're not allowed in with such stamps.

Would be interesting to find out what the solution is to this problem. Please let us know how you get on.

If you're in any doubt, you could always ring NZIS to ask how you stand on this issue. At least then you'll have it straight from the horse's mouth and can then make a decision on what they tell you.

Apart from separate passports, as Mother Bear suggested, I cannot see how you can enter the country as a visitor when you have a Residence Visa. ?There are no separate queues for those activating residence visas. ?From what I understand, your passport details are put into the system on your arrival and your Residence Visa is automatically and electronically turned into a Residence Permit.

I have just recently enquired at NZIS about this as when we applied for residence visas, the children and I were in the country at the time and were issued Residence Permits. ?My husband was in the UK at the time and was issued a Residence Visa instead. ?Apparently, his Visa automatically and electronically turned into a Permit when he visited us a couple of months later.

I would definitely ring NZIS to clarify the situation.
:) ?

Is there any restriction on your Sec.18A PR that stipulates you must take up your job offer within a certain period (that is, assuming the job offer is still valid)? ?

Yes, I have to take up my offer of employment within 3 months of when the residence permits are issued -- that's why I would rather not have them issued until later.

The specific language of the visa is "The holder may travel to NZ and on application may be granted a residence visa" -- the "on application" part seems to mean that I would have some influence over the timing.

I've sent an email to my NZIS case officer to clarify the situation.

'On application' basically means that when you turn up at the customs and immigration desk in the Airport, that is you 'applying' for your permit to enter the country. The immigration officer may decline your permit at that stage (declining your application) if something isn't right, and so send you packing.

Of course, if you haven't forged your passport or anything, then you'll be quite safe! I was more trying to make the point that the application isnt really an application at all, more just a process that everyone, including just visitors, goes through on arrival.