Work visa query

[skunkgirl]

My husband has been offered a job on the Immediate Skills list - if we come to NZ on a work visa, as his spouse, am I eligible to work. Am I restricted in the work I am able to do? Does my employment have to be on the Immediate Skills list too?

Any help would be appreciated.

Hi,

If it is your partner who has been offered the job, then you are entitled to an open work permit, so you can work if you want, for whoever you want, or not if you dont!

[skunkgirl]

Thanks Taffy for your prompt reply.

That's put my mind at rest especially as you've said that I don't have to work if I don't want to!

Sorted - I'll be sitting in the garden with my bottle of wine! Cheers!

[froggy]

Hi,
Could somebody tell me if I was offered a job in New Zealand, do I need to provide proof of a degree to get the working permit, and can this degree be in a different subject than my current work experience and the job I have been offered ?
Thanks.

[Pulsarblu]

Hi Froggy,

Are you already in the process for skilled migrant category residency application? Generally a degree helps to get either a work visa/permit or residency visa but it does not need to be in the area of your job offer although if it is in the long term job shortages, you may get more bonus points.

Again, you may not need a degree to get a job. The potential employer may employ you based on your experience in your current job.

Pulsarblu

[moggy]

Hi Froggy,
but it does not need to be in the area of your job offer although if it is in the long term job shortages, you may get more bonus points.

Not necessarily true. If you are claiming point for your work history then the degree has to be relevant to your work.

[froggy]

Hi Pulsarblu !

Thanks for your reply. I am not in the process of residency yet. I would prefer to go to New Zealand on a tourist visa and look for a job once there. Then, hopefully once I found a job, I will apply for a 2 year work permit.
I had another query. My partner will come with me, and once one of us has a job offer and the permit, the other one would apply for a work permit under the family stream, as we have been together for well over 12 months. However, my partner has got a police record (some motor offence, but not drink and drive which dates from 10 years now, and 2 other small offences dating from 1988. I know that apparently, it is not necessary to provide a police record if one stays no more than 2 years. However, I think he has to declare these convictions. Do you think it would be a problem to get the visa because of that ? We already been refused entry to Canada because of this, but maybe it was because he ticked the wrong box in the declaration. He wrote he has no past offences by mistake and that was for permanent residency.

Thanks.
Froggy

You must declare any police record you have. Failure to do that will mean you getting turned around and sent home, with a ban from re-entering the country for however long they decide.

As far as degrees and work permits go, to gain a work permit you must provide evidence that you are suitably skilled / qualified to do the job you are taking on. So you either need to have plenty or work experience, or show your degree (or both).

[froggy]

Hi Taffy,

Thanks for your reply. But I was wondering, surely if you go to New Zealand as a visitor (so you don't need visa as a tourist), you don't have to declare any police record. I guess it is only if you need a visa to stay in the country, isn't it ?
By the way, are you Welsh ? My boyfriend is welsh.
Thanks.
Froggy

When you are due to arrive in New Zealand, every passenger is required to fill out an arrival card. The arrival card is a legal declaration which you must fill in, or they wont let you in.

If you do not declare everything truthfully, and happened to get pulled by an immigration officer or customs official, you're in very deep water!

Just because you are only a visitor, doesn't mean you're not a threat to the security of the country! (Not that I'm suggesting you are, of course!)

Yes, we're Welsh (Myself and Welshgirl). Where is he from?