When does the WHV get activated?

[MotherBear]

Now, if you do still go for 24 month WHV, check with NZIS on this one (it says on the website), but I think you only need X-Rays for TB risk/presence. Not a full blown medical.

I was going by this where it implies you do need a medical unless I've read it wrong. Scroll down to Health Requirements.

With regard to police certificates, it says you'll need one for stays of 24 months or longer, so if you've got a visa for 23 months, presumably you won't need one of those. It does still say though that you need to meet their character requirements in the body of the text. Ambiguous or what! NZIS really need to get their act together and revamp their site to make it more user-friendly.

Shut up, I'm already feeling inadequate about my contributions to the forum with you doubling my post count.

Damn, I missed my 2000 post celebration. Still as gobby as ever..

[SteveyC]

Jeez, you're right. So sorry Amy, I've never seen that page on the NZIS site, could be a newer one, since I was researching my case last December.

Oh well all the more reason to go for a 12 month one instead surely.

[LilAmy]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the info on the immi site about the 23 month visa's and the medicals.

I think all going well with the house sale (fingers crossed for more viewers today) we'll still go for the 23 month visa and get the medical as well.

We're hoping for the first month or so to have some time off working if possible until we decide where to stay so we may find the we only work for 12 months but it goes over the 12 month stay, plus we want to have some flexibility if we decide to get a more permy visa to still be able to stay in NZ.

Talking of more permy visa's what is the next step after a WHV to be able to stay longer in NZ? We've read lots of different things about Working Visa's, Perm Residency etc and to be honest I dont really know the difference any ideas what would be the best route to go through?

Meant to ask Stevey, when do you plan to go to NZ?

PS you guys should be on commision from the NZIS with all the information you share on this forum.

[MotherBear]

As I see it, if you enter NZ on a WHV, but then get a ?proper? job you can apply for a Work Permit which will allow you to stay in NZ for 3 years (I think) and also to work there legally. You can extend your Work Permit if you wish to stay beyond that period. If you want to try for PR you need to be in a job for which you already have experience (to gain enough points) and then go through the rigmarole of EOI, ITA and on to PR. Perhaps the EOI bit isn't necessary if you have a job offer.

As usual, Stevey?s going through this and will add to or correct what I say. Your chance to shine, Stevey. [smiley=023.gif]

The NZIS site seems to lead you half way to where you want to go and then just peters out. This is why I made a suggestion on Website Enhancements for some members, who have gone through or are currently going through the various procedures, to put something down on the forum in easy basic steps from start to finish so that others can follow it more easily. A good place to put something like this would be in the sticky at the top of the categories i.e. Work Permit/WHV Chat, so it stays available. I think a lot of us are struggling with the NZIS site and the information on some other immigration-related sites is often out of date or you?re quite never sure if it?s out of date. NZIS does like to chop and change its rules, which only makes the situation worse.

[SteveyC]

Yeah pretty much MB.

In all honesty there seems very little difference between a work permit and applying for Permanant Residency, apart from the end result....3 years or forever. Work Permits are quicker and cheaper to obtain, they can be applied for straight away rather than going through the various stages involved in applying for PR.

Like MB says tho, if you're going to apply for PR, then often you will not score enough points unless the job is in the field you are qualified and experienced in. Work Permits aren't neccessarily dependant on this, but the employer still has to prove you can do it when a Kiwi can't or won't.

We go on the 31st (2 weeks on wednesday) so getting really nervous and worrying about failing at final hurdle where I won't find the marketing job I need to apply for Permanant residency despite what all the recruitment agents I've spoken to seem to think. What about you? What timescale are you working to? Anytime between now and October I guess.

[LilAmy]

Hi Stevey,

Wow am so jealous of you going out at the end of the month, I wish it was us. How long have you been planning your trip?

We decided early Dec that we were going to make the move and it feels like a lifetime ago. We're basically going to apply for our 23 Month Visa as soon as the house sells. We had a very keen viewer yesterday who came and saw the house on Thursday as well and asked if we'd be able to move out at the end of June which would be ideal but you never know!

Both Stu and I are in IT and Stu has quite a lot of IT Certificates which rates him quite high on the rating scale so if we did decide to go for PR I should hopefully be able to 'tag' onto him.

Where about are you going to start off in? It is a really scarey thought doing the move and not knowing if you'll be able to get a job etc, thats our biggest worry but you never know unless you try eh?!?

Which airlines are you going with? We've only flown with Malaysian Airlines last year to NZ and they were brilliant and not too badly priced.

I hope the next two weeks go nice and smoothly for you and I cant wait to hear about it all once you get to NZ

[SteveyC]

Well we've been speculating for over 2 years now but house took 9 months to sell. Many of my posts about hpw depressed I am have been on the forum during the process hehe.

We're flying with Air Malaysia who were cheapest. Glad to hear they were good for you. Cathay, Emirates, ANZ and National will generally be cheaper I would imagine, they kind of yo yo depending when you book.

You'll be fine getting an IT job as it's so in demand over there. I'm a little nervous as marketing jobs are probably gonna be a tad more scarce, but recruitment agents are still optimistic, here's hoping they aren'y just blagging me to get me on there books.

We're flying to Auckland but probably gonna end up in Wellington region. Unless Christchurch amazes us stupidly more than Wellington, which I doubt as they're both supposed to be incredible for different reasons.

Don't worry tho I'll keep eveyone posted when I arrive. I owe so much to the forum that I'd rather bore people than not tell them EVERYTHING about the move :icon_biggrin:

[LilAmy]

Have you flown Malasian Airlines before? They are really good, they also have the most leg room as well, on our way back from KLIA we managed to get 7 seats between me and Stu which meant we could snooze comfortably, when you check in ask them if the flight is full if it's not ask to be in a row with spare seats if possible, they'll usually do this for you if its not full.

The food is amazing too, so much choice and you get your own personal screen with loads of movies, Playstation games etc, it was the best flight I'd ever been on.

We're worried it may take longer than we expected to sell our house too, its so horrible just sitting and waiting. I've never had so many headaches since we put the house up for sale.

We're going to start of in AKL as well then maybe head to Wellington as there's loads of jobs out there. I loved ChCh it was amazing, reminded me a lot of Dublin actually. We spent Stus 30th in ChCh last year great nightlife.

Ideally I'd like to settle in a small city/town but beggars cant be choosers so we'll just go where ever the jobs are.

All the Rec Agencies we've contacted have been great even calling us to chat about our job opportunities, they all seem very hopeful that we'll get jobs too. I'm sure you'll get a job no problem.

[SteveyC]

Have you tried Radius recruitment they're really helpful, I spoke to them at a recent expo I went to and they specialise in IT jobs.
We had a couple of sales fall through when we were trying to sell so that held everything up badly. Would have been quite quickly if we'd have accepted lower offers quicker but were holding out for a few thousand extra. A weaker kiwi dollar and the fact we'd paid of a loan previously made it ok to go lower.

[LilAmy]

I'll keep them in mind thanks for that.

We had our house on Offers Over for a few weeks and no one was interested in it, now we've moved to Fixed Price we've had more viewers but still no offers which is pants, we really cant drop the price of the house any lower at the moment as we're the cheapest house in our area and we're already undercutting ourself.

We've been searching through the Seek Website they seem to have loads of jobs on offer and it gets you in with all the agencies as well.

Have you tried Reid as well? They are in the UK too, my sister-in-law has found a few AKL jobs advertised on their site, they may be able to help you out a bit too? Although I dont suppose that will be your priority at the moment if you're leaving in two weeks.

Are you leaving much family behind? Thats what I'm dreading is saying the good byes to everyone. Just the thought of it brings tears to my eyes but I know most of my family will come out at some point and visit us.