WHV questions?

[pablok]

Hey I am a kiwi studying in Canada.

However... I have fallen in love and would like to bring my girlfriend home with me. We have been together for over 2 years now but have not lived together. Does this count for anything when applying for a partner working visa?

We are coming back mid May with the intention of living together. Because we wanted to sort this out early she applied for a WHV and got accepted in early January.

We were wondering when does the visa start? Does it start from when she lands in May and go for 12 months? Or does it go 12 months from January when she got accepted?

What does it mean you can't take full time employment? Can she still work 5 days a week? Can she work for the same place for 12 months?

What are "casual working rights"?

Any help would be awesome..

Cheers,
Pablo

[MotherBear]

Hi Pablo and welcome.

Firstly, congratulations on falling in love. A great time and long may it last.

WHV - I would have thought sense would have dictated it would start from when she enters NZ but it says in here ....

A work visa issued under a Working Holiday Scheme is valid for 12 months. This means that you will have 12 months from the date your application is approved to arrive in New Zealand. You will also receive a multiple entry work visa which allows you to leave and return to New Zealand during your working holiday.

The main purpose of a WHV is to holiday rather than to spend the whole time working. Its use is to allow visitors who wish to see quite a bit of NZ to do some work to help fund their visit. So far I haven't found any guidelines that state exactly for how long they can work.

The other alternative you could try is this where your partner can get a work permit to allow sufficient time living together to qualify to apply for PR. That may be your best bet. You don't need to have lived together for 12 months for this, just having had a lasting, genuine relationship.

[pablok]

Thanks a lot for that.

We were not aware of that visa. Thought there was only the one where you had to have lived together for 12 months.

That helps a lot because we can apply for that one after having lived together.

The NZ immigration site is a bit hard to find stuff sometimes.

Cheers,
Pablo