Work to Residence vs Essential Skills Work Instructions
Hi all. I have been reading a lot (here and INZ) and have a couple of questions.
My partner and I are planning to move to NZ in August this year (from the UK). We are both young (<25) and want to go for one or two years and see what its like. We haven't excluded the possibility of staying, so don't want to remove options or potentially make things harder in the long term (to stay). However I do want to minimise up front costs.
She has a job offer for one year (medical doctor) with form INZ1113. We are hopeful if all goes well this could be extended for another year. This is on the Long Term Skill Shortage List and is ANZCO Level 1.
I am planning on going as a de-facto spouse (can do the paperwork) and would hope I have work within the year. I have seen form INZ146 and plan on doing INZ 1015 with the "Family Stream" option selected.
My main question is what visa she should go under, as I understand she could do either "Work to Residence Instructions" (WTR) or "Essential Skills Work Instructions" (ESWI). I am unsure of all the differences (or other options), but I understand:
- WTR is quicker but harder to get
- WTR is more expensive for the actual visa (£155 vs £115)
- WTR may require contract greater than 12 months?
- WTR may require medicals as intention would be to be over 1 year (even though initial contract is only 1 year) and they are expensive
I have not fully understood what WTR would give you over ESWI. My current thinking is we have two main options:
- Go for the WTR, and probably have to get medicals (expensive) before we go as this implies being in NZ over a year. This would then give us better options in two years if we wanted to stay (and get PR etc).
- Go for the Essential Skills Work Instruction, intention to stay for a year, and then can extend (and get appropriate medicals) when in NZ. Cheaper to start with, and only commit to medicals etc when we know we will stay longer. But the visa may not help our case for staying > 2 years.
But I would welcome any opinions or factual corrections about my understanding from you knowledgeable bunch :-)
Many thanks in advance.