Parents visa - can apply for a 12 month visitors visa and come across to NZ while they wait for us to become eligible to apply for PR

[wilson182]

Thanks for all your input, i was under the impression that as i was on a WTR that i had to wait 2 years to apply for PR, once 2 years were up PR would be issued as long as our police checks and medicals came back ok? So can i apply now for PR AND whats a section 18A?.

We have been here for 5 months, if we apply for PR now will we have to go through our medicals and police checks again? and will the police checks be completed by NZ or UK?sorry lots of questions but want to try and get PR sorted asap so we are in a position to assist our parents attaining PR.

Ian will be the best person to advise you on the WTR I was under the same impression that you were.

You will have to apply for your medicals and police checks again as I think they are only valid for three months. Your police checks will be done in the UK again, I think NZIS automatically do a NZ police check for the time you have spent here. Section 18a is a condition attached to some PR permits that have been awarded due to a job offer. It states that you must stay with that particular employer for three months. Once you have fufilled that requirement the condition is then removed and, if you want too, you can change employer.

[leejenns]

if i have to complete my police checks in UK again, which seems a waste of time as they have already been checked for the time spent in UK, how do i orgnise this as when i completed the checks last time i had to visit a police station in person and show my passport and proof of my address, as i no longer have an address in the UK do not know how this will work, i thought i had to get the police checks completed by NZ police?

[IanW99]

Thanks for all your input, i was under the impression that as i was on a WTR that i had to wait 2 years to apply for PR, once 2 years were up PR would be issued as long as our police checks and medicals came back ok? So can i apply now for PR AND whats a section 18A?.

We have been here for 5 months, if we apply for PR now will we have to go through our medicals and police checks again? and will the police checks be completed by NZ or UK?sorry lots of questions but want to try and get PR sorted asap so we are in a position to assist our parents attaining PR.

As said before, you definitely don't have to wait the 2 years on WTR, we and others on the forum have definitely submitted our PR early which was granted. If I remember correctly we actually applied after being in NZ for 5 months, but you don't need to wait this long. Also our PR took about 6 months to get, but I now assume that they were just busy or ours was more complicated, because others have been granted in 2 months. So if it helps, we had our PR at approx 11 months of arriving in NZ on WTR.

I believe that if you wait for the 2 years then getting the PR is much simpler i.e. you don't have to go through the EOI (never did find out for sure though), but in our case we needed PR sooner so had to apply. If you don't want or need a PR sooner then it may be better to wait?

As mentioned previously a section 18A is a condition to keep you in the original job for the first 3 months of working in NZ. I really don't believe that anyone on a WTR would be subject to this condition when granted their PR (but mention it just in case it could be an issue), it certainly won't in your case as you have already been working for 5 months.

if i have to complete my police checks in UK again, which seems a waste of time as they have already been checked for the time spent in UK, how do i orgnise this as when i completed the checks last time i had to visit a police station in person and show my passport and proof of my address, as i no longer have an address in the UK do not know how this will work, i thought i had to get the police checks completed by NZ police?

Medical certificates are valid for 3 months and police certificates are valid for 6 months, so if you arrive in NZ on a WTR and apply immediately for PR then you may not need to do either of these again.

Medicals can of course be done in NZ.

Police checks will have to be from the UK, and you can send off for them from NZ without any problems (as of course we did) - although it does seem a waste of time, I guess you could have done something wrong between getting the last certificate and leaving for NZ.

Ian

[IanW99]

Just been reading through some statistics (sad I know) but it states that 82% of people on WTR from the UK get there PR in under 2 years, so it looks like most apply early?

If anyone else is interested the link is here :- Research - From Work to Residence

Ian