Got a job offer ... but now immigration is giving a bit of a hassle

[globetrecker]

What a week and a half. We arrived in Auckland and went straight to an interview that morning (stress!) I was offered a position and the company is an accredited employer. Good news all around--we were not expecting anything this fast and now are racing to get a work permit. There is a "problem" though and we wonder if anyone has come across this situation:

I thought I could get a "general work permit" so I could begin work and then go onto applying for PR. Not so fast, according to the immigration person I just spoke with. He says because it is an accredited employer, you will be offered WTR and not necessarily a "general work permit". He indicated that a general work permit does not exist but is actually called an "essential skills permit". From reading the forum, we thought a GWP was an option.

Did we uncorrectly assume that we were able to get a gwv with a job offer, start working, submit our EOI, get an ITA, then apply for PR? He said that generally with a job offer from an accredited employer you would be offered WTR for 2 yrs. That would be fine if we wanted to stay in Auckland for 2 yrs, but we don't. We want to work here for a year in the aforementioned position, apply for residency, and then move to our #1 choice location in the Bay of Plenty (not many jobs there). We also plan on getting pregnant within 2 yrs, so our PR would be automatically denied due to pregnancy.

Has anyone recieved this elusive "general work permit" with a job offer and then started working, then submitted the EOI, etc.?

[JandM]

Sorry, I don't know an answer for you - hope there will soon be someone along who does.

But congratulations on the job offer.

Incidentally, what's this about 'PR would be automatically denied due to pregnancy'?

[globetrecker]

Sorry, I don't know an answer for you - hope there will soon be someone along who does.

But congratulations on the job offer.

Incidentally, what's this about 'PR would be automatically denied due to pregnancy'?

I would fail the medical, according to the NZIS, as it would be considered a burden on the healthcare system.

[IanW99]

We have friends who arrived on a one year work visa (no idea if it was called a general work visa or an essential skills one) so that they didn't need to have medicals done and could arrive quickly.

Once here they applied for PR straight away.

If it were me, I would ask them which would be the quickest to get i.e. work permit or WTR as I assume that you want to start working as quickly as possible (and if you only went for a one year one then you could skip the medicals for now).

Whichever permit you get, it does NOT stop you applying for a PR immediately i.e. if you are given a WTR you can still apply for a PR without having to wait 2 years (assuming that you have enough points) this is exactly what we did.

Note: No advice given here, if you need advice on such matters please consult an immigration advisor.

Ian

[CJ22]

Note: No advice given here, if you need advice on such matters please consult an immigration advisor.
Ian

A licenced immigration advisor

[IanW99]

A licenced immigration advisor

Exactly

Ian

[BkyMonster]

There have been more than a few people who did medicals while pregnant with no issues.
In my experience if you have a medical under review by the MA for BMI issues and you become pregnant they will probably deny you as they cannot recommend you lose the weight at that point. Otherwise it should not be an issue.
I think not too long ago the essential skills WP was possibly called a general WP? It may still be colloquially referred to as such.
Other than that the above information (not advice ) is how I understand things to work.

[Parsley]

Hiya - in my (very limited) experience, my sis applied for PR whilst pregnant and it did not cause her any problems from the immigration side of things. I recall her mentioning that there were certain bits of the standard medical she didn't have (or the results were discounted) as the pregnancy would have completely skewed the results. However, this is an individual experience, so as all above have posted, it's probably worth getting advice from the appropriate sources! Can't comment on the visa definition I'm afraid - just wanted to say that being pregnant does not generally appear to be a big issue for many people in relation to applying for residency.

Good luck!

P

[Familyofmonkeys]

We went through the application and medical process while I was pregnant. As long as there are no problematic pre-existing medical conditions then you should not have problem at all. You are not required to have an x-ray while pregnant (so a cost saving there), and although they are still required to measure your waist circumference (according to the guidelines the Dr I saw had) it is in most cases meaningless in the more advanced stages of pregnancy. Also pregnancy affects your blood chemistry so things like your cholesterol levels are likely to be higher, iron levels lower etc......but a good Dr will just make a note of this on the medical form and it will cause no issue.

[Ana&Steve]

You may want to talk to another immigration consultant to get a 2nd opinion. Good luck with everything!