EOI & the use of immigration advisers

[Keefy]

Hey guys

We were originally planning on emigrating in 12-24 months time. With my wife recently losing her job we are exploring the possibility of using this window of opportunity to make the move early.

Finance is tight with us though, and we wouldnt be able to move unless a job was secured in NZ. I kinda feel like you need a job to get a Visa, and you need a Visa to get a job. Catch 22. Having seen services that the likes of newzealandshores.com I'm wondering if they would be able to open doors and make the process easier.

So I was wondering what others have done? Is the immigration process so easy you dont need advisors? Do you need a rep in NZ? Is it actually easier to secure a job in NZ with advisors? I still dont know what they charge, are they generally considered expensive or well worth the cash?

We have roughly calculated our points and believe we should hit the 140 point mark. Her job is in the long term shortage list. Should we just go ahead and try? What happens if you actually dont hit 140 and dont 'get it'? Can you reapply? Is there a timeframe you have to leave it until you can reapply? What if you get accepted, how long do you have to actually make the move??

Apolgies for all the questions, and many thanks to all who reply

[victoria24]

i dont feel that advisors can help you get a job here tbh. if you have the time, then you may as well save money and do the immigration application yourself. its not difficult but takes a bit of time and organisation. what occupation does the missus do? members might be able to give you an idea of her employability (is that a real word? lol)
have you been to nz before?

[victoria24]

also.. i know of a forum member that did a one week job hunt recce on their own and was successful

[JandM]

The majority view on here seems to be that you don't need an advisor - you can do your own EOI perfectly well by reading the INZ website carefully, and there are lots of old threads here which will help clear up any confusion, as well as people very willing to share their experience. Advisors don't actually DO anything for you except to send in the material that they've told you to find for them. Since there's nothing to stop you sending in the stuff yourself, and INZ tell you very plainly what you need to send to them, you can safely save your money - which is A LOT. Nobody actually has an 'in' with INZ - there aren't any strings anyone can pull for you.

I haven't seen anyone on the threads talk much about having used a job-finding service - perhaps there will be some comments later.

About your last paragraph. See post #14 on this thread http://www.enz.org/forum/showthread....ht=#post440482 about selection from the pool. You may notice in there, your application can stay for six months, and if you hadn't been selected at the end of that time, you could apply again immediately.

If you go through the Skilled Migrant process and are approved for a Residence visa, you have six months to pay the migrant levy and send in your passports to have the visas (blue stickers) put in. Then you must have the visas activated, by presenting them at immigration upon arrival in NZ, within a year from the date on the visa (so allow a bit of time before the year's end in case of travel delays). If you didn't get the visa activated in time, it would lapse, and the whole effort and expense would have been for nothing. So you have 18 months from hearing of approval to having to get to NZ.

[Kath]

I applied for residence through the SMC-route without any immigration advisor. After submitting ITA it took 3,5 months to get the resident visa approved.

The whole process is pretty straight forward and between this forum, the INZ-guides and the friendly and helpfull INZ-staff you can have all the help and information you need when you get stuck somewhere down the line. It is mainly a matter of having your paperwork as complete as possible so processing and verifying don't cause any delays. I also notified my employers in my home country that the NZ Embassy might contact them and if they would be so kind to answer asap, which they did.

In my experience job search services only accept you when you have residence, even for jobs on the skills shortage list but I'm only one person. If I remember correctly, there are forum members with a different experience.

[Keefy]

Many thanks for the replies!!

Victoria24 - My wife works as a Project Manager/Service Transition Analyst. ICT - Project Manager is in the skills shortage list. I gather that Wellington is the 'hub' of IT work, although she has applied for jobs that are in Auckland as well as a few in Chch.
Oh, and no we have not been to NZ before.

JandM - thanks for the info about timescales! That is SO helpful! It basically means we might aswell send in our EOI now and do it ourselves. Which is exactly what we're going to do this weekend.

[JandM]

Ice-packs on heads, is it? All the best.

[CCIE_4_NZ_work]

Save money instead of splashing for agent. End of the day you have to supply docs and agent can't do anything. Good luck

[Sun777]

I think you have most of the answers already.

It was a total DIY for us, initially I started by INZ website then dropped whole idea for a while and after about 6-7 months read this forum and slowly built up interest, in practical terms everything only started after we submitted EOI & took one step at a time. Normally its a straight forward process and people on this forum will help you get through some complicated answers as well by sharing their experiences & challenges, go for professional immigration services or adviser just in case you feel any complexity in your application (this is very very subjective term I know). On a general basis lot of immigration advisers will help you to put the documents together but they cannot guarantee outcome of the application. Save the money for a recce or some better purpose.

[Keefy]

To be honest its not the complexity of the form that worries me, more the fact that if we had a immigration advisor we might have someone local in NZ who aid with sourcing recruitment. But I am less and less convinced this will be the case.

I think our best route is to begin the EOI and get the ball rolling. And keep applying for jobs! If we have 18 months at the longest we should be OK, as in 18 months we could actually look to leave the UK without being so reliant on immediate employment.

The EOI cost about $440NZ I think I saw? When is that payable? When you submit your application? What other expenses should I be expecting during the process? btw, there is my wife, myself, and two kids (aged 2 and 3 months) who will be making the move.