Firstly, apologies if my query has been covered comprehansively elsewhere but having trawled through the threads on here and looked at the NZ immigration sites, I am still really quite confused about what I'm about to embark on. Quite honestly, I'm a little bit jittery that perhaps I need to do more before we set off in October. Maybe I just need someone who has already been through this to point me in the right direction...
I am a UK based staff nurse with post registration experience of more than 2 years. I have registered with the NZ nursing council with the intention of emigrating to New Zealand. Having never been there, my partner and I have obtained working holiday visas so that we can have a few months to travel the country before deciding where to settle and look for work. I am already in touch with a healthcare recruitment company who will help me find work and switch onto a work to residence visa once I have a job offer in place. For me at least, things seem relatively straightforward.
My partner is an accountant - he does not have a job offer and having not completed his full CIMA qualifications, is not on the skills shortage list. As his WHV will cover him for any type of employment for our first 12 months, we are not too worried that he finds his dream accounting job straight away. However, we have started to think about what will happen after 12 months when he is no longer permitted to work in NZ. Has he got a good chance of finding work with an accredited employer to enable him to get a work permit? As we will have lived together for 18 months by this point, will he be able to stay on my visa? Obviously, th worst case scenario is that he will not be permitted to work in NZ after 12 months, in which case we may have to re-evaluate our plans for the future.
Any advice will be greatly appreciated!