What type of visa should I go for?

[koki]

Hello everyone,
I am from Thailand with a Thai nationality. My husband, I and our 20 months old daughter are living in the UK at the moment. Our 20 months old child has a British passport. I've a Thai passport and holding Indefinite Leave to Remain visa (ILR) in the UK.
My husband is British and have a NZ residence (indefinite Multiple entries). We got married in NZ and used to live there for a few years and moved back to the UK in 2008 (I was holding a work permit then).

We've now decided to move back to NZ and not sure what type of visa we should apply for. We would like to settle there for good.

Can I apply for a work permit without job offer? When I was searching around at immigration website, it said that applying for a work permit you can not include a dependent child but you could with a visitor visa. I don't want to start from a visitor visa then work permit.
Any advice will be very much appreciated.

Thank you.

[JandM]

Hello and welcome.

http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migra...ly/default.htm

From what you say, you could be looking here. You are the partner of a NZ resident, and your child is the dependent of a NZ resident, so once you have proved that, and your health and character, you should be automatically eligible for Residence yourselves. You're lucky - you won't have to show any proof of qualifications, work experience, etc., and family stream visas are given priority for processing.

[koki]

Hello JandM,
Thank you so much for a quick reply! I don't want to apply for a residence right now as the fee is so high.
I would like to get there first and work for a few years then apply for a residence. As both of us haven't gotten any jobs lined up so we would like to save the money that we have to stay float while we were there. Do you think it possible to apply for a work permit rather a residence?
Thank you.

[JandM]

Well, that's going to be a much harder proposition. You can't get an independent work permit without a job offer. You have to be qualified in some way, as detailed on this page. http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migra.../requirements/

Of course, you could go for a partner-sponsored temporary work visa, though there may be a drawback for you if you want to work for several years before going for residence, as there's an expectation that you will progress to residence sooner rather than later (in two years at most). http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migra...milystream.htm

I think you'd have to choose between this http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migra...ly/default.htm or a visitor's visa for your child - still, Residence as the dependent of a resident is the most obvious and simple answer.

[jawnbc]

JandM is right and I think you should find the extra money and go directly for residence. Paradoxically, it's easier to get a partner residence visa than a work visa.

[koki]

Thank you everyone. I think I'll apply for a residence visa then!

Quick question: I realize that I've to submit a Medical Certificate and a Chest X-ray but what about my 20 months old child, does she need both or just a Medical Certificate only?

Thank you.

[JandM]

http://glossary.immigration.govt.nz/...ertificate.htm

You will probably save yourself some angst if you make friends with the INZ website - there is a lot of information you are likely to want over there, on links from the main pages.