Work visa concerns and pregnant partner...

[bblockster]

Hi All,

I have been offered a job heading up a department for a large real estate firm in Wellington. Although not directly selling to clients myself, immigration has rejected my offer because I need a qualification and license to work in the industry in NZ. So in the middle of the course now..
First concern is that the course has several modules requiring face to face role plays etc.. So I will need to go to NZ in Nov to complete those before hopefully passing and re-applying. At that point my medical, police reports etc will be over the 3 month life expectancy they have.. Do I need them again, should I do then here a week before going? They cost 175€ for the medical and £70 for the police reports.. Cheaper medical reports there?

Second concern.. I have now also been offered another job working in Christchurch with someone who wants to go into partnership. Seems a better job, probably better income etc, but will be self-employed. Should I take the first job, get the work visa, then try and re-apply for a new visa on a self-employed basis in March? Is that possible? Because we are planning to stay permanently. What is best. Stay employed, go self-employed.. Both salaries will be over $55k annually. When can I try for residency?


Third concern is I am British, but my partner is East European, we are not married but have one child and one more on the way, due Feb.. She wants to come and join me ASAP, ideally end of Nov.. She has maternity pay from her job, so may lose that if she registers as moving abroad. As my partner, is she entitled to free medical care for the birth etc, (if I have a work visa). Will she need to fly in and out every 3 months..? Difficult as 3 months after arriving she is due..
So she obviously wants to be there with indefinitely. Can she come as my partner, on my work visa, not work and be supported by me? If she does that will she lose her maternity benefits at home, i.e. do we then need to register as leaving?

Fourth concern... I understand that giving birth in NZ does not entitle the new child to natural citizenship.. But should I arrange for my other daughter to get a British passport before arriving, rather than her East European passport? Then register the new child as British or dual, East European also?.

Sorry lots of questions I know, all big issues for me at the moment that I would like to resolve before leaving my partner behind and going in 3 weeks..

Any help to any of the questions much appreciated..

B..

[JandM]

There's a lot of 'stuff' here, and I'll try to point you to some facts. What you do with the facts is down to you - we aren't allowed to advise one thing rather than another.

Medicals have to be three months or less at lodgement - police checks can be up to six months old. (It's on the INZ website.)

2nd para, regarding employed v. self-employed.

If you apply under SMC with the job offer, you'll almost certainly get Residence with a Section 49(1) condition on it, to take up the offered job within three months of arrival, and work in it for three months, at which point you apply to INZ to have your Residence visa changed for one with no conditions, and from then on, you'd be free to do whatever you want workwise in NZ. If you went the Residence under SMC route, your partner and daughter would be named on the application, and get Residence along with you, and the new baby could be added in, too.

If you apply for a work visa with the job offer, it will be tied to the one employment, or a comparable one, therefore, before doing any other job you would have to apply to have the terms of the visa changed, or before going self-employed, you would have to go from the beginning with a business visa of some kind. Conditions vary - see here and links off the page. http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migrant/stream/invest/

And you say, 'When can I try for Residency?' - in which circumstances?

One more thought on that - how well do you think the person offering the job would take your departure after a short space of time? Only, NZ is a very small pond, and word gets round, so if it would be a matter of upsetting a future colleague in the profession, it could turn and bite you.

If you get a work visa, your partner would be entitled to have a partner-sponsored temporary work visa (which does not mean she would have to work). It would match yours for time, so she could stay there as long as you are entitled to do so. http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migra...milystream.htm There is entitlement for family with the various business visas, too.

I don't have any knowledge of the maternity benefits situation in your current home country. Yours to sort out, rights and moral dilemma if any.

The situation for a child born in NZ to foreign parents from the NZ point of view is that the child will have equivalent visa rights to the parent(s), and if one is better placed than the other, then, the better visa rights. Should you have Residence by the time of the birth, then the child WOULD be born a NZ citizen. For different foreign countries, the citizenship situation varies. As you are British, s/he will have British nationality, although born abroad, and you'll need to check whether s/he will also have Estonian nationality. http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Governme...cord/DG_175698

If the child is born in NZ you are legally obliged to register the birth with the NZ authorities. That is a separate matter from any question of visas or citizenship. http://www.dia.govt.nz/diawebsite.ns...enDocument#one

What passport your older child has won't affect her entitlement to a visa equivalent to yours and/or her mother's, and it doesn't alter the fact that she IS, already, a British citizen, in your right. One advantage there may be, though, to her having a British passport would be if you need to take her to NZ on a visitor's passport, before the various other possibilities for a visa are sorted out, because UK passport holders have visa-waived entry for six months, not three. http://glossary.immigration.govt.nz/...eCountries.htm