Hi Cross
I am not a specialist in all of that but I can tell you what I did so far.
Very interested in working in New Zealand as I craved a change of scenery in working and living environment I looked into different entry options and first came accross the Skilled Migrant Stream which I gather is what you were aiming for. It is based on a point system, as you know, is great for highly qualified people wanting to work in New Zealand without committing to a certain job. You increase your chance by far to be invited to submit an Expression of Interests if you are already in the country or even already working in New Zealand.
However, if your profession is on one of the skill shortage lists, and you have an offer of employment you only have to apply for a working visa, which should be granted for the length of offer of employment, but for max. 3 or 5 years.... I am not quite sure now, have a read through the link:
http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migra...rktemporarily/
After you have resided in New Zealand for 24 months it is my understanding, that you can apply for residency, also called work to residency. So it would be a different way of getting there but you'd get there in the end.
To apply for a work visa I had to fist get professional registration. Being a midwife I registered with the Midwifery Council of New Zealand. That took me 6 months but the delay was mainly my fault.
After I was registered I started looking for a job through a recruitment agency called Accent Health Recruitment. Itt took all of 2 days until Timaru Health Board expressed an interest to getting to know me. Arranging a job interview over Skype took another 4 weeks I think but to be fair, that was around Christmas, so the whole country slowed down.
The next thing I needed was the job offer in writing, specifying certain things like when I commence working, how many hours a week I will be working and my basic pay. 2 more weeks until I had that in my in box.
I feel once you have the job offer and all paper work needed (all explained in the forms and application guides) you could get a work visa pretty swiftly. Statistics on the website of New Zealand immigration show that about 95% of applications are being processed within 25 days. That sounds fast to me.
I think if you find an employer who wants you, they will be well aware that you move countries, if not continents and wont expect yo to start next week. They will understand that arranging visas, selling house/finding place to stay, shipping things takes time.
Over all I need to send in the following:
Offer of employment (from future employer)
Employer Supplementary Form filled in by future employer (INZ 113)
Work Visa Application (INZ 1015)
General Medical Certificate (INZ 1007) - depending as to where you lived and whether you are applying for a working visa for 12 months or less
Chest-X-ray Cerificate (INZ 1096) - depending as to where you lived and whether you are applying for a working visa for 12 months or less
Form for Partners Supporting Partnership (INZ 1146) in case you are taking your partner with you
I am not sure if the mare fact that your profession is on the LTSSL would speed up the process of your Skilled Migrant path.
Could I help in any way?
Hanna