Anyone in the same situation?

[Sunshine_NZ]

Hey, just registered this site

I'm on a working holiday visa here and have only been in NZ for about 2 months. Right now I work for a local company as office admin. Despite that I have similar experience back in China, this kind of work is still not in close relation to my education background (masters degree in linguistics). My question is, is it possible for me to change my visa type into a standard work one? If my current company is willing to help, what kind of support can I expect anyway? I was told that unless I work at management level and have competitive wages, otherwise it is not possible??

Is it weird if someone applies for a residence before he or she has a work visa?

Please kindly let me know. Thanks.

[kuncle]

Yes, but I am afraid that office admin is not a skilled role and you are not a resident or citizen of NZ, so even if your employer is willing to help, s/he will have to do the labour market testing to prove s/he is unable to hire anyone else but you to meet their requirements.

[Sunshine_NZ]

Thank you! Seems like my employer will have to take a lot of trouble for me. Sigh! No idea if he will be happy with that...

[JandM]

Do you realize, even if your employer does all that, you won't have ensured anything long term in NZ? The visa will be for a limited amount of time. Then when the two years (or whatever time) is up, you would have to renew it, and INZ would again be asking your employer, 'Is there not some New Zealander who could do this unskilled job, or that you could have trained up for it by now?' A foreigner who gets a visa like this, only because of lack of local unskilled workers, has no security at the visa's end, and can find themselves illegal and being told to leave the country within a very short space of time.

On the question of Residence, holding an unskilled job will not get you any points towards your application. If you have 140 points or more on the basis of your qualifications without a job offer, there is nothing to stop you applying directly, with no visa, a WHV, or a work visa.

[Sunshine_NZ]

Thank you JandM! It helps!

This job requires a person who is good with both Chinese and English. Because of my education background, I have no problem communicating in English. And because I am native Chinese and I have similar job experience in office admin, so I can do a lot of work for them including translation and marketing in China. The company aims to open up Chinese market and I know what steps to take to do that. My job is like more than office admin in that regard...

Just wondering if that really doesn't work, maybe I should take a TESOL course that aligns to my education background? But the problem is: I don't have much experience in teaching.