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Thread: ITA submitted but need our passports back

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    South Africa
    Posts
    9

    Default ITA submitted but need our passports back

    Hi, some advice will be greatly appreciated!

    We submitted an EOI and got 150 points without a job offer and we then submitted our ITA mid Jan 2014. Circumstances have changed in that we' ve decided hubby should go over to NZ and start the job search while we wait for our SMC Residency application to be assessed. Only problem is that we sent in our original passports which now he will need to fly to NZ.

    I have a few questions with regards to the passports or employment:

    1. I know I can contact the London INZ branch and request to get our passports back once they have sighted them. What happens then if he goes to NZ, gets a job and then down the line gets residency. Do we need to send his passport back to London to get the residency stamped in or can he go to the nearest NZ immigration office?

    2. If we are going to request his passport, should we just request mine and the kids passports back too once they have sighted them?

    3. If he goes to NZ, gets a job and residency is not assessed yet, does he, after sending in the job offer to the London SMC department, apply for a temporary work visa so he can start soon after the job offer while he waits for the residency?

    4. If he goes over to search for jobs, may he do voluntary work, ie work for free to gain NZ experience or will he need to apply for some kind of work visa?

    5. If he gets work and then a temporary work visa of sorts while waiting for the residency, at what point may the kids and I follow him? May we go once he has his temporary work visa or do we need to wait for the residency to come through?

    Apologies in advance for all the questions but we just want to do this the right way!

    Thanks

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2009
    Location
    Auckland
    Posts
    3,697

    Default

    Based on our experience:

    1. I know I can contact the London INZ branch and request to get our passports back once they have sighted them. What happens then if he goes to NZ, gets a job and then down the line gets residency. Do we need to send his passport back to London to get the residency stamped in or can he go to the nearest NZ immigration office?
    Our daughter was studying in NZ while we got NZ Residence approval in UK, she had to send her passport and we submitted all our passports to INZ London Office.


    2. If we are going to request his passport, should we just request mine and the kids passports back too once they have sighted them?
    OH was travelling outside UK while we submitted our passports for verification and our CO was kind enough to return both of our passports together.


    3. If he goes to NZ, gets a job and residency is not assessed yet, does he, after sending in the job offer to the London SMC department, apply for a temporary work visa so he can start soon after the job offer while he waits for the residency?
    Theoretically yes. He can apply for Work Visa or other visa while Residency visa is under application. This was suggested to me by our CO while OH's medicals were taking a while to get through MA (I had a prospective job offer at this time).


    4. If he goes over to search for jobs, may he do voluntary work, ie work for free to gain NZ experience or will he need to apply for some kind of work visa?
    Before taking up any employment, he needs to have appropriate Work Visa or NZ Residency


    5. If he gets work and then a temporary work visa of sorts while waiting for the residency, at what point may the kids and I follow him? May we go once he has his temporary work visa or do we need to wait for the residency to come through?
    I'm not 100% sure on this one but my guess is that dependents can travel with Temporary Work Visa holder (someone might correct me if wrong).

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Aug 2013
    Location
    NZ - From UK
    Posts
    43

    Default

    Hi,

    You could apply for working holiday visas, this allows you to live and work for up to 12 months. UK citizens can get these for 24 months (you can still only work for 12 months) but you need medical checks and police checks, so you may wish to extend them further down the line.

    If you both go over on WHV then you have 12 months to wait for your residency to be processed (they advise it takes 6-9 months) and in the meantime if your husband can find suitable work and a permanent job offer, then this could really help your application.

    The only risk with all flying out on a WHV is if it gets declined then you may have to all migrate back (I'm not suggesting this will happen, but is something to consider)

    I am a Brit who is living with my husband in NZ and we are both on the WHV, if you apply online you normally get them within 24 hours.

    Hope this helps :-)

    Sarah

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Feb 2013
    Location
    UK
    Posts
    1,547

    Default

    Hi. Working Holiday Visas won't help you because you can't be accompanied by dependent children. Also, if I am right in thinking you are South African nationals, there is no working holiday scheme. If he gets a job and, say, an Essential skills Work Visa, you can get a Partnership-based Work Visa and the children can get either student or visitor visas , depending on their age (if they are 5 or over, student visas). you will need to pay for these, but it means you can work in any occupation for any employer and the children can attend school without having to pay fees. If you ask your case officer, you can pre-arrange to have your passport stamped at the nearest INZ office - don't just turn up, or you may have to return another time! On the subject of voluntary work, it is only voluntary if he receives nothing in exchange - no meals, accommodation, transport etc. - see http://www.dol.govt.nz/immigration/k...base/item/1350. Hope that helps!

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jun 2013
    Location
    United Kingdom
    Posts
    27

    Default

    Hi Nyoni,

    It sounds similar to our situation.

    My husband applied under the SMC with a job offer but due to his profession, a full residency visa cannot be approved until he completes some supervised practice and does a Law & Ethics interview. Our SMC visa application is approved in principal pending this.

    The supervised practice has to completed in NZ so INZ have issued a Work Visa for my husband as he cannot do any work without one.

    We didn't have to pay for the Work Visa though he had to 'apply' for it. Our passports were returned within a few days once we had confirmed return tickets for me and the children and my husband had confirmed his start date in NZ. Once he has completed his supervised practice, we have to return our passports to the London office for our application to be finalised. They've said that they will get the ball rolling once we have confirmed the sign off from the L&E interview to speed things up so that when our passports arrive at the office, all they have to do is add the Blue Stickers. They will then be returned to us in NZ.

    Our CO advised that the children and I cannot be dependants on my husband's Work Visa. The children and I have to enter NZ on Visitors Visas which means that I cannot work and the children cannot get free schooling from the age of 5.

    We have got around this by enrolling my son as an International student for the term under a Student Visa. My daughter who is 4, for some reason still gets the free 20 hours at kindergarten. I queried this and offered to pay and they said we didn't need to!

    Your best point of reference is your CO though - we have found ours to be most helpful and exceptionally patient with the amount of emails and questions fired off at her!

    Hope this helps?

    Bel

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