How to go from temp work visas to permanent/residency

[spenny92]

I've been round and round in circles on Immigration NZ's website and I'm getting myself in a right pickle over how the entire system works with my particular situation. If someone could give me some advice and steps to take in plain English, I'd really appreciate it!

My boyfriend and I (English and Scottish) have been living and working in NZ since October 2014 on 1 year working holiday visas. We are now settled in the South Island, my partner has been offered a full-time managers position on a dairy farm where he has been working since December 2014 (he's on a fixed term contract currently currently, with a permanent contract ready pending the approval of his work visa). I'm also working full-time. He has just lodged his essential skills work visa yesterday, and I'm hoping that everything will be fine and dandy and he'll be approved in no time...

Then I'll be applying for a work visa based on partnership, and I've already received some great advice on this forum - thank you. I'm still a little nervous about it, but we've been living together for 18 months and have lots of evidence so hopefully it'll be fine.

Basically, I need some information on where we go after we have our temporary work visas. What is the maximum length of time they are granted for? Once that time is up, can you apply for another temporary work visa? At the moment, we are around 90% sure that we would like to stay in NZ permanently. I've heard about a work-to-residence visa - would we need to apply for that after the temp work visas are up? Or can we apply straight for residency? We already have enough points to submit an EOI, but we decided on temp work visas for now until we've really made our mind up about staying here permanently, plus we didn't have 9+ months to allow for a residency application.

I'm sorry this post is so jumbled, I appreciate it if you've managed to read all of this and make sense of it! Thanks heaps.

[JandM]

His current situation. He has his essential skills work visa. At the end of that, he could indeed apply for another. The only problem COULD arise if in the meantime, INZ had revised the Long Term Skills Shortage List and removed his career from it - that would mean the employer would have to show he had advertised the job (even though he doesn't want anyone else to do it) and not got replies from anyone as well qualified to do it. But if a job remains on the LTSSL, in theory, one could keep on getting work visa after work visa.

You don't need to go for WTR at all. As you are eligible for residence under SMC, you can put that in immediately. You don't have to wait for the end of your work visas. You can have the two kinds of applications in at once, and that is an advantage in many ways, since you can use a lot of the same evidence.

Don't forget to keep on collecting evidence of partnership, which you are going to need for residence, even after you've got your partner-sponsored temporary work visa. INZ always ask to see more proof, often just before they issue the visa, to make sure they're not including someone whose partnership has split up.

[Zbediah]

From what I've heard, work to residency is a bit sketchy and in my opinion doesn't really give you any added benefit when compared to essential skills -> Skilled Migrant. Plus I'm pretty sure that if something happens and you have to leave your current job, you can start all over again.

To your other question, temporary visa can be given for 1 or more years, but in my experience they are usually give you only 1 year to star with. And yes, you can apply for another one when the current is coming to an end.

[Karen Phillips]

Dairy farmer is not on the Long term Skills Shortage List, it is on the Immediate Skills Shortage List (ISSL). This means that so long as you meet the criteria (or rather your boyfriend does) the employer does not need to prove they have advertised. Things could change if the ISSL changes as JandM says above. Be aware though that the role of "Dairy farmer" is really quite complex in INZ terms. There are several roles listed on the ISSL - Assistant Herd Manager, Herd manager, Assistant Farm Manager and Farm Manager. Only the Farm Manager role can lead to residence though, as this is the only one the List of Skilled Occupations and ANZSCO. If he really does the tasks listed under this heading in ANZSCO, then he wil be fine. Otherwise, he will need to be promoted to that level of role. have a look at http://skillshortages.immigration.go...cattle-farmer/, http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@....estock+Farmers and http://www.immigration.govt.nz/opsmanual/35165.htm. Essential skills Work visas can be for up to 5 years, but it is unlikely you will get more than one year initially depending on which level of role your boyfriend has - but you could be lucky and get two years. I hope that helps!

[JandM]

What is your own job? Is that skilled?

[spenny92]

Dairy farmer is not on the Long term Skills Shortage List, it is on the Immediate Skills Shortage List (ISSL). This means that so long as you meet the criteria (or rather your boyfriend does) the employer does not need to prove they have advertised. Things could change if the ISSL changes as JandM says above. Be aware though that the role of "Dairy farmer" is really quite complex in INZ terms. There are several roles listed on the ISSL - Assistant Herd Manager, Herd manager, Assistant Farm Manager and Farm Manager. Only the Farm Manager role can lead to residence though, as this is the only one the List of Skilled Occupations and ANZSCO. If he really does the tasks listed under this heading in ANZSCO, then he wil be fine. Otherwise, he will need to be promoted to that level of role. have a look at http://skillshortages.immigration.go...cattle-farmer/, http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@....estock+Farmers and http://www.immigration.govt.nz/opsmanual/35165.htm. Essential skills Work visas can be for up to 5 years, but it is unlikely you will get more than one year initially depending on which level of role your boyfriend has - but you could be lucky and get two years. I hope that helps!

Thank you. He is currently an assistant farm manager, but the farm is undergoing structural changes. He is technically doing the job of farm manager, so he may well be given that title in the future. His employer mentioned that they had to leave it as asst farm manager for the visa application. They've provided evidence that they did try to recruit someone from NZ, and we've included that proof with his essential skills visa application.

I'll take a look at those links! Thanks again.

[spenny92]

What is your own job? Is that skilled?

I doubt it. I'm currently employed as a liquor store manager.

[JandM]

I put it in the INZ skills checker, and it came up with this, on the List of Skilled Occupations. http://skillshortages.immigration.go...anager-general Here is the ANZSCO description. http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@....etail+Managers It may be worth comparing your duties with that to see if you might be in a position to put in an EOI with you as the main applicant.

[spenny92]

I put it in the INZ skills checker, and it came up with this, on the List of Skilled Occupations. http://skillshortages.immigration.go...anager-general Here is the ANZSCO description. http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@....etail+Managers It may be worth comparing your duties with that to see if you might be in a position to put in an EOI with you as the main applicant.

Thanks for that. My partner's occupation seems to be here: http://skillshortages.immigration.go...cattle-farmer/ and assistant farm manager is on the immediate shortage list. I'm leaving my current job to go back to a pub I worked at earlier this year, so it's probably best for us to apply with my partner as the main applicant.

I've started an EOI online as the points indicator said that we would have around 170 points. I didn't realise what a pain getting his qualification recognised would be though, and the cost involved! I think we'll need to wait a few months until we lodge the EOI.

[spenny92]

Dairy farmer is not on the Long term Skills Shortage List, it is on the Immediate Skills Shortage List (ISSL). This means that so long as you meet the criteria (or rather your boyfriend does) the employer does not need to prove they have advertised. Things could change if the ISSL changes as JandM says above. Be aware though that the role of "Dairy farmer" is really quite complex in INZ terms. There are several roles listed on the ISSL - Assistant Herd Manager, Herd manager, Assistant Farm Manager and Farm Manager. Only the Farm Manager role can lead to residence though, as this is the only one the List of Skilled Occupations and ANZSCO. If he really does the tasks listed under this heading in ANZSCO, then he wil be fine. Otherwise, he will need to be promoted to that level of role. have a look at http://skillshortages.immigration.go...cattle-farmer/, http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@....estock+Farmers and http://www.immigration.govt.nz/opsmanual/35165.htm. Essential skills Work visas can be for up to 5 years, but it is unlikely you will get more than one year initially depending on which level of role your boyfriend has - but you could be lucky and get two years. I hope that helps!

Thank you. Sorry but I'm a little confused about what you said re: only the farm manager role can lead to residence? I can't seem to find that on ANZSCO, but rather dairy cattle farmer. Can you explain that a little more? Sorry if I'm missing something!