Applicable skills, experience and qualifications for SMC

[In Cog Knee Toe]

At the risk of blowing my own trumpet... I have two masters degrees and my skills and work experience fall under many categories in the skills shortage list - I've had two simultaneous jobs for much of my life (one full time, one part time).
If I added them all up I would have hundreds of points, but I get the impression that I can only use skills and qualifications related to the specific job I've been offered?
What if I haven't got an offer (this is related to another of my posts) can I use all the points?

[JandM]

No, that's not quite right.

You need to choose how best to present yourself so as to fit the requirements, and enable the INZ officials to tick their checklists with the least headaches. Their model assumes that a person has a skilled career - one. People who are multi-skilled, and say so, seem to confuse the system. It's as though the assumption is that working in more than one specialism somehow makes one less good at all of them (although of course that isn't so). I remember someone on here who seriously thought about putting in his EOI with proof of his two parallel careers, but was persuaded against that by a Licensed Immigration Adviser, who pointed out the large amount of extra proof that would be needed, which would have made the processing take m-u-c-h longer than normal.

As far as points for your qualifications and work experience are concerned, you can use the ones that relate to the skill you have put forward on the EOI as your career. Suppose you have a bachelor's degree in that field, which is on the long term skills shortage list. http://skillshortages.immigration.govt.nz/ And suppose your bachelor's degree is either exempt from assessment, or you get an IQA saying it is comparable to one of the ones mentioned in the LTSSL drop down box on that page. Related just to this one qualification (and of course, you have the right to more points for other matters), you would then get 50 points for your qualification, and the right to add on 10 bonus points for the qualification being in an an area of absolute skills shortage, and 10 or 15 (extra) bonus points for your work experience in that career to date (depending on how many years' experience you have). Suppose you also have, besides that bachelor's degree, a master's or doctorate in a different subject area, you can claim 60 points (instead of the first 50), as those are allowed for your highest level qualification (and you're right to think that points don't accumulate for multiple qualifications under this heading), but meantime the bachelor's still counts for you to have the bonus points relevant to the LTSSL career.

[In Cog Knee Toe]

Thank JandM. Does that apply if the first degree is a masters degree (taken over 4 years as an undergraduate) and the second degree is also a (post graduate) masters degree? They are in different subjects although I use both of them in my work. The first one will have to be NZQA'd. I've got a certificate and signed course details / marks.

[JandM]

I don't know, and nor will you without trying, probably, is the short answer. If your first degree is assessed to be comparable with one of the NZ qualifications in the description for LTSSL, despite its being a Master's and they being bachelor's, everything would still work as above.

Important: When you send in for the IQA, be certain to tell them the particular equivalence you are hoping for. Use the form at Appendix B here. http://www.immigration.govt.nz/NR/rd...ifications.pdf

[AnalogKid84]

No, that's not quite right.

You need to choose how best to present yourself so as to fit the requirements, and enable the INZ officials to tick their checklists with the least headaches. Their model assumes that a person has a skilled career - one. People who are multi-skilled, and say so, seem to confuse the system. It's as though the assumption is that working in more than one specialism somehow makes one less good at all of them (although of course that isn't so). I remember someone on here who seriously thought about putting in his EOI with proof of his two parallel careers, but was persuaded against that by a Licensed Immigration Adviser, who pointed out the large amount of extra proof that would be needed, which would have made the processing take m-u-c-h longer than normal.

As far as points for your qualifications and work experience are concerned, you can use the ones that relate to the skill you have put forward on the EOI as your career. Suppose you have a bachelor's degree in that field, which is on the long term skills shortage list. http://skillshortages.immigration.govt.nz/ And suppose your bachelor's degree is either exempt from assessment, or you get an IQA saying it is comparable to one of the ones mentioned in the LTSSL drop down box on that page. Related just to this one qualification (and of course, you have the right to more points for other matters), you would then get 50 points for your qualification, and the right to add on 10 bonus points for the qualification being in an an area of absolute skills shortage, and 10 or 15 (extra) bonus points for your work experience in that career to date (depending on how many years' experience you have). Suppose you also have, besides that bachelor's degree, a master's or doctorate in a different subject area, you can claim 60 points (instead of the first 50), as those are allowed for your highest level qualification (and you're right to think that points don't accumulate for multiple qualifications under this heading), but meantime the bachelor's still counts for you to have the bonus points relevant to the LTSSL career.

JandM,

First, thank you for the hard work you put in on this site. I thought I was becoming a pro at NZ law lately by reading immigration documents, but I've got nothing on you! I hope you don't mind if I ask a question here; I figured it'd be better than starting a different thread since it sort of relates to the above ...

I recently exchanged emails with an employee at a migration agency, and she had this to say (italics are mine): "As long as you obtain a job offer relevant to your current/previous work experience and qualifications, you would have no issues with the job offer being skilled."

I have an exempt degree and no problem with points, so my only concern at this stage is what concerns a skilled offer. I've read lots of documentation like this, and I've seen nothing written by INZ that indicates an offer must match the visa applicant's work experience -- unless one is trying to claim the experience as a substitute for a qualification, which I'm not. Does my understanding match yours? I ask because my experience is in a niche part of the financial industry that's not clearly delineated by ANZSCO, and I'd rather shoot for a job that leans on my more general Business degree and is more obviously recognized on the List of Skilled Occupations.

Thank you to you and everyone else who help us navigate this bureaucracy.

[JandM]

I've read lots of documentation like this, and I've seen nothing written by INZ that indicates an offer must match the visa applicant's work experience -- unless one is trying to claim the experience as a substitute for a qualification, which I'm not. Does my understanding match yours?

I agree with your understanding of those requirements. The mentions on that page in the Operational Manual are all for qualification OR work experience, and there's nothing demanding both. So the person from the agency was misleading with that 'and'.

Consider also, most people, if they get a job offer, will be applying first for a temporary work visa, since those can be processed more quickly and they won't be keeping the employer waiting any longer than necessary. And for that, if you look here https://www.immigration.govt.nz/new-...BR&applying=no under the headings New Zealand Job Offer and Qualifications and/or Experience, you'll see that there is a greater reliance on what qualifications the employer requires in his/her employee. It's still within the framework of ANZSCO descriptions, and LTSSL if applicable, but in general terms, if the employer is happy that what you have bears out that you are suitable, that carries a lot of weight.

Just for completeness, for anyone reading this thread later, I should mention that there are some careers which, when you call them up on the INZ Skills Checker, show that INZ want to see (whatever) qualification AND x years' experience.