Greetings all,
I first moved to New Zealand on a student visa in Feburary of 2014. I am originally from the United States. I studied (and still am studying) computer science at Victoria University of Wellington. Last year, I landed my dream internship at my company of choice. I'm in a DevOps-y type role. To my great pleasure, they've decided that they want to keep me onboard! I love it here and I realise that the job offer gives me a potentially near-immediate pathway to residency through the Skilled Migrant Category.
The best part of residency is that - if I were a resident - I could complete my final year of studies at domestic rates; however, it is immensely unlikely that I will be able to have the SMC-related stuff sorted out in due time. I would like to pay domestic rates before returning to university now, which would hopefully be an option by the time trimester 2 rolls around. I would like to continue working here full-time in the interim, although that's not possible on a student visa. Additionally, if I temporarily halted my studies for one trimester, I would no longer even be eligible for a student visa. My current plan is to apply for a work visa while waiting on SMC things. I have scheduled an appointment for the medical examination, and I'm going to get fingerprinted tomorrow so that I can submit the proper documents to an FBI-approved channeler for a new police certificate.
I have already tentatively completed a large chunk of my Expression of Interest. I am primarily waiting on NZQA assessment for an Associate of Applied Science in Information Technology that I earned in the United States. The degree is fully related to my current work and I anticipate that it should be certificate-level after the assessment by NZQA.
All-in-all, here is my tentative points breakdown, assuming the NZQA pre-assessment result comes back as planned:
- 30 points for age (20-29)
- 50 points for a job offer/working in New Zealand for less than 12 months
- 30 points for a job offer outside of Auckland
- 10 points for work in an identified future growth area (Information Communications Technology)
- 45 points (projected) for my Associate in Applied Science in Information Technology - this is what the online EOI shows for this section after tentatively entering numbers assuming that the NZQA PAR goes as I expect
- 165 points total
If I were to finish my studies in New Zealand, I'd get several other additional points. I'd get an additional 10 for studying in the country, and a further additional ten for the higher-level qualification. I'd be sitting near an estimated 185+ points then. I'd also probably be able to claim some additional work experience-related points, pushing me to near-200.
I would really like to have entry under a Skilled Migrant Category before commencing my third and final year of studies, though. It would save a monumental amount of money, and I'd be able to get away from the stress of having to worry about all of this later.
Does moving to a work visa temporarily; halting my studies; and then waiting and hoping for positive results for an SMC application sound like a good plan?
For a moment in my life that should be bringing out plenty of happiness (and believe me, it is!), this sure is stressful!! I want to have all of my ducks in a row before committing to anything. There are countless possible options here. None of the paths are bad, but some of the alternatives are certainly better than others. My ideal choice would be to have the SMC sorted by the time that the trimester begins so that I could simultaneously work full-time and study part-time, but the chances of that happening seem to be slim-to-none. Going back and studying with another year of international tuition rates also feels like it would be a bit of a slap in the face after I've come this far. :P
I'd really appreciate any feedback. This is such an exciting and terrifying moment in my life. The opportunities are endless, yet I'm also afraid of making some small mistake on some application somewhere and being denied for residency!
Agh, my head has just been spinning all day! There's so much information to process!