Moving from Dublin to Auckland (July 2016)

[Sarz1991]

Hi guys,

My girlfriend and I are both moving to Auckland at the end of July this year. We've both applied for and gotten work/holiday visa's for the year. I'm a Mechanical Engineer with 2 years experience and she's a Digital Marketer with 2 years experience as well. I looked into applying for a skilled migrant Visa but the company I was working for, over in the UK, was going through a rough patch and handed out a number of redundancies. I'm now unemployed back in Dublin as of the start of February. With both of us having decided that we wanted to move I didn't want to have to wait months/possibly a year for the skilled migrant visa to come through as I only scored 110 points without a job offer.

My question is can I apply for a skilled migrant visa upon entering the country? The plan is to get set up with some part time work in Auckland, get settled and then start applying for engineering positions with the hope that if I get offered one it'll bring my score up to 165 points and from there I'll be able to get a skilled migrant visa much faster than I would be able to otherwise.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

Sárán.

[JandM]

Yes, indeed you can apply from within NZ. The very best of luck!

[ChrisMwn]

you only need 100 points with a job offer. The number of points you have make no differerence to how quickly any application gets processed. In fact more points means more documentation and more time to verify. Keep any application simple, with just the minimum number of points you need to qualify. Don't forget to maintain good evidence of "living together" and focus on what you have the last 12 months before you lodge that application, particularly if you have been travelling.

[Sarz1991]

you only need 100 points with a job offer. The number of points you have make no differerence to how quickly any application gets processed. In fact more points means more documentation and more time to verify. Keep any application simple, with just the minimum number of points you need to qualify. Don't forget to maintain good evidence of "living together" and focus on what you have the last 12 months before you lodge that application, particularly if you have been travelling.

Cheers for the replies.

What do you mean by what I highlighted in bold?

[JandM]

INZ look particularly at evidence of partnership for the 12 months leading up to the application. (From their point of view, people who can show that they lived steadily together for x number of years leading up to two years ago, but then have no recent proof much, might have actually split up, and just be helping one another out so they can both get a visa.)

[ChrisMwn]

Sorry for my typos. AS per J&M, for your partner to be approved, you need to show that you have lived together for 12 months, as at the time that the application is approved.