Visa possibilities while waiting for work visa sponsorship

[Hawksi]

Hi folks,

I am currently on a tourist visa, which ends early December.
Now I just got a quite firm promise to get a sponsorship for a work visa (hospitality industry), after a few weeks of training first.

I should be able to extend my tourist visa, because I'm in New Zealand since June, including the first 3 month on the waivor visa/arrival visa.
If I have to do that, do I need to apply and pay just for the same tourist visa again?

Or is there another, maybe temporary visa possibility because I'm going to apply for a work visa anyway?

Thank you so much in advance!

Cheers,
Hawksi

[JandM]

Be very careful.

Is the job you would get a skilled job? If it isn't, INZ are very unlikely to grant you a work visa for it, because NZers would be able to do the job. (Here https://www.immigration.govt.nz/empl...al-skills-visa is what INZ tells employers about ALL the things they MUST do before supporting a foreigner for getting a work visa.)

For these 'few weeks of training', would the company be paying you, or giving you any sort of benefit in kind (for instance, meals, uniform, parking rights, etc.)? Because in very many cases, any sort of volunteering is considered by INZ to be work, and you are not allowed to do this on a visitor's visa. Training and work experience have often been considered by INZ to be a benefit in themselves.

Basically, it sounds as though, if you want to stay on in NZ, you need to find a different job, one that you already have the skills for. INZ don't give work visas to unskilled foreigners, unless the employer has advertised it widely, and no suitable NZers have applied, and that has to be really thoroughly proved.

[Hawksi]

It's a chef position, but thank you for the information, that any sort of benefits from my volunteering might be considered as work. I will rather not mention that in the application.
Yes the employer knows that and has done it before, but the other sponsored people were on a work and holiday visa.
I can't proof a formal qualification like a certificate but I have experience and a few references that I worked as a chef.