I'm sorry for being a little confusing here. I appreciate your help ChrisMwn.
The reason I was asking is that I am about to start a course at Otago, as an international student, which will give me a level 4 qualification in Arboriculture. My visa I have is a work visa with variation of conditions which allows me to study on the course. The visa will expire in may 2018 so I will have about 5 months to secure work within the industry in New Zealand. However once my visa comes to an end I am hoping I might be able to secure a further work visa to allow me to continue living and working in NZ.
The problem is, that I will not have the 2 years post qualification work expirience which I can see is required for me to claim Arboriculture as my skill.
Therefore I want to try give myself the best chance of succeeding in any application I make. I will have spent over 4 years in total in NZ and paid for a 1 year course at international student rates. I'm hoping that that may be taken into account with any decisions made by immigration.
Do you know if anyone has successfully gained an essential skills visa without fulfilling the post qualification work experience requirements?
Is there anything I might be able to do to increase the chances of it being accepted?
Ultimately I want to try gain PR however that is further down the road at the moment.
Thank you for taking the time to help.