Job Search Visa Entry Dtae

[rev0lutionpk]

Hi All,

My CO informed that he approved my Job Search Visa (JSV) 2 months ago but since then the status is pending under my online account and nothing is being shown under the column of Expiry Date Travel.

Could someone please share his experience that when does the time period of 3 months entry/travel date starts?
Is it from the stamping date?

Hopefully someone could clear it up.

Thank you

[JandM]

When it goes into your passport, and the details should be on the label/stamp, I think.

[la_skydiver]

It's actually 6 months to enter from the date it was approved. Mine was approved on Feb 25th and I have until August 25th to enter NZ. Actually, the INZ officer was unaware of this and initially set my deadline for first entry as May 25th, so be sure it is 6 months and not 3 on your visa!

[Nzs]

Please be very careful with the advice from la_skydiver. If the application falls under "Old" SMC policy (Pre August 2017) it is 3 months from the date the label was put in the passport to enter New Zealand. This is written into instruction WR5.5bi)

https://www.immigration.govt.nz/opsm....htm?34559.htm

If you do not do this, your application will get declined

[JandM]

Thank you for drawing attention to this - very helpful.

[7Acre]

Can you still get a SMC Job Search Visa? They don't mention anything about this on the web site, unless you read the Operational Manual. In the 50pg "About the Skilled Migrant Category" document I printed off last week, they have NOT made the updates for points as you see on the website and a few other discrepancies so I'm not confident with what I read online now. I would think they would be meticulous about updating everything. But apparently even the INZ employees get things wrong.

We want to move to NZ within months but all employers want you to have a visa already, and the SMC Visa requires you to have a job offer in order to obtain 160 points, but finding an employer who is willing to wait months for you to do all your SMC paperwork is difficult of course. So can you still be granted a Job Search visa so you can have a SMC visa all set from abroad when applying for jobs? I would have 110 points without the job offer.

The requirement to stay in that job for 12 months, what happens after the 12 months is up? Is it still only 3 months requirement for a job in Auckland? I am in a profession where 90% of the people are self employed (as I have been in Canada for 10 years) so finding a full time job outside of Auckland is slim. I'm considering working temporarily in Auckland to get in but I don't see any written rules about the 3 months in Auckland any longer.

With the new rules, there is no longer the need to enter within 3 months then? You simply have 12 months to enter and find work? Or 6 months as stated by la_skydiver (not mentioned here with this link above)?
"Applicants who are outside New Zealand and whose SMC application is assessed under SMC instructions effective on or after 28 August 2017 may be granted a Work to Residence visa allowing work and multiple entries to New Zealand for 12 months from the date the Work to Residence Visa is granted."

(I've been trying to get on this forum for months, it's the most active and usefel one I have found...first the verification email would not show up, I changed my account to another email address, and then another, and back and finally got the email and used the link, but I have never been approved to post...I just kept waiting...and under the Contact page for this site it just comes up blank. I couldn't do anything with my account or contact anyone so finally left that account and started a new one with no problems. Is there a way to contact admin here?)

[JandM]

The SMC Job Search Visa still exists, but it is not and has never been what it sounds as if you would like it to be. These days, someone applying for residence under SMC from abroad, with no skilled job offer in NZ, and who doesn't have a NZ master's or doctorate following two years' of study in NZ, will be given the SMC Job Search Visa IF their application matches all the other criteria. https://www.immigration.govt.nz/opsm...c.htm?6954.htm Applying under SMC starts with putting in an EOI, and for that to be selected, the person has to have a minimum of 160 points already. Probably the most succinct summary of the present situation is here https://www.immigration.govt.nz/abou...igrant-details, and look particularly at the paragraph headed Can my application under the SMC be approved if I do not have skilled employment in New Zealand? There is more information here. https://www.immigration.govt.nz/opsm....htm?34559.htm

Here are all the various conditions about staying in a job for various lengths of time. https://www.immigration.govt.nz/opsm...c.htm?6954.htm For example, staying in the job for three months is the condition if the applicant is claiming points on their EOI for job offer in NZ, or for skilled employment in a job they have not held for at least 3 months when applying. Staying in the job for 12 months is if the applicant has claimed bonus points for a job or job offer outside Auckland. But see the link for all the details.

If someone is granted their visa with Section 49 (1) conditions for staying in the job for whatever length of time, once they have fulfilled the conditions, they can go to INZ with evidence that they have done so (pay slips, financial and tax records), then INZ will put a different visa label in their passport with NO conditions. At that point, the resident is free to do whatever they want within the law - work anywhere at any job, skilled or not, start a business, not work at all if they're rich and don't need to, be a student at domestic rates (but not to claim any NZ government loan till they have been a resident for three years)...

I'm not sure how to interpret what you quoted from WR5.5 c. https://www.immigration.govt.nz/opsm....htm?34559.htm If told by INZ that you may be granted an SMC Job Search Visa, you have to apply for it (say yes, you want it) within three months, or the offer will lapse. But I don't know how soon you have to get to NZ with the visa once granted. It sounds to me as though that paragraph is saying that the JSV now runs for 12 months, not nine months, as used to be the case, and isn't specifying a 'use by' date.

ChrisMwn, do you have any information on that last point, please?

[7Acre]

Thank you so much for your detailed answer. So even for a SMC Job Search Visa you would need the 160 points then as I understand it. So basically I need to find an employer that is willing to offer the job then wait the 3-4 months until all the paperwork is done, move completed. I can get all my paperwork (medical, x-rays, police check, qualifications, marriage documents) ready ahead of time for when I complete the EOI so it can go as quickly as possible on my end at least.

[JandM]

Most people who get a job offer from overseas (rare) apply for a temporary work visa alongside SMC, because that can be processed more quickly, and they will be able to be in NZ working while the residence application is still being processed. You have to expect residence to take about a year. Not all take that long, but it's better to be resigned to it rather than fret. Any NZ employer who offers a job to a foreigner will normally know that they will have to wait for the visa as part of the package.

[mariagracia]

Hi JandM

Please if you could assist me, I got email from my LIA (I replied to her but I think she is out of the country and I can't contact him) and CO gave us JSV. Is JSVisa will be a multiple entry or single entry only? My husband was included in the application (SMC Residence) but I don't know if we have to do it ourselves for the Temporary entry visa.


Thank you!