Rpl

[CVS]

Hi

Does anyone know if you can get an NZ skilled migration visa without a degree? My husband has many years (15+) work experience and knowledge in the IT industry, do you know if there an RPL route?

Thanks

[JandM]

To be invited to apply, you have to be able to claim 160 points, as described here. https://www.immigration.govt.nz/new-...-visa#criteria These points don't HAVE to include claiming for a degree, but a degree counts for quite a lot, so in many cases, it wouldn't be possible to get the minimum number without one. A person can count as qualified by experience - in such a case, the ANZSCO description of the job says how many years' experience are needed in lieu of a paper qualification. If using that route, those years can't be used AS WELL when counting points for work experience. (For instance, if someone has worked 12 years, and ANZSCO says three years' experience can stand instead of a qualification, they can only claim nine years' work experience.) Check full details under Residence, then Skilled Migrant Category, here. https://www.immigration.govt.nz/opsmanual/#35439.htm

[larrykiwi]

try this
https://itp.nz/Members/Certification...T-Professional

[Juniper]

Also look into the Essential Skills Work Visa. This is often used by people who want to be processed faster than the Skilled Migrant Category, although Essential Skills is only a temporary solution. You can still apply for SMC, even concurrently. At first I only researched SMC, but once you have a job offer, you'll want to get to work sooner than later, in most cases.

We were going to use the Long Term Skill Shortage Work Visa instead of Essential Skills at first, because it doesn't require the employer to advertise for Kiwi workers first, but for that one you DO need to have a qualification. It's confusing, because there are two different sets of criteria for the same kind of job - either ANZCO, or LTSSL.

For Essential Skills, you apparently only need to meet the ANZCO criteria. For LTSSL work visa (or to claim bonus LTSSL points on a Skilled Migrant application, I believe), you need to meet the LTSSL criteria.

This has come up for us because although my husband does have a BS in Computer Science, it's 20 years old and I'm not confident there would be a favorable assessment for his degree, since NZQA compares the curriculum to programs currently offered in NZ (and it's a field that changes rapidly). He might just get a generic "yes it's a Bachelor's degree" but not qualify for LTSSL points. Also, the process to get your qualifications assessed is long and very expensive, especially if they decide to refer you to Engineering NZ for knowledge assessment.

[CVS]

Hi
Thanks so much for your reply, it's been very helpful! It's all a minefield! I thought the Oz system was complicated!

Do you know if we apply under the ESS because we don't have enough points is there anyway of getting a residence visa in the end?!

Did you go to NZ on a visitor visa and get a job whilst there? I've heard that's an option... all seems so uncertain which is hard when you have young kids!

Thanks again

[JandM]

Do you know if we apply under the ESS because we don't have enough points is there anyway of getting a residence visa in the end?!

People quite often can do that, because having the skilled job (without which they couldn't get an Essential Skills visa) gives them extra points, bringing them over the minimum threshold of 160 for SMC. All cases are individual - you need to look at the regulations, and see how YOUR particular circumstances match up, or will match up.

[Juniper]

Hi
Thanks so much for your reply, it's been very helpful! It's all a minefield! I thought the Oz system was complicated!

Do you know if we apply under the ESS because we don't have enough points is there anyway of getting a residence visa in the end?!

Did you go to NZ on a visitor visa and get a job whilst there? I've heard that's an option... all seems so uncertain which is hard when you have young kids!

Thanks again

My husband was about to get a job offer, but since the employer has to advertise first in order to meet the requirements for an Essential Skills visa, we have to wait a couple more weeks before it's all official. We came as a family on 6 month visitor visas, and found it to be a good way not only to find a job, but also to try out different cities to see which we like best. It's not for everyone as you have to be unsettled for a very long time (almost a year now for us, and now we have to wait for the next visa to process), but it seems to be working out.

Once the job offer is "in our hands," we can apply for both Essential Skills and Skilled Migrant. Essential Skills does not have its own pathway to residence, but the Long Term Skill Shortage List Work Visa does. I should add that you should check your specific job to see whether you need to have a qualification assessed for LTSSL, I was speaking specifically for my husband's skillset, which is the software development skill group.

[bluegray]

Hi

Does anyone know if you can get an NZ skilled migration visa without a degree? My husband has many years (15+) work experience and knowledge in the IT industry, do you know if there an RPL route?

Thanks

Although the "degree" (qulification) is not mandatory when you apply for the resideny, however, if you don't have any relevent qulification, you usually don't have enough points to get the ITA even though you work in NZ. Unless you have a partner who can get extra points for you.
One of my colleagues is an IT expert who has around 10-year work experience, single, including 2-year work experience in NZ, he still didn't enough points.
(Under the old points policy ->
30 points - ages,
60 points - skilled employment in NZ for more than 1 year,
10 points - identified growth area,
50 points - relevent work experience + bonus,
total 150 points)

Finally my employer transfered him to Willy office, and he got enough points to apply for the residency.

By the way, it's a helpful tool to calculate your points -> https://www.immigration.govt.nz/new-...ator-smc-28aug

Good luck!

[JandM]

About the INZ points calculator, however, being a piece of programming, in practice, it isn't capable of covering everything which the thousands of possible variations of human experience can throw at it, so for some people, how it responds doesn't make sense. If this turns out to be you, look at the INZ operational manual, and consult the actual regulations for yourself. https://www.immigration.govt.nz/opsmanual/#6954.htm

[Juniper]

The whole "degree" thing has been a bit of a pain for us, because it's not from a major University listed on the Washington Accord, it has to be assessed, which takes months and at least $800. Here's that link in case you haven't found it yet:
https://www.nzqa.govt.nz/qualificati...ualifications/

Since degrees are compared to programs currently being offered in NZ, I'm not even sure a 20 year old degree in Computer Science would get a favorable result (since the field changes rapidly), beyond a "generic" result affirming that it's a 4 year Bachelor's degree. Having a degree that matches the industry of your work experience is important for meeting LTSSL or ANZCO requirements, so getting a generic result wouldn't help with that (as I understand it...).

Degrees related to engineering or IT may need further (expensive, time costly) assessment or even knowledge testing from one of the following:
https://www.engineeringnz.org/cpeng/ (contact immigration@engineeringnz.org)
and/or?
https://itp.nz/Activities/Immigration

We are relying on his 20 years of work experience to meet ANZCO requirements, which appears to be good enough for Essential Skills and SMC - so now the challenge is tracking down old contacts to get work history letters. We are figuring out how many years he needs to document, you don't have to put your entire career if you don't need that many points. In our case, having a job offer will give enough of a boost without worrying about claiming points for every last thing.