How long to leave the country after finishing work (work to residence visa)

[ywa857]

I’m currently on a work to residence visa which is due to expire in Aug 2020, however I’m intending to resign from my job and return to the UK later this year. I understand that my visa will be cancelled when I leave my job, but does anybody have any experience of how long New Zealand will tolerate you being in the country after your employment ends? Or how long it would typically take for them to realize that your employment has ended? I’d like to stay for 3 weeks after my job ends – to give me time to have a little break and sort the move back home out. NZ immigration have advised that there’s no grace period and I should be on the next plane out of the country once I finish work, which seems a little unreasonable. Does anybody have any experience of how long they will tolerate? I obviously don’t want to overstay, but wondered if others had any experience with this?

[JandM]

You have been told the letter of the law. Once that visa is cancelled, yes, you SHOULD get out of the country at the first possible moment, or you would be subject to deportation. If you get deported from a country, that has repercussions for any visa for anywhere that you later want to apply for - having to declare yourself as a law-breaker - and being banned from applying for another NZ visa for (I think) five years.

It seems to vary how quickly INZ cancel a visa once the worker leaves a job. In some cases, it has sounded as though it may be that the employer hasn't immediately reported them as having left. EGoodhue and ChrisMwn, is there a set procedure, please?

This next part is just me thinking, nothing official. If you had some holiday entitlement from your job, not used, MAYBE you could get your employer to agree that you could take that time for your little break and sorting out time, after you finish going in to work, but still nominally employed???