Work cancelling job offer

[JHadders]

Hi everybody,

I am in a nightmare situation.

My work are threatening to cancel my job offer unless I get a visa in a month. As it is, I still have til the 8th July til my essential skills may be granted , and until January next year until my Skilled Migrant Visa will be granted. Both rely on this job offer.

I only recently applied for an essential skills visa after being misled by an immigration contact centre employee that I could have my SMC visa fasttracked and that applying for the essential skills at the same time would somehow delay my SMC visa.

I am at a loss as to what I can do. Immigration can't make my visa be granted any faster, and there is nothing more I can do. I thought I'd done everything perfectly and now here I am, 3 months later, with two visas in the works and no support. I'm sinking into depression and regularly experiencing panic attacks.

Has anyone else experienced this situation? Is it even legal?

[JandM]

Sorry to hear about your situation.

What visa are you on at the moment?

[JHadders]

Thank you.

Unfortunately, visitor. The hiring process got delayed, so they didn't hire on the 7th January but on the 30th. My WHV expired on the 14th January.

In hindsight, that might have been a red flag.

[AlexKiwi2019]

Hi JHadders, sorry to hear of the mentioned struggles.

For context I applied for a Long Term Skills Shortage List Visa on Thursday 14 February 2019, and it got approved on Thursday 28 March. So in total it took exactly 6 weeks from start to finish.

Of course, every situation is different and our work visa types are similar but technically different. However I'd be surprised if your visa application took much longer, if you have been able to apply with all of the correct supporting documentation.

[JandM]

Dealing with INZ is something that an employer offering a skilled job to a foreign worker has to factor into the situation. It's not the employee's fault if a visa hasn't been issued by a desired start-date, any more than it is the employer's, and the time it takes beyond the control of both parties, because it depends on how many applications INZ have got queuing. The employer is supposed to have good workplace practice https://www.immigration.govt.nz/opsmanual/#66792.htm, including abiding by NZ employment law, which would make it just as illegal on their part if you started working without a visa as it would be for you to do it. I'm just thinking aloud here, wondering if this would give you any points for answering the employer's argument/threat - how does it sit with the small print of the legal offer of employment, for instance, if they now try to push you for a start-date that wasn't in the original paperwork that you signed, and that INZ have to hand?