Registered Nurse (Child and Family Health)

[French_Kiwi]

Hi ,

Asking for a friend who is a nurse in France and would like to migrate to New Zealand
She has 15 years experience as a nurse and the ANZSCO identified is Registered Nurse (Child And Family Health) occupation code 254413.

In the link hereafter: https://www.immigration.govt.nz/empl...kill-shortages
it is said that this occupation is on the following list: Skill level classification and it says also:
Related visa: Skilled Migrant Category
If you have enough points and meet the requirements then you may be eligible to apply for a Resident Visa under the Skilled Migrant Category.

When we applied for my husband SMC residence visa 3 years ago, his occupation was in the LTSSL so I know SMC works for this LTSSL but I have a doubt regarding the "Skill level classification" List which I never heard of before as I was too focused on the LTSSL

It may seem obvious and therefore silly to ask but it seems too easy to be true so I'd rather ask confirmation
As Registered Nurse (Child And Family Health) is on the list: "Skill level classification" she can apply for SMC residence visa and as long as she reaches 160 points she will be selected.
Am I correctly understanding ?

Many thanks in advance.

[JandM]

You need to click on the box where it says Skill Level Classification, then you'll see more information about what this implies.

[French_Kiwi]

Yes thanks JandM I did click on the box and it says:

Requirements to claim points for skilled employment
Remuneration thresholds are now used as an additional way of defining skill.
To be classified as skilled for the Skilled Migrant Category you need to be either;
ANZSCO level 1-3 AND paid at or above $25.00 per hour ($52,000 per year based on a 40 hour week)
--> that is her case in France and hopefully will be in New Zealand


You also must be qualified in one of the following ways:
you have a relevant recognised qualification at or above the level described in the ANZSCO
OR
your employment requires occupational registration in New Zealand by law and you hold full or provisional registration for your occupation.

--> she will make a first trip to New Zealand to specifically apply to be registered and then only apply for residence. She might apply for a Work to residence visa first while applying for residence. I think this is how she should do things cause SMC visa application takes about a year.


Related visa: Skilled Migrant Category
If you have enough points and meet the requirements then you may be eligible to apply for a Resident Visa under the Skilled Migrant Category. This category of visa allows you to live and work in New Zealand indefinitely and access most publicly funded services. The first step towards applying for this visa is to submit an Expression of Interest.
--> according to her points calculation she will have the 160 points and 190 if the job she finds is outside of Auckland.

So that means applying for SMC residence Visa is Ok with this occupation, right ?

[JandM]

Yes, it is. But these days, she won't get residence directly UNLESS she already has the offer of a skilled job in NZ. They now require 160 points for the EOI to be selected, and even if all those points check out, if the person hasn't a job offer, they will get a Skilled Migrant Category Job Search Visa, giving them the right to be in NZ looking for the necessary skilled job (but if they don't find a job, they have to leave again).

Likewise, getting a Work To Residence visa requires a skilled job to have been offered.

[French_Kiwi]

Ok thanks JandM, so getting a relevant skilled job is the key and mandatory and in her particular case she won't get any if she is not registered as a Nurse first with Nursing Council http://www.nursingcouncil.org.nz/Nur...l-registration which makes things even more complicated...

So she has to plan to do it in different steps:
1/ get registration
2/ apply for relevant skilled jobs and get the corresponding offer of employment
3/ apply for a Work to residence visa and get it
4/ come to NZ to work in this job
5/ work in this job for 2 years
6/ apply for residence

In order to apply for Registration (step 1 above) she will need to be in New Zealand and successfully complete a Competency Assessment Programme (CAP).
As she is from a Visa waiver country she could come and do her CAP under a Visitor Visa and stay up to 3 months while doing her CAP.
At the same time she could look for a relevant skilled job as a Registered Nurse mentioning she is currently in the process of being registered and if she finds a job she could apply for a Work to residence Visa ans stay in NZ to work.
But because her visitor visa is only for 3 months, she will have to leave New Zealand after the 3 months and come back only once her Work to Residence Visa is granted and start her job from then.

If during the 3 months visitor visa (while doing her CAP for registration) she does not succeed to find an offer of employment then she can go back to France and apply for jobs from there and apply for Work to residence only when she succeeds to get a job.

Does the whole process look correct ?

It will be very challenging to find a job in her case but not impossible. But very hard...

Her husband is a Pastry Chef, he does not need to be registered so he could try also on his side.

[JandM]

Some comments.

Assuming the applicant gets a job and a WTR visa, she would not HAVE to wait out the two years before applying for Residence From Work - once in the skilled job, she could choose, if she wished, to put in an application for Residence under SMC (that is, change over to the other path to residence), which, even with INZ's present delays, would probably come through in one year or less.

If she received a job offer and applied for one of the WTR visas while in NZ on a visitor visa, she would not have to leave at the end of the visitor's visa - INZ can issue an Interim visa https://www.immigration.govt.nz/new-...a/interim-visa to keep a person legally in NZ while they finish processing their application for a temporary work visa.

[French_Kiwi]

Great! Thanks JandM.
I now have a very clear picture and will inform my friends about the option for her.

The same applies for him except that he does not need registration which makes things easier but the problem with him is that he has been a pastry chef in his own cafe in France (employing 3 staff) but has had his relevant qualification only 2 years ago and it's a level 4 or 5 and moreover the new remuneration threshold will make it harder for him to get a job considered as skilled for this reason...

Anyway both husband and wife are in occupation in demand so they fit well with NZ employment needs. The hardest part now is to get a job without a Visa first.

Thanks again. Hope I can come and update this thread with good news some day.

[Kelerei]

Some comments.

Assuming the applicant gets a job and a WTR visa, she would not HAVE to wait out the two years before applying for Residence From Work - once in the skilled job, she could choose, if she wished, to put in an application for Residence under SMC (that is, change over to the other path to residence), which, even with INZ's present delays, would probably come through in one year or less.

If she received a job offer and applied for one of the WTR visas while in NZ on a visitor visa, she would not have to leave at the end of the visitor's visa - INZ can issue an Interim visa https://www.immigration.govt.nz/new-...a/interim-visa to keep a person legally in NZ while they finish processing their application for a temporary work visa.

For the record, this is exactly the process that my partner and I went through.

The thing we were advised is that: it's extremely difficult (though not impossible) to get an offer of employment in NZ without being physically present in the country. Of course, employers tend to only be interested in you if you already hold a Work Visa or Resident Visa, but for the vast majority of Work Visa categories, one needs a job offer to obtain the visa. Classic "chicken and egg" scenario...

So, I obtained a three month Visitor Visa (with the purpose of "look, see, decide"), and reached out to various companies as soon as I was onshore (and yes, it's perfectly legal to do this under a Visitor Visa, so long as you don't actually start working!). I can't even begin to tell you how many letters of rejection I received due to only holding a Visitor Visa, but what I can tell you is that I received an offer of employment with 10 days remaining on said Visitor Visa (just as I was preparing to give up and leave the country!). Probably helped that in my case, the employer in question was accredited and therefore knew that I could easily obtain the requisite Work Visa before actually commencing employment. The Work Visa application was lodged less than 48 hours later and was granted a week later; INZ did issue me with an Interim Visa so that I could remain onshore after expiry of the Visitor Visa, but it turned out to not be required in my case as the Work Visa was granted before expiration of the Visitor Visa.

At this point, my partner (who was still offshore) was able to apply for a Partner of a Worker Work Visa (one of the few circumstances where one can obtain a Work Visa without a job offer), and we were eventually reunited after 5 months (!!) apart.

Meanwhile, the application for the Resident Visa under the Skilled Migrant Category was filed. We were always going to do this; we always knew that if I received an offer of skilled employment, we would exceed the minimum points threshold for SMC. Even though I was granted a Work to Residence Visa (under the Accredited Employer category) and could have simply waited 2 years, we felt that since we could get residence sooner under SMC, we should (we merely considered WTR as a convenient back-up plan). We received our Residence Visas under the Skilled Migrant Category two days ago.

I'm going to be honest here: the entire experience was a real emotional rollercoaster: the time spent dealing with rejection after rejection while having my partner 11 timezones away is not an experience I want to repeat, but the elation of getting through the entire process (especially INZ's obstacles) and getting those Resident Visas won't be topped easily. You need to be extremely resilient, determined and be easily employable in NZ to do things the way we did though -- although for some, it may be the only way.

If you're interested, I've posted our timeline here.

[French_Kiwi]

For the record, this is exactly the process that my partner and I went through.

If you're interested, I've posted our timeline here.

I am interested and I completely agree with you about the rollercoaster aspect as we have experienced it as well. that's why I want to help our friends because if they listen to others they will give up and YOU and US are the living reminder that it CAN work.
In the particular case of my friend, having to register is an additional burden but she also has her husband who could still try on his side to get this job offer !!!!
thank you Kelerei for sharing your experence and I will share it with my friends as they need encouraging messages like this on top of ours. it's not only about dreaming, it's about trying our best to make things happen until the very last chance has been given.

[French_Kiwi]

And CONGRATS for your residence visa !!!!!!! note I've not given you any bananas because of your allergy