American Work Visa to New Zealand help!

[campbelin]

Hi there,

My name is Campbell and my girlfriend lives in America and wishes to come live in New Zealand while I study in Auckland starting next year. My course goes for three years she would like to live here during this time. She is in her last year of college there and was looking to work here. What visa would be the way to go? And will it need to be renewed?

Thanks in advance,
Campbell

[JandM]

Some questions, the answers to which will make a difference to what I can tell you...

Are you a NZ citizen? If not, if you are a foreigner, have you already obtained a student visa?

Have you and your girlfriend lived together so far?

[campbelin]

Hi thanks for the reply!

Yes I'm a NZ citizen and no we have not lived together yet.

[JandM]

Any NZ visas based on partnership are ONLY available to couples who can already show evidence that they have or have had a settled home together (and although no time is mentioned in the regulations, we know from experience that INZ take seriously applications with around three months' good evidence). So to begin with, there is no opening there for your girlfriend.

She could readily enter as a visitor, being a US citizen, but since you say she wants to work, she could look at the USA Working Holiday Visa (see the factsheet here https://www.immigration.govt.nz/new-...-visa#overview, and look at the other tabs, particularly Criteria for the requirements). If she applied for this visa, it would NOT be because of being the girlfriend of a NZer - notice the Genuine Intentions section. A visitor's visa presupposes that the person intends to make a stay for a limited time and then go back to their life in another country, so this is not the time to share other possible plans that may be in the back of the mind.

Once in NZ, if she and you decided that you wanted to move in together, you could then collect evidence that you're living together, and after around three months, she could apply for this visa. https://www.immigration.govt.nz/new-...s-visa-holders Again, see all the tabs. Here https://www.google.com/search?source...4dUDCAc&uact=5 are old threads from the forum with discussion and examples of what other people have used as proof of partnership.

[TobiasTohill]

Hi there,

My name is Campbell and my girlfriend lives in America and wishes to come live in New Zealand while I study in Auckland starting next year. My course goes for three years she would like to live here during this time. She is in her last year of college there and was looking to work here. What visa would be the way to go? And will it need to be renewed?

Thanks in advance,
Campbell

Working Holiday Visa. Need to be under 30.

[JandM]

Please always give your source. This is to comply with NZ law about immigration advice - see the stickies on the subject at the top of the listing here. https://www.enz.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=6 (The link about WHVs is in my post just above.)

[campbelin]

Hi again,

I will be staying in a hall of residence for my first year at university (next year) and would go flatting the year after. I see that the USA Working Holiday Visa has a max of 12 months, is there any way to extend that so I can get the 3 months of living together after my first year of university? Or would the only work around for that be for her to start her Visa later in the year? She is also 21 years of age at the moment.

Thanks for the help,
Campbell.

[JandM]

The only extension to a WHV I know of is this one https://www.immigration.govt.nz/new-...sion-work-visa - if the person has done three months' seasonal work (i.e. on the land) during their year. So if that's not her scene, then yes, she'd need to come over a bit later.

Or otherwise, saying this for the sake of completeness, if she has any skilled qualifications in her own right (not likely, I guess, if she's only just finishing college), she could look to see if she qualified for any Work visa linked to any skilled job offer she might get. https://www.immigration.govt.nz/new-...k-visa-options - they all need a job offer that the person is qualified for by previous study or by experience.

[campbelin]

Okay thanks a lot for the help I appreciate it!