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Thread: Qualification Level 4 in Cookery, SMC - EOI

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 2018
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    Default Qualification Level 4 in Cookery, SMC - EOI

    Hi guys,
    I am applying for SMC as Chef. I have enough years of experience to be qualified as chef.
    I have also a Certificate Level 4 in cookery which i want to use to claim 40 points. By looking at instruction SM8.5, a certificate level 4 must be relevant to an occupation Level 3,4,5.
    I have called the immigration and asked if i can use my certificate level 4 to gain points despite Chef is a job skill level 2. Immigration told me that not necessarily the qualification that i want to use to gain points must be relevant to my job offer and my certificate level 4 is relevant to baker or cook and so i can claim points.
    To make sure i had the right answer from INZ i called back the immigration and another officer said that i can't claim points for my qualification because my job is skill level 2 and the qualification must be relevant to an occupation skill level 3,4,5.
    At this stage i was very confused so i decided to get an assessment from 2 different immigration lawyers and again one lawyer told me that i can claim points and the other said no.
    Now I am asking to you guys because I am very confused.
    Can I gain points with a certificate level 4 in cookery?
    Thanks for your answer

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
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    37,824

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    Beware! Most of the people here are members of the public, and you can't NECESSARILY rely on us to know what is right when immigration lawyers disagree. (Telephone answerers are not trained case-workers. They're a kind of human FAQ system working from a computer database of the same kind of information as we can see when looking at the INZ operational manual. As you know, what a person gets from computer searches depends on what key-words they enter, how good they are at recognizing what is or isn't relevant, how persistent they are, etc., etc., which is why it is notorious that people can get as many different answers from the helpline as they make calls.)

    My GUESS... and notice again, I may be right and I may be wrong... is that the answer given may depend on whether or not the lawyer understood that the Level 4 qualification was NOT what you were relying on to show that you are qualified as a Chef. (It is a bit confusing that 'cook' and 'baker' are careers in catering, like Chef is.) If you had been asking, 'I'm a Chef, but can I also claim (however many) points for my OTHER qualification as a plumber/nurse/computer programmer?' it would be more obvious that this is an add-on, not part of your main skilled-job qualification for THIS application.

    So I would think you should get the points, because your extra qualification is relevant to A skilled job, although it's not the skilled job that you're applying with. https://www.immigration.govt.nz/opsmanual/#66806.htm

  3. #3
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    Jan 2018
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    New Zealand
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    Thanks Jandm,
    yes, I totally understand that when I call immigration the person behind the phone is not always well prepared. Between immigration and lawyers I have spoken with 6 differents people and 4 out of 6 told me that I can claim points for my qualification. The annoying part is that 2 of them said that I can't claim the points and this put some doubts on me.
    I guess the best thing to do now is to try to send my EOI and see what happend. I will let know the forum about the result, it might be helpful for someone in my situation.
    Thanks for your answer
    Regards
    Mauro

  4. #4
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    New Zealand
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    So, today my lawyer sent me an email regarding this case. This is the answer, hope it can be helpful to someone in this forum.
    This is the email:
    It is not clearly stated in the instructions that the qualification does not have to relate to the ‘skilled employment’ that you are claiming points for, which has created inconsistency with the interpretation of SM8.5. However, I have telephone and discussed the above with INZ and they confirm that the level 4 qualification does not have to be related to the ‘skilled employment’. It only has to be relevant to an ANZSCO skill level 3,4 or 5 occupation. The officer did however emphasise that the relevance of the qualification to a claimed ANZSCO will be assessed and determined by the allocated officer .

    On the basis of this clarification from INZ, you could claim 40 points for your qualification as it is relevant to an ANZSCO level 3, 4 or 5 occupation such as a Cook. So long as the allocated INZ officer makes the same assessment, you will have sufficient points to meet the eligibility threshold to submit an Expression of Interest without needing to claim points for ‘skilled work experience’.

  5. #5
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    Feb 2008
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    I have telephone and discussed the above with INZ and they confirm that the level 4 qualification does not have to be related to the ‘skilled employment’. It only has to be relevant to an ANZSCO skill level 3,4 or 5 occupation. The officer did however emphasise that the relevance of the qualification to a claimed ANZSCO will be assessed and determined by the allocated officer .
    That's good and reassuring for you. I'd've been very surprised if it hadn't been the case, because it always HAS been so since I've been watching INZ. Previous versions of the INZ Operational Manual have been clearer on the point, though.

    Oh... I've just been doing some reading on old threads, and I discovered that *someone* actually checked this with INZ once, and got a straight answer. See here! https://www.enz.org/forum/showthread...218#post570218

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jan 2018
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    New Zealand
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    that someone......looks like me.
    Anyway i have sent today my EOI, no more doubts!
    Thanks for your consistent help, really appreciate it

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Aug 2016
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    New Zealand
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    Haha that someone indeed is you!

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