Category Archives: New Zealand Work Visa

Working in New Zealand as an immigrant comes with its own set of rules, and we help you to make sense of them

How to prepare for your appointment with an immigration lawyer

How to prepare for your appointment with a New Zealand immigration lawyerIf you’ve booked or are planning to book an appointment with an immigration lawyer in New Zealand, it can be hard to know what the process is, and what you need to bring.

Firstly, if you are yet to book your appointment, it’s best to check that you really do need an immigration lawyer. If you’re unsure, check out our article: immigration adviser vs immigration lawyer – whose help do you need?

We understand that immigration cases and New Zealand visa applications are expensive.

We want to make sure you get cost-effective and timely advice during your appointment. We’ve compiled a list of what you need to prepare before your appointment with a New Zealand immigration lawyer to make sure you get the most out of it.

Preparing for an immigration law appointment

For all appointments, bring:

  • Your visa (a photocopy is fine)
  • The date of your last police clearance check
  • The date you supplied your medical and x-ray certificates to Immigration New Zealand.

We strongly recommend preparing a list of any questions you might like to ask on the day. It is also helpful if you write a brief summary of your situation covering everything you think we may need to know. It is in your best interest to be honest and upfront about your situation with your immigration lawyer so that missed information doesn’t trip you up later on.

How to prepare for your appointment with a New Zealand immigration lawyer

You are welcome to bring a support person(s) and/or a translator if you struggle with English. Please keep in mind, however, that you will be discussing highly personal matters, so you need to trust this person to keep your information confidential.

There is no need to arrive early before your appointment, but do arrive on time. If you need tp change your appointment or are running late, please let us know as early as possible.

Other documentation required for your appointment is dependent on your reasons for going to an immigration lawyer in New Zealand.

How to prepare for your appointment with a New Zealand immigration lawyer

If you are applying for a New Zealand residence or New Zealand work visa, you will need to bring:

  • Photocopies of your offer of employment and, if possible, contract and job description
  • Background information about your employer, including:
    • The size of the company
    • How many employees it has
    • Whether it has supported work/residence visas in the past
  • Photocopies of any qualifications
  • Work experience references, and/or details of your prior work experience including dates of employment and descriptions of the tasks you performed
  • Copies of any correspondence from Immigration New Zealand relating to previous applications.

If you are wishing for help or intervention on a case you have filed, you need to bring:

  • A timeline of events, and any evidence to support this
  • A copy of the application documentation (especially in the case of an unsuccessful New Zealand visa application)

Copies of letters from Immigration New Zealand that detail the problems with the case.How to prepare for your appointment with a New Zealand immigration lawyer

Perhaps you have prepared your own case or visa application and just want:

  • A review of your application to ensure you have everything covered
  • A review of your documentation to ensure it meets the right visa criteria, and that you have everything you need
  • An assessment of whether your case is strong enough.

In this case, we recommend our 90-minute immigration clinic appointment. This appointment has a set fee and is the most cost-effective way to ensure your application is as strong as it can be, saving you the risk of spending time and money on an unsuccessful application.

You can book or find out more about our 90-minute immigration clinic appointment here.

How to prepare for your appointment with a New Zealand immigration lawyer

If you are an employer in the process of hiring a migrant employee(s), you must bring:

  • Copies of any advertisements for the position
  • A draft of the employment agreement and job description.

For more information about hiring migrant employees, check out our Employer Resources section, and our Employer Checklist. You can also view more about our business services here.

How to prepare for your appointment with a New Zealand immigration lawyer

If you are a migrant and already have an employment or skilled migrant visa, but feel you are being exploited by your employer, you will need to bring:

  • A copy of your contract
  • Evidence of exploitation. If this is on your phone (i.e., text messages or voice mail) you are welcome to simply bring that. If you don’t have evidence, please write a detailed timeline of the events that took place.

We understand that this is a very difficult situation, as your New Zealand visa can depend on your employer complying with New Zealand law. We take these situations very seriously, and we are legally required to keep your information private, so you can be sure that anything discussed with us won’t be shared. If you are unsure whether you are being exploited in your place of work, you can find out more about your rights as an employee here.

How to prepare for your appointment with a New Zealand immigration lawyer

After your first appointment, you can expect to have gained:

  • An understanding of your current legal position
  • An understanding of the application process and your chances of securing the type of visa you want
  • An understanding of any weaknesses in your case and whether they can be strengthened
  • A strategy for your application to ensure best chance of success.

We will provide you with a written Terms of Engagement that will map out the work we intend to undertake, as well as an estimate of fees, how long it is likely to take to receive a decision, and, finally, our terms and conditions.

As each case is hugely different from the next, we do not charge a set rate for case appointments (except for our 90-minute immigration clinic appointment). However, the first half hour of the initial appointment is free, which should give us enough time understand the situation and estimate costs, and allow you to decide whether you wish to proceed.

Find out more about our process here.

Aaron Martin, principal lawyer of NZIL, has been working as an immigration lawyer in New Zealand for over 20 years. In this time he has worked with many clients with a wide range of situations – from New Zealand visa applications to deportation. If you’d like to hear some of our client’s success stories, check out our client testimonials here.

If you have any other questions about your specific case, or what you may need to do to prepare for your case, please do not hesitate to contact the office either through our website, or by emailing questions@nzil.co.nz, or calling +64 (0) 9 869 2952.

Help with difficult cases

New Zealand immigration lawyer client testimony for residence visa

Aaron described the steps we would take, how the case would go, and what could happen. He used “we” instead of “I”, emphasising to me how genuine and helpful he was. He was with me by my side.

 I came to New Zealand in 2010 to study a Bachelor of IT. I chose New Zealand because the education system is similar to my home country. I also wanted to come here for the environment and lifestyle, and because my father’s friends spoke highly of it. Friends who have gone to other countries experienced a lot of discrimination, but here I have not experienced racism at all. It’s very safe to practise Islam in New Zealand.

Unfortunately, in 2016, a very serious case was put against me. I was falsely accused of taking advantage of personal data. I worked with a lawyer who successfully cleared the case, but I was left with a criminal conviction. My New Zealand visa was due for renewal in 2017 – if I applied for residency, the conviction could mean I wouldn’t get it. Worse, I could be deported.

I was frightened, and I couldn’t find anyone to help me or give me direction. I went to two different lawyers but no one could give me any hope. All they said was: “This isn’t going to go well for you.”

Then I came across New Zealand Immigration Law on Google. I emailed Aaron and he invited me to meet with him.

Aaron reviewed my situation and told me there was a high possibility he could resolve the issue, but it was going to be a long case. Right from the start he mapped everything out for me. He described the steps we would take, how the case would go, and what could happen. He used “we” instead of “I”, emphasising to me how genuine and helpful he was. He was with me by my side. I opened my file with him on the same day because I genuinely trusted him.

After more than a year of battle, I finally heard great news from New Zealand Immigration: I was allowed to stay in New Zealand legally and not get deported. This was all possible because of Aaron’s helpful hand, expertise, and vast knowledge on New Zealand immigration matters. Everything he said at the start happened just the way he said it would.

Aaron was so professional, and he helped me with a lot of things. If I hadn’t found him, I would have given up. I would have stayed without a plan for a visa and probably just had to leave.

I can’t thank Aaron enough for helping me out and getting a positive outcome from Immigration New Zealand. I am really grateful to him and Junior, who kept communicating updates with me.

ASIF AMAN

Residency Visa

If you need help with a difficult situation, contact our team now.

Employer accreditation – avoid the log jam and act now

Employers act now: New Zealand Immigration is making changes to the Migrant Work Visa Category

The Government is proposing changes to employer-assisted temporary work visas. These include introducing a new framework for assessing all employer-assisted temporary work visas, and compulsory employer accreditation for those hiring from overseas.

These changes will affect all businesses who wish to employ migrant workers, particularly across the hospitality, construction, and IT industries.

One of the most notable changes to the policy is the legal requirement for all businesses to be accredited before making a migrant hire. The intent is to streamline the visa process, allowing for an employer-led work-visa system, and to decrease migrant exploitation.

While this may ultimately benefit both workers and employers, the process for accreditation isn’t a quick one.

The sudden surge in businesses needing accreditation, coupled with Immigration New Zealand’s current backlog of work (and resulting snail-paced turn-around) is, as RNZ reports, set to “compound existing delays to hiring foreign labour”.

For employers who don’t already understand the system, the accreditation requirement will simply make the process more complicated.

Becoming accredited means that businesses must prove their “trustworthiness” across several areas. There will be several different types of accreditation, but all businesses will have to show evidence of:

  • compliance with labour laws
  • high-practice human resource processes and policies
  • financial stability
  • commitment to increasing worker benefits and pay.
  • Commitment to training and hiring local workers

For roles other than those above a certain wage threshold (above $78,000pa) or on a regional shortage list, labour market testing will also be required. This is to show the company has made an honest attempt to recruit locally.

Employers will also need to prove they have training systems in place to transfer knowledge from migrant workers to local staff, as well as systems to avoid their business becoming reliant on migrant workers.

Then, of course, will be the migrant’s own visa application process.

Now is the time to act. Businesses that want to make a migrant hire in the next 24 months must begin the process now, to avoid the inevitable visa-application log jam.

For more details on these changes, see our article “Employer-Assisted Work Visa Changes Proposed By Government”.

If you would like advice on how your business can become an accredited employer before the changes, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

If you’d like to read about a client who has gone through the employer accreditation process, check out their story here.

 

How to get a New Zealand work visa

­­­­­­­­­How to get a New Zealand Work VisaIf you’re a skilled migrant applying for a New Zealand work visa, you may feel like the process is a job in itself. Navigating all of the visa requirements, conditions, documentation, evidence, categories, and costs can seem a daunting task.

We’ve made this checklist for you as an overview of the process of applying for a skilled migrant visa. However, we recommend you seek assistance from a licensed immigration practitioner when preparing your visa application form.

You can apply for a temporary working visa in New Zealand if you:

  • Have a job offer from a New Zealand employer
  • Are coming for a specific work-related purpose or event
  • Have a partner already in New Zealand, and you want to join them and work
  • Want to get on a working holiday (if you’re between 18 and 30), or
  • Have completed higher level qualifications in New Zealand and want to work.

Visas that lead to permanent residence include the accredited employer, long-term skill shortage, entrepreneur work, Pacific access category, and religious worker visas. All visas are available for people who are 55 years old or younger.

If you want to apply for a work visa you will have to provide either evidence of a current full-time job or a job offer and be registered if your profession demands it. You can do this here.

Before you apply

  1. Make sure your job meets the minimum wage and salary threshold. These thresholds were changed in November 2018, so make sure you check our comprehensive list of the changes here.
  2. Check the ANZSCO code and skill level of the job; and check if the job is on a shortage list.
  3. Gather the employer’s documentation including the fully signed contract, you may also need the employer to show evidence that the job was advertised to the local market and could not be filled by an adequate candidate depending on whether Shortage List requirements are met.
  4. Have proof of your identity (with a valid passport and a photo of a yourself taken within the last six months) and good character (with police certificates from countries you’ve lived in for more than five years since you turned 17). You may also need to provide information about your health, by getting medical certificates or a chest x-ray from a doctor approved by Immigration New Zealand (INZ). All documents not in English, should be translated to English by a professional translator. An immigration adviser and/or immigration lawyer can help you navigate the process. If you are not sure who to ask, read our article Immigration adviser vs immigration lawyer – whose help do you need?
  5. Set up a New Zealand Government RealMe account to upload your digital documents for the online application.

Submitting the visa application

  1. Give your application the best chance of success by getting it checked by a licensed practitioner. Our 90-minute clinic (with immigration lawyer Aaron Martin) is the best way to ensure your New Zealand work visa application is approved.
  2. Submit your paper resident application within six months on the form provided by INZ. Fees and processing times will depend on your location and nationality. You can send your application by post or courier.
  3. If necessary, INZ may ask you for more information to grant you a fair chance to obtain your New Zealand work visa. INZ will let you know about your visa status as soon as it’s decided.

After getting the visa

  1. Once you have your work visa, apply for a tax record number, which you can do through the IRD. You’ll have to give this number to your employer once you have it and use it for all your tax matters.
  2. Be aware of your rights as an employee. Check out our article for all you need to know about migrant worker rights in New Zealand.

Once you have all of the above sorted, you will be well on your way to living and working as a skilled migrant in New Zealand.

The application process for a skilled migrant work visa is very expensive. To ensure the best chance of success we recommend you seek professional advice. Our 90-minute Immigration Clinic appointment is an excellent resource that is designed to help make sure you have all you need to succeed in your application. With over 22 years of experience as an immigration lawyer, Aaron can quickly check your application and let you know if you meet the requirements and have all the appropriate documentation. This can save you thousands of dollars.

Find out more about our 90-minute Immigration Clinic here.

If you’d like help with your skilled migrant visa application, or have any other queries, you can contact the office here.