Over the years, I’ve assisted many highly skilled migrants to achieve their immigration goal in New Zealand: become New Zealand residents. These were achieved mostly via these pathways:
- Residency directly.
- Work to Residence.
- Study-Wok-Residence.
Residency directly
Some clients were able to secure skilled employment in New Zealand and be approved their resident visas after securing their offers.
Work to residence
Some clients secured their offer, worked in New Zealand for the required duration, and then were approved their resident visas.
Study-Work-Residence
Unfortunately, a skill offer may not happen all the time due to different reasons (it can be a pretty long list, which I may explain in another blog). Therefore, some clients went through the Study-Work-Residence pathway.
Here is one example:
Mr J had more than 10 year’s experience in IT oversea. For various reasons, no skilled job was happening during his job hunt. As a result, he continued with the alternative strategy via completing a Postgraduate Diploma in IT in New Zealand, which qualified him for a Post-Study Work visa after graduation. The Post-Study Work visa had open work condition (allowing him to work for any employer in any occupation in any place in New Zealand).
He secured a Soft Engineer role and was granted resident visa based on this role.
The longer the migration process, the more the risks. Therefore, having a correct strategy for every step is critical. What programme to study? Will it be eligible for work visa/work right? Will it qualify the student’s partner for a partnership-based work visa? Will it allow their children to study as domestic students? Is the qualification/major good for immigration purpose? There are lots more questions to be answered both at the start and all through the way.
I am not the government, so I can’t guarantee residency; but as a senior licensed immigration adviser, I am able to provide my expert guide so that mistakes may be minimized and the best possible results may come.