What's the NZ story

[Guest Mysterio]

Hi Everyone,

 

Can anyone provide information on getting to Oz via NZ. It has been suggested that this may be a viable option as I do not meet the points criteria and I am currently having great difficulty getting an Australian employer to sponsor me. A suggestion of a year in NZ and then a move to OZ was suggested.

 

:notworthy:

 

Any ideas anyone.

[AnxiousMum]

Hi, this is something we are looking into if cant get into OZ, same problem need a sponsor. I have been told you need to be in NZ for minimum of 2 years and be a citizen. But others on here will tell you its more like 5 years. I was told 2 years by a New Zealand agent so not sure which is correct. Obviously you have the added stress of moving family from one country to another if and when the time comes. For us we are hoping if we have to take such drastic action we would love New Zealand and stay there.

[Guest Gollywobbler]

Hi both

 

By sheer chance, I was chatting with Ashley McEwen of Oceania Emigration on the phone last night about something totally unrelated to this.

 

Oceania Emigration - Welcome to Oceania Emigration

 

Ashley is a Kiwi and he is a ARA registered Migration Agent for Oz. (I don't know whether NZ has an equivalent of the MARA.)

 

Migration Agents Registration Authority=

 

Since I had Ashley by the ears anyway I thought I might as well pick his brains on behalf of a 52 year old friend of mine.

 

Both of us agreed that migration to Oz would not necessarily be impossible for my chum (an Intelligence Officer.) However it would have to involve the Regions in Oz and the major oil, gas and similar companies may well not have any need for Intelligence Officers out in the Regions. Commercial intelligence work could very easily all be based in HQ in Sydney or similar for all that Ashley & I know about it.

 

Ashley asked if my friend has considered NZ as a stepping stone? Dunno, but how does that work?

 

Ashley's description was a bit garbled and one would have to pin him down more firmly, I reckon, but the gist seems to be:

 

My friend could easily migrate to NZ and Ashley says the visa would only take about 6 months (he did not say which visa.) This NZ visa would give Permanent Residency in NZ, I gathered.

 

After 5 years in Nz my friend and his wife would be able to obtain NZ Citizenship.

 

As NZ Citizens, they would have an automatic right to move to Oz and can work full time, doing whatever jobs they want in Oz, said Ashley.

 

However, he said they would never become entitled to an Australian State Pension or to any other Benefits in Oz. According to Ashley, they would need to get PR in Oz in order to get the full package from Australia.

 

This leads me to suppose that the deal would be that if my friend becomes an NZ Citizen first, he could then get Temporary Residency in Oz on more favourable terms than I could (as a British Citizen) but as he would be 57/58/59 by then, and has no entitlement to migrate to Oz via the Family Stream, the bottom line is that he would have to be a self-funding retiree in Oz in the long run. If their funds ran out they would have to leave Oz and where they would go after that would be in the lap of the gods.

 

If it were me, I would reject this idea. I do not believe it is a good enough deal.

 

I have no idea where the one year that you have been told about comes into this, Mysterio. I have not checked a word of what Ashley told me either. However, the official NZ Government Immi website is here:

 

Immigration New Zealand

 

I have never read the Immi NZ site so I haven't a clue what it says.

 

Back to my friend. I turned him into a hypothetical 60 year old NZ Citizen just now and ran it through the DIAC Visa Wizard. This came up:

 

Australian Visa wizard - Visas & Immigration

 

It ties in with what Ashley told me.

 

However, Mysterio, I've just tried a similar exercise based on what you have said in this thread (including Occupation on the SOL but no sponsor) - ie turned myself into a fake version of you after a year in NZ - and the Visa Wizard said I am not eligible for a visa for Oz if I want to work there.

 

Make of this what you will, but I think it is crucial to have NZ Citizenship first and I know that that does take 5 years.

 

Best wishes

 

Gill

[keily]

Hi guys just to add to what gill has already said ...we looked at this option a few years ago ....and the way we understood it was ...although you would be allowed to go to oz and work ...when you became of retirement age you would have either had to go back to nz or come home to uk ...i suppose it wouldnt be so bad if you were quite young ..but they way things stood we would have to had made that decision in around 15yrs ...and it just didnt seem justified to go through all that upheavel for such a short period !!!

Mrs keily

[Guest Gollywobbler]

Hi guys just to add to what gill has already said ...we looked at this option a few years ago ....and the way we understood it was ...although you would be allowed to go to oz and work ...when you became of retirement age you would have either had to go back to nz or come home to uk ...i suppose it wouldnt be so bad if you were quite young ..but they way things stood we would have to had made that decision in around 15yrs ...and it just didnt seem justified to go through all that upheavel for such a short period !!!

Mrs keily

 

Hi Julie

 

You have just described exactly what I think after hearing about the possibility last night. I don't think the NZ route is worth the upheaval either, myself, though some will feel that it is worth it for themselves.

 

Best wishes

 

Gill