The plan right now is to apply for an extended Visitors visa and see what happens. We have also emailed some questions to the Support Officer as to how you are supposed to keep a Job Offer live for well over a year.

Thankfully the Guy who has offered the job is being very understanding – but obviusly we do not know how long that will last

I will keep you all informed – it may make another enthralling tale

Its just this last hurdle to cross and then we can relax and enjoy the place

We cannot go down the route of a work permit unfortunately. The first reason is that this is a residency application, and as long as all the boxes are ticked – he is entitled to a permanant visa. If they give him a temporary visa instead or in the meantime, they can pull it at any time, and if the job was to fold for any reason (whcih with the best will in the world is happening to a lot of people right now), he would not have a valid visa and have to go home.

The second reason (and I guess sthis wont surprise anyone by now ) is that NZIS Should be made to do the job properly. We were advised by a previous Branch Manager in Wellington that because these applications involve a job offer, that they are dealt with fairly quickly, and commen sense says that if part of the application is a valid job offer – they shouldnt then be able to sit on it until the job offer is no longer valid.

And the third thing is that he actually cannot apply for a work visa, as the job is not one that would pass the rules for an acceptable job offer for a work visa. Under the Family Sponsorship category – the job offer does not have to be skilled, nor does the employer have to prove that a Kiwi could not be found to do the job. Becasue the main scope of this policy is to reunite families – that restriction is not in place. You can get a job flipping burgers at McD’s under the Family Policy, as long as it pays minimum wage (more if you have dependent children) and is for 30 hours a week or more (and is not in a family business – which was personally a bit irritating for us!)

Funnily enough – the one thing I’m not worried about is the money. I would pay whatever it took to get through this. If I actually stopped to think about how much we as a family have spent trying to stay together as much as we have over the past few years I would probably faint. Most families would not be in a position to do that, and if like us – its an all or nothing situation (in as much as we simply cannot have a situation where my brother has to go back to the UK) then its either this policy – or we all go back.

Its been six and a half years since we started this journey – and we discovered 5 years ago that the family sponsorship route was the only way it would happen.

I was trying to persuade my parents to immigrate, but now it looks like I’m going to have to wait until they are too infirm to make their own decisions. Unless I manage to produce another grandchild.

This is just not how I experienced NZIS in either London or Wellington. We got our work permits processed in three days in London and our permanent residencies in 10 weeks. There was only one hitch when they asked for a full birth certificate in New Zealand when the London office processed with a short version.

If your brother has a job offer can’t he apply for a work permit whilst his residency goes through rather than relying on a visitors permit. I know it’s all money but I took from your post that him taking the job was important.

I had no idea it was such a fiddle and faf, not it took so long. We came on the work to residence programme and it all was straight forward since my husband had a job offer and he’s still with the same employer now. I was treated as a partner throughout the process but it seemed I was just another form to read and stamp. I presume that it was because he was considered as a skilled migrant with an NZIS accredited employer.

I think I’d be fit to burst too if I had to wait as long as you and deal with such unprofessional standards. There is no doubt NZIS are in trouble but maybe things will change soon given the fact the Minister has said sort it out and CEs job depends on getting it right.

I do not know how they manage it – but thier cats illustrate so many things perfectly, and can have me rolling on the floor with laughter.

They are just brilliant.

And Im all for new staff – and I would make intellegence a mandatory requirement as it is sadly lacking amongst many INZ employees. Its a sahame because there are some really good ones – but they tend to leave.