California developer hoping to work in New Zealand

[scottmotte]

Anyone in this group from America or another country (excluding
Australia) that moved to New Zealand to work and even eventually make
it their home?

I'm starting the process to do just that and Breccan from 3months.com
recommend I take a look at the mailing list for possible jobs. It
looks like lucidesign had an opening back in December - http://bit.ly/K2xwy.

Or maybe someone just came over as a freelancer and kept their clients
from the US or abroad? I've been told that the NZ government tends to
like programmers and approve them - even if entering without a sponsor
company.

You can check me out at http://spitfiresky.com

[Walter McGinnis]

Hi Scott,

I'm from Vermont originally, but moved to Wellington from Seattle back in 2005.  I have Permanent Residency through the Skilled Migrant Category.

http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migrant/stream/work/skilledmigrant/

If you are under thirty, the least complicated way to proceed is to get a work visa for those under thirty.  Otherwise, checked out the Skilled Migrant stuff.

You should go to that site and do the points calculator. It's under the Expression of Interest stuff here:

http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migrant/stream/work/skilledmigrant/caniapply/eoi/default.htm

This should give you a decent gauge of where you stand.  If you have enough points already, immigration can be a very smooth process and go fairly quickly.  Basically immigration needs to have confidence that you walk out of the office and get a job based on your work experience and qualifications.  They obviously don't want to approves someone that is just going to end up being a cost to the government.

If you have high enough points and get approved without any hitches, you can collect your stuff in your passport and do what you wish to make a living, including contracting.

However, for me because I was on edge points wise, the trick was to actually get my points up to finalize my application was to get a job here.  From my experience, that is best done by coming over and visiting and interviewing in person.  Once I did that (was pretty quick once I actually started applying, but that was well before the recession), I was on "section 18A" for a like a year or something which meant that if I didn't stay employed they could revoke my permit and visa, etc.

After my 18A probationary period finished, I was free to what I wanted as far as employment.  I'm pretty happy with my job, so I stayed on, but I could have set up shop as a freelancer.

Definitely don't mention that you are planning on being self-employed in either case.  That will throw up red flags for immigration.

I love it here.  Has some of the best aspects of bigger cities while having a very friendly smallness, too.  

All this boils down to that I recommend you plan to come here for your job hunt.  Worst case scenario is that you end up having visited a very cool place.

Cheers,

Walter

[Tim Uckun]

On Tue, Jun 30, 2009 at 1:15 PM, scottmotte<sc...@scottmotte.com> wrote:
>

> Anyone in this group from America or another country (excluding
> Australia) that moved to New Zealand to work and even eventually make
> it their home?

That would be me.

Feel free to contact me privately or via skype (timuckun), jabber
(timu...@gmail.com) or AIM (timu...@mac.com) if you have any
questions.

[scottmotte]

Thank you Walter and Tim. Tim I'll definitely be contacting you, and
Walter that is a lot of help. Thank you for the great advice.

Looks like I barely make the 100 points requirement at my first quick
jump through the points calculator so I'm kinda on the edge.

Also, of the emails I've sent out I've gotten some nice responses with
possible future leads. Everyone has been amazingly friendly.

Cheers.

On Jun 30, 3:12 am, Tim Uckun <timuc...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Tue, Jun 30, 2009 at 1:15 PM, scottmotte<sc...@scottmotte.com> wrote:
>
> > Anyone in this group from America or another country (excluding
> > Australia) that moved to New Zealand to work and even eventually make
> > it their home?
>
> That would be me.
>
> Feel free to contact me privately or via skype (timuckun), jabber

> (timuc...@gmail.com) or AIM (timuc...@mac.com) if you have any
> questions.

[Walter McGinnis]

On Wed, Jul 1, 2009 at 10:09 AM, scottmotte <sc...@scottmotte.com> wrote:

Looks like I barely make the 100 points requirement at my first quick
jump through the points calculator so I'm kinda on the edge.

That's not a terrible sign, actually.  If you get a job offer will be key for you to get over the threshold.  That should boost you to at least 140, IIRC.

Cheers,

Walter

[Tim Uckun]

> That's not a terrible sign, actually.  If you get a job offer will be key
> for you to get over the threshold.  That should boost you to at least 140,
> IIRC.

When I applied a job offer outside of Auckland got you an extra ten points.

[Walter McGinnis]

That's a good point Tim.  I believe location of job may have an effect on points.  Or possibly things have simply changed.

Cheers,

Walter

[Tim Uckun]

On Thu, Jul 2, 2009 at 5:05 PM, Walter
McGinnis<walter....@gmail.com> wrote:
> That's a good point Tim.  I believe location of job may have an effect on
> points.  Or possibly things have simply changed.

When I was applying there were also an IT cluster in christchurch and
if you got a job offer from one of those companies you got some extra
points.

It pays to read the immigration documents very carefully.

[Walter McGinnis]

On Fri, Jul 3, 2009 at 12:25 AM, Tim Uckun <timu...@gmail.com> wrote:

It pays to read the immigration documents very carefully.

True that.

Also, you'll want to get your experience from contracts well documented.

Cheers,

Walter