Overview, Description & Tips: Interview Questions (NZ Visa - Skilled Migrant Category)

Who gets interviewed?
     - applicants who do not have job offer in NZ

Purpose of the interview
     - for the immigration to have an idea of the applicants' preparedness for migration and to check that expectations for their move to NZ are realistic

Focus of the interview
    - employment prospects in NZ and ability to gain skilled employment

Duration of the interview

   - 30 to 45 minutes

Description:

Part 1 - Identity Questions

     This is just to ensure the case officer is talking to the right person. These include birthplace, educational attainment and birthdate.

Part 2 - Introduction

     You will be asked if you've been to New Zealand and when do you plan to move if granted a visa.

Part 3 - Familiarity with NZ

     Make sure you do your homework by researching about New Zealand. You should also be able to provide your reason for choosing NZ.

Part 4 - Principal Applicant’s Employment Prospects
     Questions such as the industry you like to work in and the position you plan to apply for should be carefully answered with consistency. The interviewer will check for attempts made to see if you are really interested to get a job in NZ. Be ready to give realistic answers when asked about expected barriers/challenges in finding work.

Part 5 - Preparedness of family (questions for principal applicant)
     They also want to know if you already experienced living in other countries. Readiness to settle in NZ will also be checked. Make sure to research about cost of living in NZ and come up with estimated weekly expenses.

Part 6 - Linkages and support
     Mention the full names, relationship, position and company where your relatives or friends are currently working for. Be specific with the details.

Part 7 - Partner’s Employment Prospects 
     Taxpayers as preferred so your partner's or spouse's employability is also taken into account.

Part 8 - Preparedness of family (questions for partner)
     Partner will also be asked about any experience living in other countries. If you have children, research and familiarise yourself about education system in NZ.

For detailed questions asked during our interview, please refer to this link.

Getting a New Zealand Visa

The process in applying for a visa varies depending on the type of visa you want to apply for and the visa type you want will greatly depend on your current situation and your purpose. 
Questions have to be answered before starting with your application. Do you just want to tour around NZ or work here for a specific period? Do you want to study in NZ? Are you a businessman and wants to put up your own business here? Are you a  skilled worker? Do you want to migrate to NZ?

There are many options to get an NZ visa and the first step we took was to visit the Immigration NZ website. The site's interface made it easier for us to process our application. In our case, we applied directly to INZ since having an agency to take care of an application costs more.  The INZ website is pretty much direct and the instructions are generally easy to understand and follow. With the help of our friends who already made it to NZ, friends assisted by agencies and NZ visa-related forums, we got those gray areas answered and clarified. 

If you plan to work and live in NZ, a resident visa under Skilled Migrant Category is a great option if you don't have or can't get a job offer. This is the visa type we applied for which took us around 1 year and 9 months to process. Definitely, getting a job offer will expedite the entire process. It is important to check the skill shortages before proceeding with your application. See http://skillshortages.immigration.govt.nz  for more details. 

Keep posted for more info about getting an SMC visa.

Applying for Visitor Visa with Deferred RV

'If my spouse and son would join me in traveling to New Zealand, can they temporarily get a Tourist/Visitor's visa?  Will it not cancel their application for residence?'

We asked our case officer this question and here was her answer:

"Your spouse and child can try to apply for a visitor visa separately through your nearest INZ Branch. But there is no guarantee that it would be approved. Anyway, it won’t affect your residence visa application."

We asked this question when we were contemplating on whether to join my husband in going to NZ or stay in PH while waiting for him to get settled.  We applied for Residence Visa (RV) but was granted Work To Residence (WTR) or Job Search Visa (JSV).  If this is the case, only the primary applicant gets a JSV. The RV application will be deferred until the main applicant obtains a skilled employment and gets approval of the original application for RV.

So that's what we did as opting for a separate visa application will cause us more stress. We waited for my husband to obtain skilled employment and get settled here in NZ then we continued with our original application for RV which was finally approved a month after my husband signed a job offer and and lodged our requirements. 

From Job Search Visa to Residence Visa

I'm holding a Job Search Visa.  As soon as I obtain skilled employment in New Zealand, what steps should I take to get my Residence Visa (RV) approved?

We were told by our case officer that once my husband obtained a skilled employment in NZ and worked in that employment for 3 months, we need to send her copies of  the following for further assessment:

• Employer’s at least 2 years financial statements
• Two party signed job contract 
• Reference letter with detailed job functions
• IRD reports for at least 3 months
• Payment slips

Right after my husband signed a job offer - yes, he did it on the same day; no need to wait for 3 months and that required meeting certain conditions which I will explain in another post - he submitted the following documents to Immigration NZ (INZ) Auckland:  Cover Letter and Employment Agreement together with the Amendments and Job Functions (signed by him and his employer). 

He flew to Wellington to get started with his job. After few weeks, he made several follow ups with Wellington and Auckland branches but our application was not making any progress at all.  We decided to contact our case officer in Shanghai via email after 27 days. She responded and asked us to send her the scan copy of employment reference letter, contract, and first month payment slips/IRD report for her reference. She said they wanted to process it there to save time for us. She also called my husband's boss for a short interview. Glad to know that my husband's Kiwi boss has been very supportive that he sent all the needed employer requirements to our CO on the same day.


The following day, our case officer called to ask for a proof of partnership since our last record was provided a long time ago.  Fortunately, we have our credit card statements under my name since I'm the principal cardholder. My husband got his supplementary card and since he made several purchases too, his name also appears on those statements. So we sent her 2 of those with different dates. In the afternoon, my husband checked our application status online and it changed from "Pending" to "Approved". After 3 days, we received an email notification of our RV application approval. So instead of waiting for another 3 months, it only took us 1 month to get our RV application processed.