Hello, I’m in New Zealand at the moment and my working visa ends in November, so up until now I had planned to extend it by 11 months but I’ve only just noticed that on the NZ immigration website one of the visa conditions is that you can only work 12 months in total, even if you’re here for 23 months. Has anyone else been in this position before? How can they check how long you’ve been working? I’m just wondering if its a strict condition or if maybe no one would notice if I was working longer. Or if there’s any way around this? Desperately don’t want to have to go home a year earlier than I’d planned.
I suspect that this "You must not work for a period exceeding 12 months." rule applies "per job". (Back when I did my New Zealand WHV in 2003, I was only allowed to work in the same job for three months - I remember it being extended to six months a few years later, and I suspect that this is thus the next step of that same rule.)
I'm however very much not certain about the above, and recommend contacting the New Zealand Department of Immigration to make certain. (If you do, please let us know the result!)
An alternative interpretation which might apply here is that you're not allowed to work for more than 12 months total, but that time off in between jobs doesn't count.
Their purpose with this rule (regardless of how it's be to interpreted) is that you're not just in New Zealand to earn money, but are also travelling around and getting to see the country. You are there, after all, on a working holiday visa.
Finally, if all else fails, consider spending the next year in Australia, which is just as easy to get a WHV for, and from where you can still easily make side trips into New Zealand as a regular tourist.
[ 14-Jul-2015, at 06:41 by Sander ]
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