New Zealand Skilled Migrant Visa

This visa starts off with an EOI or Expression of Interest, which an applicant fills out if they are interested in moving to New Zealand. It is an online form and in order to be eligible to submit an EOI you must be claiming at least 100 points. All EOI's get put into a "pool" and every fortnight a selection is made. An EOI can stay in the pool for 6 months before it expires and because a lot of people don't understand the process, their EOIs expire. Just because you can claim 100 points doesn't mean that your EOI will be selected and this is due to the order of selection criteria below:

1. EOIs that have total points of 140 or more are selected automatically from the Pool.
2. EOIs that have total points of 100 or more of which 50 are claimed for a principal applicant's offer of skilled employment or current skilled employment in New Zealand, are selected in descending points order.
3. EOIs that include 15 points for work experience in an area of absolute skills shortage (in descending order of their points total)
4. EOIs that include 10 points for work experience in an area of absolute skills shortage (in descending order of their points total)
5. EOIs that include 10 points for a qualification in an area of absolute skills shortage (in descending order of their points total)
6. The points total of EOIs not meeting any of the above criteria.

Therefore if you are not claiming 140 points, points for a job offer or bonus points you are not guaranteed selection and this has been the case for 95% of the selections in 2010. To guarantee selection you therefore need a job offer. This scares a lot of people because they think that without a work visa there is no hope in securing a job offer when in fact this is incorrect. If you can identify the employment barriers then you can do something about them. We have hundreds of jobs on our website that you can secure if you go through the right process. Check out our jobs page for more details.

Once your EOI has been selected, immigration may undertake some verification on the points you have claimed and can ask you to provide evidence to back up your claims in the EOI before inviting you to apply. This step trips many candidates who have claimed points they are not eligible for, in this instance immigration will either reject your EOI or put it back into the pool. If you pass the verification or if your application does not undergo verification then you will be invited to apply for residence, your application will be assessed and a decision will be made.
Applicants, who have not claimed points for a job offer, may have to undergo a further step in satisfying immigration of their ability to settle in New Zealand. If immigration is unsure of your ability to settle then they have then power to grant you a 9 month work visa to find employment in New Zealand instead of outright permanent residence. Many people are unsuspecting of this because they have not researched the process or got the right advice before starting. To get the right advice now, click here for an eligibility assessment or contact us.