Another way of asking this question is putting yourself in a situation as follows.

You had come to New Zealand on a student visa a few years ago. You completed your course and then you went on the one-year open job search visa (which is available after certain courses). After the open job search visa, you went on an employer sponsored work visa for two years.

Now you are in job for 1-2.5 years and your employer sponsored work visa is running out, what are your options now? Does that sound familiar??

We see a lot of clients in this situation, who have not been able to or did not pay attention to manoeuvring their career towards a point where they may apply for a work visa under essential skills and eventual PR.

So what do you need to know, when you are on an Employer sponsored work visa (2 years)

a) That the employer sponsored work visa is not extendable, it will expire in 2 years’ time

b) After the expiry of the two-year employer sponsored work visa, you need to be in a position where you can get a work visa under “essential skills”

c) For a successful application under "essential skills" you will need to meet certain requirements related with labour market test, salary levels and qualifications.

How do you do that?

There is no sure fire way but we have compiled the following ideas / tools to help you.

a) Seek immigration advise early, not at the stage where you are making an application but much before that.

b) Regions are better than Auckland

c) If you have overseas qualifications you can engage them, it's not necessary to see everything through the prism of NZ qualifications

All the best and take care.