Working Holiday Visa

Such schemes usually have these features:

• Relatively easy application process and few hurdles to approval.
• Strictly limited as to age.
• Strictly limited as to total numbers per year.
• Strictly limited as to time allowed in the country.

Many young people entering New Zealand under Working Holiday Visa schemes decide they want to stay longer; they fall in love, they find good jobs; they decide they want to settle permanently in New Zealand. It can take them by surprise to find that the casual and informal approach that applied to their getting their first Working Holiday Visa does not apply to other visa categories! At first they think it is a mistake, or bad luck, then in no time they are trapped in an application gone wrong, with visas expiring and the law being broken.

Professional help is not usually needed to obtain a Working Holiday Visa; but young people who want to go further than that need to be aware that real visas applications are very much more complex and the implications of failure are very much more serious. Always, at the very least, seek a free assessment before proceeding to residence; and give serious consideration to employing a licensed adviser.