New Zealand WHV Work Limitations | New Zealand - Lonely Planet Forum

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Thu, 06 Mar 2014 02:59:46 +0000

Hey everybody, i've googled heaps and searched all the Thorn Tree forums for an answer to this question with no luck. I hope you can help before I have to resort to contacting NZ Immigration directly!

I am a UK national in New Zealand on a 23 month Working Holiday visa which expires in October 2014. I activated my visa when I arrived in November 2012 and have since travelled around heaps as well as worked a fair bit. In total I have worked for approximately 9 months, about 5 days a week. I am currently in Wellington, and have recently gained employment am hoping to remain here working until August before flying home.

One of my visa conditions is that is that I must not 'work for a period exceeding 12 months' - but due to the ambiguity of this statement I am not sure if I am now only entitled to BE EMPLOYED for another 3 months or whether the 12 month limit only applies to DAYS ACTUALLY WORKED. In the first case I would only be able to work until roughly the end of May, where as in the second instance i'm fairly sure I could remain legally employed right up until I want to leave.

Do you think the ambiguity of the visa condition will allow me to work 365 days out of the 23 months or just be in employment for 12 out of the 23? If I just kept working up until August is it likely I would be contacted and be in trouble for working too much or is it likely they will even notice at all?

I'm not sure how much inter-agency communication goes on between the IRD and NZ Immigration but I think immigration would have a hard time figuring out exactly how long I have been working in total. Whilst this is my suspicion I still do not want to fall foul of any visa restrictions which may affect my ability to enter countries in the future. I have not really encountered anybody who has been in a similar situation so any help, ideas, recommendations etc. would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance,

Tom

1

ONLINE

Thu, 06 Mar 2014 05:53:34 +0000

It clearly says 12 months. Anything over this you are working illegally and put your employer at risk, something they may not be too happy if something goes wrong. The whole idea of a WHV is to work to help fund your travels. Anything else needs another type of work visa.

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ONLINE

Fri, 07 Mar 2014 02:00:36 +0000

Thanks for the response, but it's not really answering my question. I am not saying I will break the conditions of my visa I am questioning the conditions of the visa i.e. 12 months of being in employment or 12 months of days worked.

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ONLINE

Fri, 07 Mar 2014 02:01:09 +0000

Thanks for the response, but it's not really answering my question. I am not saying I will break the conditions of my visa I am questioning the conditions of the visa i.e. 12 months of being in employment or 12 months of days worked.

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ONLINE

Fri, 07 Mar 2014 02:05:01 +0000

I'm imagining that it will be the former- you cannot work in New Zealand for a period longer than 12 months. In other words, you cannot be in the country for longer than 12 months, and working. Check with NZ Immigration to make sure. DO NOT overstay your visa or attempt to work illegally!

Immigration would have a hard time figuring out exactly how long I have been working in total

They would have no problem finding this info by asking your employer, or checking records with IRD.

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ONLINE

Fri, 07 Mar 2014 02:06:17 +0000

Think of it this way- if it were 12 months of days worked, you could effectively drag it out... forever!

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ONLINE

Fri, 07 Mar 2014 03:19:22 +0000

OP is on a UK passport and as such can opt for a 23 month WHV but cant woerk longer than 12 months during that period. They have already worked 9 months so legally can only work another 3. IMost likely goes on weeks worked, rather than days

Just spoke to Immigration and the person said their take was what I was thinking-- calculate the time by weeks. In other words, you cant work more than 52 of them taking a working week as Monday to Sunday regardless of hours or days worked.

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ONLINE

Sat, 08 Mar 2014 06:44:26 +0000

Months always means calendar months and has nothing to do with working days. If you are employed on the 1st of say March and only work 3 days a week and quit at the end of march that is still a month of work.

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ONLINE

Thu, 20 Mar 2014 23:49:20 +0000

*UK passport holders can get a 12-month or 23-month visa, the later has the condition that only 12 months of that time can be worked. It looks like OP has that visa. Everyone I've seen on that visa has worked it on the basis of, for each job they've had, take the start and finish dates, and that is 'how long you've worked', when the totals of all those total 12 months, or 365 days, (not including travel time non-working, between jobs, or 'holidays' from a job that you come back to), you can't work anymore...however, these things take a while for IRD or Immigration to catch up on, so a couple of weeks over, or 'ambiguity' involving holiday time or weeks when casual staff are 'not required' gives you some flexibility.

Two part-time jobs concurrently, that have different start and finish dates? View them as one 'period of employment' and use the earliest start and latest finish date.

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