Lonely Planet™ · Thorn Tree Forum · 2020

WHV UK citizen NOT ordinarily residing in the UK

Country forums / Australia, New Zealand & Antarctica / New Zealand

I have something of a problem on my hands here; I´m a uk citizen, but for the past 3 years I have been living in Spain for 9 months working as a teacher and then returning to the UK during the summer for 3 months. The embassy website states that anyone who has been áway´from the country for more than two years no longer meets the criteria of being ordinarily resident, but my question is, if I have been coming back for three months of the year, does that discount me? And if I gave an address in the UK (to which I have any important documents sent since I consider it my permanent address sent) would anyone care anyway?!

Do you have a question relating to the Australian / New Zealand Branch? Are you wishing to apply for an Australian or NZ WHV? If so, your UK residence would be sufficient.

The requirement of the visa is that you apply for it from outside Australia, not that you are in your home country.

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If you have been returning to the country for 3 months every year you have not been "away from the country for more than two years". What's the problem?

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The Embassy does NOT issue WHVs for NZ ( and says at the top this is the country for the topic) so go to NZ I immigration web site where you need to apply and read the rules for a United Kingdom working holiday visa. Easier to use the magnifying glass on that web site to search for it-- they changed the layout since I last looked at it.

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Yes, I´ve been on the immigration website- that´s where I read the information. One of the requirements for a WHV is to be ´ordinarily resident´ in the UK. If you then click on the further information for this requirement it states that being temporarily outside the UK is fine, but once you´ve been ´away´ for two years, you no longer meet the requirement. Really what I want to know is what constitutes ´away ´. I´ve been back every summer but there is no proof of that- I wasn´t working so I wouldn´t be on any system- I´d like to know how thoroughly they look into that and if going back for what is essentially a holiday still counts!

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Really what I want to know is what constitutes ´away ´. I´ve been back every summer but there is no proof of that- I wasn´t working so I wouldn´t be on any system- I´d like to know how thoroughly they look into that and if going back to the UK for what is essentially a holiday still counts! I consider myself to be a resident of the UK and if I ever need to give a ´permanent address´ I would always give my UK one, but the fact is that I work in Spain for 9 months of the year.

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Only NZ Immigration can give a definitive answer if that's what you want.

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