Some general tips which will help you understand New Zealand's immigration system much better. We think the more quality information you have, then better choices you are able to make.
In general if you are thinking of moving to New Zealand long term you will need a pathway which may start with a job offer or a study plan in most cases. Apart from partnership, nearly all residence categories and most pathways for the average person will require a job offer, but if you don't have a job offer yet, studying an appropriate course may be the best first step.
If you want to come to New Zealand to work, you must first have a genuine job offer from a NZ employer.
The best jobs or the best courses of study tend to change over time depending on the job market or the immigration instructions, but in general technical type jobs where you are using your skills to create something usually have a good rate of success. Trades such as carpenter, electrician, plumber, and so on, or professional jobs such as ICT , engineering and medicine are all good areas for visas, but generally any reasonably skilled job could provide a viable pathway. Management and office type jobs however are less common as these tend to go to Kiwis, and some professional occupations such as law, medicine, teaching and so on require registration which can be difficult.
If you are looking for a job, search for employers directy, or search on the popular online job sites such as Trademe Jobs https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/jobs and Seek https://www.seek.co.nz/
Keep these points in mind for a generally successful migration plan
The Immigration Act 2009 was designed to make an immigration system that is easily changeable to keep up with the needs of New Zealand at any time. What this means is that when NZ needs a certain type of skilled migrant, the system changes to allow these people to gain entry or residency easier.
Your chances of being able to live in NZ directly depend on your actual ability to settle successfully, meaning that you should have good English, skilled job skills and enough money to support yourself. You need to be able to show INZ that you meet the criteria clearly, and this is where a good Immigration adviser adds value. The evidence of meeting the visa criteria is most important and is where most applications that fail have problems. INZ assesses each case on its merits, and makes a decision based on the immigration instructions or internal policy at the time.
It also means that loopholes in the law are closed very quickly. In the past there have been cases where applicants have been able to get a visa even though technically they did not meet the criteria. By using certain techniques in their applications they had been able to get a visa, but once INZ becomes aware of such loopholes they move to close them as soon as possible. What may have worked for applicants a month ago may already not work for applicants today. This is even more true for applications under the old immigration Act. It is very dangerous to think that because a certain dishonest way worked for someone else that it will also work for you.
Lodging a good application means that you will have all the necessary documentation and can easily show INZ that you meet the criteria for the visa you are applying for. In some cases this also means showing that you have the required level of English. If your English is not good enough, then start studying now. You also may need to retrain or gain extra qualifications to be able to work in NZ. It might be best to study here to gain a NZ qualification in some cases. There are many possibilities and it always pays to sort out these kinds of things as early as possible.
Once your application has been accepted by INZ and your visa granted, you can legally come to NZ and do whatever your visa says you to do. However, every visa has conditions and you need to obey them. If you are on a student visa you will need to be studying, if you are on a work visa you need to be working, and so on.
The saddest thing we see is new migrants who get a residence visa, only to give up and go back to their home country because they were unable to live comfortably in New Zealand. To be able to live comfortably there are 3 important things to consider:
Things usually need a minimum amount of time and a minimum amount of money. It is good to try not to waste time and money, but often when you try to take shortcuts and decide not to do things that are necessary to try and save money, things will often go wrong. If you try to prepare your application without meeting some criteria, and then submit it because you don't have time, it will be declined and you will have to start again.This takes more time and more money. If there is something you don't understand well, but you don't want to pay for professional advice, your application may be declined and it will take more time and money.