Continuing our series of Migrant Tales – first hand accounts of the migrant experience of New Zealand, taken from locations around the net.

Today’s tale was first published on the emigratenz forum.

In it the author tells of a common problem – that of migrants from certain countries alleging they are more likely offered Work to Residence, rather than Permanent Residence, when submitting permanent residence applications.

Hi Everyone,

The Shanghai branch issued a WTR visa for me yesterday and the passport is one the way back. First of all I must thank each one of you for all the valuable information you have posted in this forum.

If I look back to the day I submitted by EOI to the pool, 16/June/2008, I never thought I’m going to spend the next 28 months (~2.5 years) staring at the NZIS website waiting to see the final decision. To be frank, if I knew I was about to stuck on such a lengthy process, I would have definitely considered some other country in need of Skilled Employees as an alternative.

Shanghai branch sucks If I’m asked, I would say it’s the worst branch in the NZIS network. Most of the Asian applications are handled by the the Shanghai and Beijing branches and I have read many bad experiences some of our Asian forumites have gone through while dealing with these branches. I see the trend of issuing WTR to Asians instead of PR as discrimination. If not, can somebody think of a good reason for doing so? I have only came across 2 people in this forum who got PR right away from Shanghai/Beijing. Please correct me if I’m wrong.

Anyway, with all these mixed feelings, still I’m anxiously waiting to make my move in January hoping to start a better life in my dream destination.

Related article:

For more about the potential downsides of Work to Residence read “Philippines Warns Citizens About NZ Work-To-Residence Scheme“