Working while a visitor in New Zealand

EIGHT days from now, at exactly 10 p.m. on March 12, 2024 (New Zealand time), or 5 p.m. Philippine time (NZ is five hours ahead), applications for 100 working holiday visas (WHVs) shall be avail- able to Filipinos ages 18 to 30.

Holders of WHVs may travel and work in New Zealand for up to 12 months and study or train for up to six months in total. You must activate your visa by arriving in New Zealand within the time you were given. This is usually one year from the date it is granted. What you are not allowed: you cannot: – Accept a permanent job or work for the same employer for more than three months.

– Bring children. If you have a partner who wants to come to New Zealand, they’ll need to apply for their own visa.

– Delay or cancel a working holiday visa that has been granted; otherwise, it will lapse.

– Apply again for a working holiday visa if one was already granted to you, even if you did not use that visa.

Other than meeting the 18-30 age requirement, a first-time WHV applicant must have the following documents to meet each of the criteria when applying:

– Identity: current Philippine passport valid for at least 15 months after you first arrive.

– Health: chest X-ray and a medical examination from authorized providers/clinics.

– Character: NBI clearance and police clearance from countries where you have stayed, worked, or resided for at least a year.

To meet the conditions of this visa, New Zealand Immigration (NZI) considers the following: evidence provided to support the application, your personal circumstances, and history of visa application and/or previous stay in NZ.

You must have a ticket to leave New Zealand or enough money of NZ$4,200 minimum to buy one. Evidence of the NZ$4,200 would include bank statements, credit card statements, bank drafts and travelers’ checks.

Education. Copy of a tertiary qualification, which must involve at least three years of full-time study.

English language. Evidence of ability to speak and understand English demonstrated either an acceptable English language test result (no more than two years old) or a tertiary qualification from an institution where all the tuition was in English.

Full medical insurance for the length of your stay, such as a copy of your insurance certificate and an approval letter from your insurance company.

Processing time. The INZ website shows that 80 percent of WVH visa online applications are processed within four weeks after payment of the $455 fee by credit or debit card Visa, MasterCard or UnionPay credit card.

Conditions of admission after visa approval. The applicant must come to New Zealand within 12 months of the date the visa is granted. After arrival, the WVHV holder can come and go from New Zealand as many times before the visa expires.

Entry permission. A visa is a document you present to an immigration/border officer at a port of entry to be granted entry. The WVH holder must complete a paper arrival card or a digital traveler declaration.

Next set of expenses

The first part is payment for the visa application and meeting the requirements for the visa. The next expense stage starts with where to stay while working or simply visiting — accommodation while looking for work or while on holiday.

You do not need to work if you have sufficient funds for the duration of your stay (six months or one year). However, you still need a place to stay.

If you intend to work, remember that you cannot work continuously for three months with one employer. If your intended place to stay is in the North (Auckland, Tauranga, Hamilton, Wellington) or South Island (Christchurch, Queenstown, Dunedin), you may work for different employers in one city in three months succession within the 12-month period.

Therefore, you should check out the accommodation in these places you intend to stay or work — motel self-contained unit, hotel room, family apartment or holiday home, holiday park campervan site, etc.

What you have paid so far: the $455 application fee, a round-trip ticket (for a flight more than 13 hours one way), which ranges from P47,177 to Auckland, the capital, and P62,280 to Queenstown, South Island, and for the English language test — P13,100 British Council. Then, the recurring costs of staying in a hostel, hotel or holiday park camper van.

Where the jobs are

You can work in any employment you like if you do not work for more than three months for any one employer; work for more than 12 months in total; get a permanent job; do illegal, unauthorized work; provide commercial sexual services; and run or invest in a business that offers commercial sexual services.

New Zealand has a list of occupations in short supply that the country needs — the short-term and long-term lists. However, that list is now under a new category, the Green List Occupations (GLO), which is tailored for skilled workers intending to pursue permanent residency.

Working visa holders are prohibited from this option.

Therefore, a WVH Holder must check on the part-time jobs in the city, area or island where he or she intends to visit and work — and must meet the requirements for the part-time job desired.

Unfortunately, international students — authorized to work 20 hours a week during school sessions and 40 hours off-school calendar — are the competitors for WVHs.

For both students and WVHs, some jobs that are easy to get in New Zealand (according to nzpocketguide.com) include those in food manufacturing, hospitality (bartender, food beverage server, cashier), construction work, picker or packer, brewery worker, and farming hand — work in a dairy farm of agricultural enterprise.

The trick is to know where competitors are fewer given the competitors (other Working Visa Holiday holders and international students).

Nighttime jobs, especially the midnight shift, are available since Kiwis and international students are up and about during the day study period.

Last month, the Workplace Relations and Safety Minister announced that the adult minimum wage will rise to $23.15 per hour from April 1, 2024. This is an increase of 45 cents per hour from the current hourly rate of $22.70.

Marketing your skills

If you were a New Zealand employer — in the hospitality, daily, farm sector or part of a community neighborhood group — would you hire someone you do not know or have no idea who this person applying for a job is?

It is important then that your part-time job hunting would focus on jobs that you have the skill set, experience or willingness to learn.

After all, if you have been working in the Philippines as a call center agent or in the hospitality industry (as a bartender, food and beverage server), it would be hard to get a farm, agriculture, or horticulture-related job.

Find tips from WHV holders in NZ here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gI75O9TmHbs&ab_channel=GlenAndMado.

Taxes, IRD number and bank accounts

If you receive income, you must pay taxes.

Before you can work, you must open a bank account and then apply for an IRD number and a bank account. If you do not have one when you start earning income, you’ll pay a higher tax rate of 45 percent. IRD processing usually takes approximately two weeks.

If you intend to stay for more than a year or work, then pursue the visa options are care workforce to residence, skilled migrant category resident, straight to residence, transport work to residence, accredited employer work visa, global impact permanent, specific purpose or the Philippines special work visa.

This last one is reserved for RNs, farm managers or engineering professionals.

Set your alarm, and happy holidays.