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These people are generally presented with the Business Investor option as well as the General Skills option. Again it's important to understand from day one what your options are or whether in fact you even have any options.  In the Business Investor option obviously a potential migrant must understand the implications of opening themselves up to investigation by the Immigration Service.  It's preferably that they minimise their investment through the Immigration Service so as to maximise their ability to invest as and when they choose rather than as and when an immigration officer chooses for them.  An apparently transparent Immigration Policy has fish hooks for the unwary that could result in failure either of the application or of the final investment. To summarise then step 1 must be an understanding of whether you meet the requirements of policy and (where appropriate) the points system pertinent to that policy.  I would suggest here that a common error made in self assessments is where someone considers that because they took 4 years to complete their degree they should be entitled to 11 points for their qualification as opposed to 10 points for a 3 year qualification.  That is incorrect! The next focus once a person understands their situation is to consider the alternatives.  It's a fact that most people enquiring will not meet the pass mark under the General Skills Category.  That presents a person with basically one option in my opinion.  That option is to consider a trip to New Zealand to research the job market.  A consideration of what chance each person has is again an answer that needs to be personalised as a generalisation would be very dangerous.

Our target market of course in the field of "escape artists" is that group of Americans with financial security and a fear and/or loathing of the U.S. tax system.

Those people who do meet current policy and are committed should seriously consider lodging an application immediately.  Preparing the documents for an application would probably take 6-8 weeks.  The pass mark is set weekly and has the potential to move up or down although it will never go below 25 under current policy. Whether it is likely to rise in the foreseeable future depends on the circumstances surrounding the time of the enquiry. A good well informed consultant will give an opinion and reasons behind it. Why do I recommend lodging immediately?  If you go back to the job situation and consider the options of the New Zealand employer you will see that faced with a New Zealand resident and an overseas person with New Zealand residence his choices have opened. The person with New Zealand residence has a right to work and has simply to go through the process of moving himself/herself and his/her family to New Zealand.  There is no doubts in regard whether that person could or could not meet policy and could/could not arrive within a specific period of time.  Suddenly the prospective migrant has opened a significantly larger market of potential employers.

Many people may be somewhat concerned of the thought of lodging an application for residence in New Zealand without a job.  It's important therefore to reflect on the time frame available to them so that they understand what allowances they have and what flexibility before arrival.

Generally an application will be lodged and will work it's way through the process in anything from the very speedy week or two (in some very efficient posts) out to anything like 12 months or more for particularly poorly performing posts. On average one would expect 3 months in the U.S. which allows time for some too-ing and fro-ing in regards to specific queries.  There will therefore be a date at which the applicant is "approved in principle". This approval in principle is an indication to the applicant that, once they have met any final requirements included in the approval in principle letter, they will get full approval.  Time limit will be given on the items required to be completed.  These may include the transfer of money to New Zealand and a paying of a settlement levy through to, under Business Investment, the transfer of investment funds and the investment in specific options.  At worst they will be given 6 months to comply with the financial requirements and at best 12 months with investment requirements.  They will also ALL have to have complied and arrived in New Zealand once within 12 months of the date of that approval in principle. If they have not then their approval lapses.

The arrival in New Zealand, at whatever date, validates their residence and starts the clock ticking on a 2 year period.  During that 2 year period the applicants all hold what is known as a Returning Resident's Visa (RRV). This RRV entitles everyone on the application to travel in and out of New Zealand as much as they like.

Ultimately the applicants are looking for what is known as an indefinite Returning Resident's Visa, that is an RRV that has no expiry date.  There are specific requirements on the PRINCIPAL APPLICANT only within that 2 year period or within the following 2 year period which will give the indefinite RRV.  I don't see this as a proper vehicle to discuss the RRV situation but it's important to understand that there follows from the first arrival a 2 year window within which the applicant and family could actually leave their final arrival, until 2 years from that initial arrival.  That gives a significant period of time in which to find a job etc.

We've probably got a little ahead of myself but another consideration is the process and what actually happens. In terms of a time line, without actual timing at this stage anyway, if one was using Malcolm Pacific then at the time the applicant agreed to become a client we would send out a documentation pack that would include forms to be completed, documents to be collected and some procedures to be followed. The document accumulation stage once complete then becomes a lodgement of the application.  The next stage is a period of (depending on the post) acceptance for processing. This process is simply to ensure that all the documents required by the regulations are correct and with the application. If they are not then the application will be returned. 

Assuming acceptance for processing then the case then enters the verification stage.  This includes verification of some or perhaps all of the documentation enclosed.  A risk profiling procedure will determine the
verifications.  Assuming the verification is acceptable then the process will move to that of approval in principle as per above.

The EscapeArtist website has a wide range of resources on migrating to New Zealand.  There are categories for jobs, migration, media, travel, real estate, embassies and related resources. Our index for our New Zealand directories is at: http://www.escapeartist.com/bea/kiwi.htm

Passmark Trends - From the New Zealand Immigration Service - Government policy is to deliver a Global Immigration Target from year to year. The changing of the passmark is the mechanism that delivers this objective. The passmark is calculated on the last working day of each week based on information available to NZIS at 4pm Friday in Wellington. The passmark level will then be promulgated for the next week and applies to the end of that week globally. Passmarks will be announced by the NZIS in advance, on a weekly basis. The passmark that will apply to an application is the passmark that was announced as applying to the week the application was received by the NZIS in the prescribed manner i.e. the point in time the applicant lodged with the NZIS all necessary documentation to enable the NZIS to accept it for assessment. Applications for the score equal to, or greater than, the passmark will be approved in principle. Applications with a score below the passmark will be declined. The passmark is set to deliver the appropriate number of approvals over a period. A formula is used to determine the passmark. 

To find out more about the passmark system or check your eligibility for entry see the Migrating to New Zealand section at NZIS -  http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migration

General Skills Category - last six months -  http://www.immigration.govt.nz/pass_marks/general.html

General Skills Category - entire record  -  http://www.immigration.govt.nz/pass_marks/genhist.html