Got What It Takes?

Going toe to toe with the immigration process can sometimes feel like ten rounds in a heavyweight boxing match. You go in with a plan, a strategy and a burning desire to win but along the way you get knocked down, pull yourself back up only for it all to happen again. You hopefully finish the fight a little battered and a little bruised, but holding your title belt high above your head.

In this week’s article we look at what it actually takes to make this work and to do so, I am going to be leaning on a very recent client experience, one, which in my view, demonstrates just how important it is to plan, prepare and be ready for a few knocks along the way. My ‘mantra’ if I had one is that you can never underestimate the amount of preparation that goes in to a move like this but at the same time you have to build in a good degree of flexibility (so you can dodge whatever blows the process might be trying to land on you).

Plan & Prepare

To put all of this in to some context, we have recently worked with a client, coming from South Africa to New Zealand accompanied by her young son. She is a single parent navigating a move to New Zealand on her own. When we initially discussed her situation, we made it clear that the road ahead would be a complicated one, given what she would need to achieve. She need to secure the right type of job, being paid the right kind of salary to then create a three year pathway to Residence. This was a make or break situation for the client, given the time and financial resources involved. Most people can’t afford to attempt this process more than once. Given the ever-shifting nature of the visa process, the slowing labour market here (now picking up a bit of steam) and the overall challenge to make this work, it was more than just a challenge, but a rather large mountain to climb.

Failing To Plan

One of the biggest mistakes, hopeful migrants make is failing to have a plan and to make that plan flexible enough to handle changes.

We began the process as we always do with clear instructions, a road-map of what would likely happen, with caveats on possible changes and a clear list of items she needed to secure. To her credit, and despite being somewhat anxious over the entire move (she had every right to be) she never wavered. She stuck to the plan, but always accepted that things would potentially change and she would have to change with them. She followed each instruction to the letter, asking the right questions along the way. She then arrived here, with a clear goal to land the right job, always checking in to make sure that she was on track and always staying ahead of potential changes. Even with social media raving on about delays with the visa process or challenges in finding work she just kept her head down and stayed on task.

Our client arrived in August and her Work Visa was approved yesterday. In between there was a series of discussions with her new employer, the recruiter involved and of course INZ. Despite concerns over lengthy processing delays, we worked together to manage the process with the Turner Hopkins teams steering the ship through the visa fog. Our client is now looking forward to her first day of work next Tuesday and a three-year pathway to being able to remain here permanently.

I admire all my clients for the bravery it takes to tackle this process, but for this one I am particularly proud of her ability to stay so focused on the end goal. It bodes well for her employer as I suspect she will become a very long-term fixture. There is much to do, but she has demonstrated a tenacity that all migrants need and it is in that process I think many aspiring applicants can learn from.

Roll With The Punches

There are endless social media posts pitching the process to migrate, focused on your profile, or your qualifications, and being able to tick boxes for an application form - however the reality with any move, particularly one across borders, is that it requires an ability to plan, largely for the things you can’t expect. It might sound counterintuitive, but you can in fact plan for the unplannable.

A good example of this, and one that most migrants face is that you can get all the paperwork you need, have a timeline of the move, organise the logistics, but you have absolutely no idea when most of this will happen, because you have to find a job offer first. So, until you have the job in hand, no applications are being filed. The job could be in your preferred location or somewhere completely different and even when you have the offer under your belt, you still have to negotiate the Visa process.

Get Back Up Again

The migration process is complex and change is inevitable so you have to have a clear goal and the ability to adapt as required.

If you are aware of that process and the ups and downs it brings, you can actually be far more effective in your job search. If you already know that you have to consider opportunities regardless of the location, that the offer is just the start of a more complex process, but are able to roll with that process and adapt to it, you are miles ahead of all the other migrant hopefuls.

All too often, we see people who have either failed to prepare properly and even though they might be successful in the job search, then stumble when it comes time to tackle the visa process or alternatively they have over-planned and if the smallest thing doesn’t go according to the plan they have created, the wheels come off.

Being able to balance that preparation, but also being flexible enough to adapt when you need to is crucial and something we thrust upon our clients time and time again - for very good reason. Like a heavyweight contender, you won’t always land your blows and sometimes, you will hit the mat, needing to haul yourself back up again. Being adaptable and flexible in your approach to the migration process is no different.

So…Do You Have What It Takes?

Of course, you have to determine if you qualify and there is the technical aspect to being successful in the visa process, but alongside that, there is also having the right attitude, approach and plan. I counsel many prospective migrants and there are some, that even though they meet the rules, I am hesitant to assist them, solely because I think their expectations might not be quite right (their plan too rigid) or they aren’t really prepared to plan at all.

There is a degree of mental toughness involved with this process and whilst you dont have to be bullet-proof, it pays to have a thick enough skin that you can fend off changes, rejections from employers as you scramble to find the right job and then the ability to dust yourself off and keep on going.

Of course, any serious contender in the ring is going to have a good coach in their corner, patching up the bruises and scratches, cooling them down when the heat is on and then pushing them along in the right direction just when the going gets tough. That is our role in this process and I like to think that despite all the ups and downs, we will always be there to help our clients hoist that prize belt up in to the air, or in this case be able to waive that official piece of paper (its actually now a PDF, which is a bit hard to waive around)…showing they have gone ten rounds with the visa process and come out the victor.

Until next week!

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