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The longer that I spend in New Zealand, the longer that I want to be here. The beauty of this place overwhelms me on a daily basis. Every morning on the way to work as I watch the sun’s brilliant rays of light crest over the rocky peaks of the Remarkables, I am struck by the majesty that surrounds me. Never does a day go by that I am not thankful that I am here now because I can think of no place that I would rather be. It is very far from home, family and friends but the far corners of the world are not as isolated as they once were and while the flight here is long and tiring, it is by no means prohibitive. The world is much smaller than it once was and international travel is now the norm. Families still manage to stay together even when they are spread out across the globe and with skype, communicating with everyone back home is easier than ever (if only they would ever remember to sign on).
Currently, I have a one year working holiday visa that allows me to work anywhere in the country until January 14, 2011 and a flight booked back to the US in late October 2010. If I decided to stay longer than January 2011, there are several options open to me. First, if I find a job that I really like and want to keep me on longer, they can sponsor my work visa and I can work in that job, but no other, indefinitely. After two years with that type of visa, I could then apply for residency. Second, if I get my legal qualifications assessed and can get an offer for legal employment, I can apply as a highly skilled migrant, which would allow me to immediately apply for residency and work in any job that I choose. The third and final option is to apply for a partner visa, being sponsored then by someone who is a New Zealand citizen or permanent resident. In order to qualify for a partner visa, one must have been with one’s partner for at least twelve months and be able to show that it is a sincere and committed relationship. This type of partnership is incredibly common in New Zealand and does not refer only to same sex relationships, like it does in the US. The term partner is used when the couple is unmarried but more committed than just a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship. With a partner visa, I could work in any job and stay in New Zealand indefinitely. But let’s be honest, even if I could qualify for a partner visa I would be incredibly reluctant to do so because of its potential insecurity. If the relationship ends then so does the visa and then I would be back in the same place weighing the first two options again.
The best course of action would be to take option two because it provides the greatest flexibility in terms of what jobs that I could take and eliminates the need for the two year waiting period before I could qualify for residency. On the other hand, the easiest way to be able to remain in the country is through option one, by convincing an employer that I am worth keeping around. Well, if there is any thing worth doing, it is worth working at so I am going to start working toward becoming a highly skilled migrant. Along those lines, I have contacted a local attorney who is from the US and received her law degree from the University of Virginia to get her experience and to see if she has any suggestions for the best way to go about getting my credentials to practice law here in New Zealand. Now, some of you may ask, but Steph you don’t really want to be a lawyer anyway so why on earth would you go through all of that trouble to be a lawyer in New Zealand? Well, that is a good question but I think that the biggest problem that I have had with being a lawyer is the total lack of a work life balance in most law firms in the US. That is why speaking with the American attorney here in Queenstown is the best way to start this inquiry to find out if things would be any different working in a firm here than they are back home. If I do want to stay in New Zealand permanently, it seems a waste not to use at least some of those many many many years of schooling that were so expensive and could serve to make me more money here, which I could then use to do more of the things that I love, like traveling, skiing and skydiving. This is just the very beginning of the process and who knows what tomorrow may bring, but for now, I am seriously considering making New Zealand my permanent home.