How to get a Visa for New Zealand
Why wouldn’t you want to be here?
The kiwi’s are a pretty welcoming bunch and that definitely shines through when attempting to get a work visa for NZ, its hands down one of the easiest snow nations to get into. All of the information in the post is coming directly from the NZ immigration website: Immigration NZ Their site is super easy to navigate and most things can be done online, you really DO NOT need to work with anyone outside of immigration NZ so do not waste your money working with anyone offering visa assistance. Being fully online from most countries means you can apply anywhere in the world, no visiting your home country embassy so it wont mess with any between season travel plans.
Visitor Visa
For the majority of our courses in NZ you wont need any sort of visa, if you are from any of the countries on the list below you can get a 90 day visitor visa by simply turning up to the airport if you can prove you have:
– Funds to support yourself during your stay
– An onward flight
-Are of good health and character
This visa has the added bonus of being able to study for up to 3 months which works perfectly as our longest training only course is 70 days.
Getting this visa is as simple as going on the website, filling out your details, entering a credit card and passport number and clicking apply. There are no quotas on this type of visa.
How is this for some serious summer shred terrain!
Working Holiday Visa:
If you are taking part in our internship program you will be working part time for the Mt Ruapehu Snow School and will need a working Holiday visa. Working holiday visas are available to young people, usually aged 18-30, but 18-35 in a select few countries. They let you travel and work in New Zealand for up to 12 months, or 23 months if you’re from the UK or Canada. You need to have a return ticket, or enough money to pay for one, and be coming mainly to holiday, with work being a secondary intention. Certain countries will have a quota on the number of visa’s available each year but certain countries like Canada and the UK have no limit on the amount of visas available each year. Your best option is to jump on the working holiday page and see what the specifics are for your country.
NZ working Holiday Visa List
What next?
So you’ve done the internship program, worked for the resort and want to keep coming back year after year, how do you make that happen? Well as long as you do a good job at Mt Ruapehu they are usually happy to get a sponsored visa for people with the right certifications (Level 2 instructor or higher) and the right experience (3 fulltime winters). It’s a pretty straightforward process, very similar to the working holiday visa. At the moment immigration NZ laws are very accommodating for folks coming year after year, they have been for some time and appear to have no changes coming down the pipeline. I’ve had 10 of these visas so far and they are getting easier, it’s now a fully online application process and this years visa was processed in less than 24 hours.
Given how visas around the world are starting to tighten up, NZ is providing to be a great option to continue doing season year after year. The only downside with NZ is getting jobs is a bit of a task as there are few resorts and lots of interested folks. Don’t worry though we have you back. Our NZ internship program gets your foot in the door at the largest resort in the country and kick off your dream job.
NZ Instructor Programs