> And we are picky. There's no visa lottery here. A points-based system with high thresholds. As a practical matter, it seems that the immigration officer you

> And we are picky. There's no visa lottery here. A points-based system with high thresholds. As a practical matter, it seems that the immigration officer you wind up with does have an impact on your application's success. I was initially turned down for a Skilled Migrant visa (which I believe is what you're referring to) because I had work experience in IT, but a degree in electrical and computer engineering, and though the points from those combined were well over the higher threshold (and both on the skills shortage lists at the time, ~2010), they weren't in the same enough field according to my assigned officer. That meant that I had to pick which one I wanted to use, but neither by itself put me over the line... An expat friend of mine had a similar experience. I don't mean this to be a slight on Immigration NZ, just that the process can feel a bit arbitrary and bureaucratic - like a lottery. It creates a chicken-and-egg problem too: in order to get a skilled migrant visa, you really want a job offer, but you're only going to get a job offer by coming here and looking around in person...