Take a working holiday in beautiful New Zealand

If you are young (18-30) and subtropical to mild temperate climate, friendly people, and abundant work opportunities appeal to you, you may enjoy coming to New Zealand for a working holiday. I have been in New Zealand 3 weeks now, I came immediately after my visit to Hans. I have been working for one week, so it is time for me to share how i went about it in hopes of making it easier for others wishing to do the same. The essentials of a working holiday in New Zealand are:
1.a stamp on your passport marked "work"
2.IRD number
3. New Zealand bank account.

I'll address these one by one.
1. To get a work permit for a working holiday at customs upon arrival in New Zealand, you *theoretically need a printout of your electronic visa, proof of at least NZ $4,200, an ongoing plane ticket OR sufficient funds to purchase one, and medical emergency insurance for the duration of your stay in NZ. Now it seems I could have easily slipped thru without insurance, but i got mine very cheaply , around Nz$220 for one year, by emailing sandra@healthandtravel.co.nz and asking about working holiday insurance. The most essential of all of these is the working holiday visa (whv) electronic printout. You get it by visiting http://www.immigration.govt.nz
follow the links "working holiday" and "working holiday schemes online" if NZ has a working holiday agreemeht with your country you can apply for the visa online and it will be issued electronically for you to print out and take to the airport with you.
when i applied for whv, no fee was charged and i received the visa in 4 days. I was not sure i had gotten it for a full month or more because I failed to carefully check the links on my personal NZ immigration online account page.

.
when I checked in for my flight at the airport in Manila, I had all of the a.m. required documents in my pocket. IN Manila i was asked for my working holiday visa, which I produced. Before arriving in Auckland all passengers had to fill out an arrival card, and i checked that the type of permit i was applying for was 'work'
at customs, the man looked at my arrival card, did NOT ask for my whv, did NOT ask for me to prove how much money I had, certainly did NOT ask for proof that I had insurance, he simply stamped my arrival card and passport "work". I have no idea if this is a common practice or not. The only document i ever had to show was my whv printout (in Manila, not in NZ, and i do not know what would have happened had i not had it in Manila.

2. IRD number is easy to get if you know how to do it.
just go to the IRD website
http://www.ird.govt.nz, find the application form, print it out and send it to IRD NZ.
you can download this form here:
http://www.ird.govt.nz/forms-guides/number/forms-500-599/ir595-form-individualirdapp.html
if you do it in plenty of time, you can do it before you come to New Zealand. If you are already here, you can call IRD toll free at 0800 227 774
(this number IS correct despite being short-digited)
and ask them to what number to fax your form for faster service.
if you include a cover letter saying it is urgent and stating the reason, they will call you in a couple of days with your IRD number.
This requires you to have ready access to a phone. (I bought a vodafone a few days prior). when i faxed my form, i asked them to consider it urgent for the reason that "i want to begin working as soon as possible, and i require an IRD number to do so."
I got a phone call with my ird number in 2 days, and then received the official documents by mail in a week or so.
some people may tell you it is easier to get your IRD number thru the post office. That was not my experience.

3. Bank account.
Some banks require proof of address in NZ, which can be tricky if you have just arrived. Some backpacker hostels can help you with this, or you could wait until your ird paperwork arrives by mail.
what i did was this:
my friend Wee, from Malaysia, called me up and told me to come talk to his friend at National Bank.
she gave me an account without asking for proof of address. This must be the practice of National Bank.

My first job is day-laboring for Allied workforce.
getting the job is easy, you just need an IRD number and a NZ bank account. They never checked my work permit, but you do have to say on a form that you are legally eligible to work in NZ...
the first day i got free safety training, and now i earn NZ 12.50 (minus around 20%tax) for construction labour and the like. Allied provides steel-toed boots, and all tools and safety equipment, so truly all you need to start working is an ird number and bank account. I woul not want to do this job long term, since it is low paying and involves little skills advancement, but it is nice to get to work right away, and allied workforce operates all over nZ. I
I love NZ and I love you all!!!
Corey
coreyjschmidt@yahoo.com