Hi! I'm an American hoping to get a working holiday visa for NZ but things aren't looking so great. I was deported from the UK in April 2005 while working as an au pair without a visa...it was my first time in a foreign country and I was completely in the dark about all the rules of immigration. About a year later I tried to enter the UK again (as a visitor), was refused and sent back to France during my travels across Europe. Two years later I had a job as an au pair in France (with the proper visa of course!) and went to the UK for one week where they thankfully granted me entry on the condition I left 7 days later when I said I would (which I did).
I have read on the NZ immi site that anyone not of "good character" will be refused the visa. Any deportation is considered having bad character.
What a predicament!
As I see it, I have 2 choices:
1. Apply for the visa.
-If refused this would be yet another bad mark on my record and could affect my overall status for entering as a visitor in future.
2. Skip the visa and enter as a visitor.
-In actuality, I am not certain if I want/need to find work straight away. But I'm aware I cannot apply after entry. I am also considering Australia and Asian countries so perhaps I could take "breaks" to these places. I will have sufficient funds upon entry.

Any opinions or advice would be greatly appreciated as I have been stressing over this for the last couple weeks! Thanks so much.

Apply for the working holiday visa. It is valid for 12 months upon entry. It's up to you if you want to declare your previous hic-cups with UK immigration. It's not like you are on a Interpol database.

If you enter as a visitor and intend to find work, you need to keep the following in mind.

Visitors are allowed to stay in NZ a maximum of 9 months, as a US citizen you will be granted a 90 visa on arrival, you can extend this in 90 day blocks, if you have sufficent proof of funds and reason to stay.

You can not apply for a WHV, while in NZ, you must apply from your home country.

You can apply for a work permit with is valid from 12-36 months, these usally apply to "proper jobs". Any application will require supporting documentation, ie quailifcations, police checks, medical assessment........

As a visitor, you may be able to get a seasonal work permit, this allows you to work in the horticultural industry as a fruit picker, vineyard worker. Available from work contractors in major horticultrual areas, ie Hawkes Bay, Nelson, Marlborough.

Lastly, the rules are always changing, so some of this might be out of date, so check the NZIS website.

Thank you so much for responding. I've always been a bit wary of possible databases which share immigration information. For example, when they scan my passport in NZ will a screen come up showing all my past travel history? NZ is a commonwealth country afterall so I was thinking they might share that info. If I apply for the visa I suppose I will check no for deportation and just hope they can't know about it.

Also, I am intrested in the seasonal work permit, what other jobs this really does extend to and if there are certain limits etc. So I have plenty to research now. Thanks again for all the info!