Who We Are
Working In was established in 1998 to help skilled migrants connect with employers and make the move down under. Founded by one Kiwi and one Brit, we know exactly what it’s like to move an entire life abroad.
In the last 11 years, our services and reach have expanded greatly, as we’ve listened to our members, visitors and clients, carefully crafting the best combination of solutions and services to meet their needs.
Working In Visas was born out of our experience with workingin.com and our unconditional dedication to the thousands of migrants we have assisted in their journeys abroad.
We provide a highly professional visa service and extremely competitive prices, with a strong knowledge of the employment markets in New Zealand and Australia.
Mandy Mitten, Working In Visa’s Professional Services Manager, leads our immigration and journey management teams. Licensed by the Immigration Adviser’s Authority [IAA Licence Number 200900867] and a member of the New Zealand Association of Migration and Investment (NZAMI), she has over ten years experience in assisting migrants moving abroad.
Mandy, along with her husband and two children, migrated from the UK to New Zealand six years ago and set up ResettlemeNZ Ltd, one of the first independent relocation companies offering a comprehensive range of settlement support programmes to migrant families from the UK and South Africa.
During the past six years, Mandy spent time working with the highly successful migrant education programme Kiwi-Ora which provided settlement resources to over 22,000 immigrants and their families, and later ran the Relocation Services Division for Crown Relocations in New Zealand.
Mandy and her team are committed to the needs of migrant families. She leads a unique, dedicated and customer focused Journey Management team in the UK, New Zealand and Australia, ensuring the best and most readily available service possible to each of our valued clients.
Anka Sahin has been working in the migration industry since 2005 and is a Licensed Immigration Adviser (IAA 200800332). He was the first person in the world to hold a license to practise in the immigration industry in both New Zealand and Australia. During his time in the industry, Anka has assisted hundreds of migrants including those from the UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Ireland, South Africa, India, Malaysia and Brazil.
Having completed his university education in Wellington, Anka migrated permanently to New Zealand with his wife in 2004 after a period of absence. Anka and his wife now live in Melbourne. He has worked for the European Union in development-related projects and taught English both overseas and in New Zealand at various schools before committing himself to a career in immigration. Anka has worked as a translator and interpreter and travelled independently in more than 50 countries on all six continents.
As a migrant himself who is proud to call himself a New Zealander, Anka has a good understanding of the dynamics and challenges of making the move to a new country and brings with him valuable experience in meeting these challenges to assist our clients.
Cherie Baird, IAA Licence Number 200900880, is a member of the New Zealand Association of Migration and Investment (NZAMI) and a key member of our immigration advisory team. Cherie has been guiding migrants’ journeys to New Zealand for three years, and specialises in coordinating complete relocations.
Cherie is a Kiwi born and bred, and offers a unique and personal viewpoint on life in New Zealand to those thinking of making the country home. Her reward comes from providing excellent customer service and helpful information to enable and assist clients throughout their immigration and relocation journeys. Cherie’s experience and life in New Zealand give her a conceptual view of the requirements of the migrant from beginning to end, while she also works at a very detailed level to ensure that applications tendered to Immigration New Zealand (INZ) are complete, accurate and meet all policy requirements.
Royce Hort is an Immigration Adviser based in our UK offices on Fleet Street in London. Royce can offer great insight on the challenges of moving and starting life in a new country, based on his own personal experiences living in several different countries before settling in the UK with his wife.
Royce has a good knowledge of and passion for both Australia and New Zealand, having extensively lived and travelled in both countries. From our central London office, he gets the chance to talk to people from all over the UK, EU and South Africa, who want to know how to get started, build a plan and turn their hopes of a big move abroad into a reality. Royce and the rest of the Working In Visas UK office team are here to help make your journey easier and to make sure you get the guidance you need.
Hanna Waddington, our Client Management and Support administrator, emigrated from the UK herself in 2008. She is currently undergoing her own journey, after deciding along with her partner to make the move to New Zealand a permanent one.
Her understanding and current experience with the immigration system
has inspired her to obtain her immigration adviser licensing from the
IAA, a goal that is heartily encouraged by the rest of the Working In
Visas team. Hanna’s love of New Zealand prompted her goal of reaching
a position where she can offer a dedicated and knowledgeable service
for those looking to come to New Zealand, resulting in a friendly,
reassuring and positive experience for all.
Paul Goddard brings a vast range of experience working with migrants to his role as Business Development Consultant. He loves to share his large network of New Zealand contacts, including employers, recruiters and economic development agencies with potential migrants and new migrants to the country.
Paul moved to New Zealand with his family seven years ago, a journey that was documented in the BBC TV series “Get a New Life”. Following the move, he published the book A New Life in New Zealand. As well as setting up and running his own business in New Zealand, he also worked for the Kiwi-Ora migrant education programme and has worked directly in the immigration industry since 2007.
Paul is enthusiastic and committed to helping people make the move to New Zealand and settle as quickly as possible, and he’ll approach your life changing move with personal knowledge, expertise and understanding.
Corinne Pickstock has a career background in graphic design and has been at the leading edge of a number of new initiatives in this field. Her areas of expertise include brand identity and application, as well as significant desktop publishing development.
On arriving in New Zealand around nine years ago with her husband and two young children, it immediately became apparent that there was a glaring void in the immigration settlement arena. Corinne and her husband set about addressing this need and most of the intervening years have been dedicated to building up knowledge and understanding of the many facets of immigration, then finding ways to make it all fit together effectively for new migrants.
Corinne has been actively involved in several companies in New Zealand that offer immigration services. She has had a controlling interest in some of these and, as a result, has a wealth of hands-on practical knowledge. Not only does she have a tangible understanding of what’s required, she also knows what immigration feels like.
Emma-Jane Ridley emigrated from the United Kingdom to New Zealand in June 2008 with her partner because of their love for the Kiwi lifestyle. She has been through the immigration process herself and has obtained her permanent residency visa.
She comes from a customer service background and is now dedicated to assisting others in her role as customer service representative for Working In Visas. She has a passion for helping people and can offer firsthand experience of navigating the immigration process. Emma-Jane will be working towards her IAA Licensing to help make the Visa Team more efficient and the best in the business.
Journey Manager Alison Young is originally from Scotland and travelled the world with her family before migrating with her parents to Wellington, New Zealand. On completion of her studies she worked in the NZ public sector legal area before moving into events management.
In 2003 Alison returned to UK with her Kiwi husband and their dog, after her employer transferred her to London. She subsequently managed multiple complex projects throughout UK, Europe and the Middle East.
Alison has been involved with the immigration industry since 2007, based in our London office. She draws on her experience of being a migrant in two countries at different times of her life, as well as on her aptitude for understanding complex legal processes.
She’s passionate about New Zealand and is active within local NZ societies and business groups.
