rambling on about our move to new zealand
today marks the 200th day since we made the decision to attempt to immigrate. hopefully the hard work is behind us. selling two houses and moving a dog and our favourite stuff almost 10,000 miles should be easy, right?
the detailed schedule is below. currently on track for “approval in principal” on 24-OCT-07.
(click for more detail)
just dropped off the application at fedex - what a relief.
194 days after we started we finally have the application off to NZIS for review.
updated timeline:
start: 14-JUL-06, day 1
EOI submitted: 31-JUL-06, day 17
EOI selected: 02-AUG-06, day 19
EOI approved 31-OCT-06, day 109
ITA received: 06-NOV-06, day 115
ITA submitted: 24-JAN-07, day 194
interview:
PR granted:
departure:
the full package was over 200 pages and weighed in at 1.8 lbs.
updated tally:
yesterday as i am assembling the application i notice that jackie’s doctor has not provided the lab results for her hiv or hepatitis b tests and has not signed any of the other labs. well, doh.
strike one for not following the directions.
while the nz application including the medical is crazy long it is very specific with fairly clear instructions. so jackie calls the office explaining that we need the results *today* and they say they’ll look into it and get back to her. after hearing nothing jackie calls and they say that they mailed the results.
strike two for not listening. we said we needed the results that day.
jackie calls back and gets the go ahead for me to pick up the results from the office. i pick them up and decide to double check just to make sure. there is no hep test. i go back in and ask. lots of quiet whispering amongst the staff. then a doctors assistant says they can’t discuss it with me. i ask if they have the results of the test and they admit no. jackie calls back again and schedules a time for her to leave work and drive in to give more blood so they can repeat the test. so my trip in was a total waste. and i didn’t mention that the hiv test results were not signed (as we asked) and were anonymous without the tracking documentation so not what we needed.
strike three for not being honest. jackie was very clear about what we needed and they didn’t mention that something was missing.
since jackie is giving more blood we need to create a new nzis identification certificate to prove that she is who she says she is (requiring new photo, passport, documentation, etc.) so i rush home to put everything together and drop it of at jackie’s office before she heads to the doctors office. the next day they call and say the results are ready so jackie drives back in to pick them up. hep results are ready and they are able to provide the tracking documentation for the hiv test. all good. when jackie asks for the signed test request form that she dropped off yesterday for signature they say “whut?”
strike four for still not listening.
ultimately jackie is able to help them find what we need and heads home to stuff in the paperwork just as i’m ready to seal it up.
2 major stress points resolved.
firstly i mentioned earlier that we had read on the nzis site that they were not requiring full nzqa assessments as part of the application - and our dilemma since we didn’t have one and didn’t have time to get one (not to mention the NZ$ 900 for the application). fortunately someone else in the same situation contacted nzis and posted the response to the nz immigration forum that we have leaned on so heavily.
“The requirement of having to submit a full NZQA Assessment applies only to those applications that have been selected from the pool from December 2006. As you were selected from the pool well before this date, your application is not affected.”
so one issue down. the other was around a critically important item of what position on the long term skill shortage list i would fill. since we were filing under the skilled migrant category it is vital the my education and work experience match up against a position on their list. oddly their list didn’t have anything that was a obvious match for software development - despite one of their stated goals was building up the software industry in canterbury (around christchurch). there were two positions that were possibilities, but neither was the clear winner. the first was “Information Technology (IT) Professional” and the second was “Electronics Design”. in the states “IT” usually means the the support staff that keep a companies computers running - not the core software development staff that work on the main product. so that didn’t seem right. but “Electronics Design” didn’t seem right either since nothing i’ve ever done was hardware related. so i went with “IT Professional” thinking that they must view “IT” in the broader sense - but I couldn’t back up my theory. so when another unnamed co-applicant questioned my decision things got a bit stressful. we were both uncomfortable with the other choice, but neither had anything to go on other than a strong gut feelings. since we were hoping to submit the next day (today) we were short on options to resolve the issue. we agreed to see if anyone on the nz immigration forum has any insights. fortunately i found someone from the US who has a similar background that was at a similar stage in the application process. their response is below.
The occupation I picked was “Information Technology (IT) Professionals: Programmer”.
I remember that I could not find something like “Software Developer” or “Software Engineer” or any other phrase quite like what is used in the United States. In NZ and the UK they tend to use the term “IT” or Information Technology, whereas in the United States when someone says they work in “IT” I tend to think that they are a sys admin or networking type guy.
so second issue also close. everyone feeling much better.
many posting ago i was giving the boston university regiistrar a hard time. well, it’s now time to take it all back.
just in case we need to go through the nzqa process i’ve been starting to assemble everything required.
so i sent off a request to case and bu for the course transcripts along with an explanation of my deadlines and asking if they could get me something that i could have in london by the end of the month. i sent off the request on thursday.
i got everything i needed from bu today (saturday).
holy moly. someone broke all the rules to make that happen.
thanks bu registrar.
yet one more example of the many folks who have really gone out of the way to help.
after the getting the fbi reports on tuesday i started the final pass assembling our application. i was curious about the latest estimate for processing the application so i went to the london office section of nzis site.
then i saw it.
casually mentioned in the “news” section was an announcement that all applications need to be first processed by nzqa - another nz organization that certifies that degree programs and work experience are equivalent their counterpart in nz. i understand the intent of the rule, but as nzis mentions the process takes 2 to 3 months and this would be very bad for us. firstly there is no way we could have the nzqa certification before the application submission deadline at the end of february. adding to the pain both of our medicals expire (3 months old) in early february so any delays in submitting our application would require that they be repeated.
since i first read it i’ve had some time to relax a bit and come in off the ledge. we’re going to move forward and submit what we have assuming that the new rules don’t apply to those already in the pipeline (like us). we haven’t heard anything from nzis and given the timings it doesn’t seem like they could change the rules midstream. the only nagging concern is when you’re working with any govt agency sometimes following the process wins over what makes sense.
huge milestone today - the fbi reports arrived just arrived as we should now have everything we need to complete our application.
woo hoo
the jboss is on the road this week, so if all goes well we’ll double check our work this weekend and get it in the mail on monday.
then more waiting - but at least it will be back in the hands of nzis.
just got a nice email from the fbi director saying they would expedite our request - getting us results within 2 weeks.
that would be 16 weeks, but hey i’m not complaining - that will meet our deadline.
16 weeks = 7 week hit to the schedule. now looking at mid october for final decision.
so when i last spoke to the fbi in mid december they said it was taking 14 weeks (instead of the advertised 8 to 10) to process requests. today is 14 weeks and nuttin’ in the mailbox, so i called the fbi for an update.
i totally predicted the response. it was going to take longer due to the holidays.
now i think the christmas and new years holidays come fairly predictably each year so i really don’t understand why this wasn’t built into the estimates - but ok - there were 4 holidays so then we should expect the results in 14 weeks + 4 days?
nope. she said i should be looking for a response in mid february.
that would be 19+ weeks.
and would be a big mess since we need to submit before the end of the month when my medicals expire. i explained my pressing deadline and asked if there was anything that could be done. the agent suggested that i send an email to the director of the division.
i just sent off my nicest possible email asking for their help. we’ll see.
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