woohoo!
i checked the nzis site for the bazillionth time this morning and whadya know - our eoi was officially approved (”decision successful”) and we can now expect and ita (invitation to apply) in a few days.
amazing timing since i woke up early wondering if should go ahead with the extra blood tests and xrays during my physical later today.
time to celebrate tonight.
don pardo - please update the schedule…
start: 14-JUL-06, day 1
EOI submitted: 31-JUL-06, day 17
EOI selected: 02-AUG-06, day 19
EOI approved 01-NOV-06, day 109
ITA received:
ITA submitted:
interview:
PR granted:
departure:
****
something that made this milestone even more special is how much we needed some really good news. on saturday our dog cosmo had his final vet visit. like so many others with their dogs we were very close to cosmo. he was a big part of our family. for most of the last 11+ years he has gone to work with me where he has made many more friends than i could ever dream of. most encounters with anyone at work would start with cosmo being greeted with something like “cosmo, cosmo”, followed by playtime and only if i’m lucky, “oh, hi antony.” it is going to take quite a while for us to get used to not having him with us.
cosmo
the 25th (the latest in a series of missed targets) has come and gone and no word from nzis.
it will be 3 months in 1 week. if we don’t hear anything i’ll give nzis a call - although i don’t expect that will be very satisfying.
i’ve got my annual physical on tuesday - so the latest dilemma is do i plan for the best and go ahead with the required blood work and xrays? on the plus side they will be done. on the negative side i will likely have to pay out of pocket for them since they aren’t required as part of my annual physical, they are only good for 3 months and then will have to be done again, and there still is no guarantee that we’ll pass this milestone so the expense and radiation could all be for naught. current thinking is to go ahead and get everything done.
so i have officially started the 2 week countdown.
high cranky potential if we don’t hear by the 25th.
ah - my childhood innocence.
after 2 weeks i was sure it would just be another week before we heard. well - we’ve now crossed the 2 month point and no word.
i mentioned before that there is a great site totally dedicated to emigrating to new zealand - www.emigratenz.org. i’ve spent countless hours there reading about the process, the timeline, salaries, expenses, etc. the main draw is a very active forum with folks who are both trying to emigrate and those who have already made the jump. almost every question i could have has already been asked and answered so i admit that i read but don’t post - making me a lurker.
one of the frequent posters is pinkpiggy - the mum of a family from scotland. what makes them most interesting is that they were selected in the pool before us (july 24th), their eoi is also being handled by the london nzis branch and they’re still waiting. so i’m keeping an eye on their progress. i figure when they get the word we’ll be about 2 weeks later.
nothing yet from nzis. 17 days not that i’m keeping track.
i’m guessing we will hear something next week. 3 weeks seems to be about average.
as i mentioned the nzis site is very good and all of the forms are available for download as pdf’s. so i thought i would be optimistic and get a jump on the application process and print out the main application forms and the medicals. well, as expected they are formated for A4 paper and so if you print them out with US Letter size (8.5 x 11) the bottom of each page gets cut off. that could speed up the application filling out effort a bit, but i’m guessing nzis won’t see it that way.
so - i trundle off to staples and ask for a reem (huh huh - huh huh - he said reem) of A4. i approach two of staples finest and ask “can you point me to the A4 paper?” as you can now expect there was a more than awkward pause before i got “whut?” i try again knowing i’m just barking up a thank-you-ronnie-for-killing-the-metric-system tree - “A4 - you know - letter sized paper used by everyone on the metric system.” “whut? - oh, that’s 8×10, right?”
found it on staples.com. no surprise quite a bit more expensive that US Letter but a blip in the total cost of the process.
i’ve checked my email several times for the ita, but there’s nothing. maybe the email server is down? it has been over 24 hours since the eoi was selected and we haven’t heard anything. sure, i know it can take up to 3 months for an ita after selection, but i was kinda hoping ours would come through a bit quicker.
wait a sec - lemme check again… nope, still nothing.
woo hoo!
seems we look good in the eyes of a number crunching kiwi computer.
now we wait for a full review of our eoi by nzis and an invitation to apply.
this should be easy since i’m so good at waiting…
selection letter from nzis
start: 14-JUL-06, day 1
EOI submitted: 31-JUL-06, day 17
EOI selected: 02-AUG-06, day 19
ITA received:
ITA submitted:
interview:
PR granted:
departure:
one last set of changes, a final review and we hit the submit button. then the screen popped up asking for NZ$300. not likely to be the last expense.
start: 14-JUL-06, day 1
EOI submitted: 31-JUL-06, day 17
EOI selected:
ITA received:
ITA submitted:
interview:
PR granted:
departure:
based on the poking around i had done before i knew that the application process would take some time, but now the timeline is starting to get clearer. for those applying in the “skilled migrant†category (like us) they heavily favour those that have job offers. but since it will take us quite a while to be ready to relocate - and it’s very hard to get an offer w/o permanent residency in hand we will be applying sans an offer. so back of the line for us.
general timeline: submit eoi - pool draw within 2 weeks, response from nzis within 3 months (vs 10 days for those w/ offers) submit application - response within 4 months (vs 30 days) interview - scheduled within 2 months (not required for those w/ offers)
end 2 end - up to 9 months assuming zero time for us to turn around applications.
so was it to soon for me to empty the fridge?
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