2nd August 2007

The application pack arrived today by special delivery and consisted of a printed copy of my EOI which some additional sheets at the back for fee payment and extra space for additions and amendments to the EOI that was lodged and a cover letter from our immigration advisor, Amelia Foley. As our application has an offer of employment, everything is to be handled by Amelia.

The following information was requested:

30th July 2007

After checking the immigration website endlessly (and I'm talking 5 times a day here), our status finally changed today from 'Selected' to 'Invited to Apply'. I just don't know what to think! I've been waiting for this all year long and now all I can think about is whether I've got all the paperwork together or not. I couldn't wait to get home.



I downloaded an instruction sheet from the immigration website that really helped me to prepare for lodging the application:

http://www.immigration.govt.nz/NR/rdonlyres/4BEB5B7F-6FD7-4845-8E6A-6D9F581B77D5/0/TipsforlodgingSMapplicationNZQA.doc

The only thing from the checklist I was missing was Julia's degree certificate as we had the police checks done in February (and were still within the 6 months allowed) and thankfully it was at her parents house. When I got home I started to prepare this pack in anticipation of the application form arriving.

25th July 2007

The medicals are ready for collection and scanning through the documents, they look fine (although who knows what they look for!) Seriously, I don't think there's anything here that will prevent our application from being rejected, should we get to that stage of course!

18th July 2007

As luck would have it the selection was last night and we were selected from the pool, which was expected. So now the wait starts to see if we're invited to apply. Given that I have an offer of employment our application will be given priority and we'll hear within 10 days.

The chest x-ray yesterday was fine. Hopefully the results for everything will be in on Friday/Monday.

17th July 2007

The offer is here, contract and all and the package is just great! This makes the week away from the family worthwhile. It feels real now.

In anticipation of the offer arriving, I completed a new EOI over the weekend because with Julia being pregnant we really need the benefits of residency. The various visa options are explained in detail on the immigration website:

http://www.immigration.govt.nz/NR/rdonlyres/4DAD508D-CC26-425A-A57B-D2AF557C8510/0/1003.pdf

Now that I have an offer I can enter the job information and submit for approval. I have no idea when the next selection date is. I card 185 points which is waaaaay more than is required.

16th July 2007

No news yet on the job offer....but I have my chest x-ray (the 2nd part of the medical) scheduled in for tomorrow (Tuesday).

13th July 2007

It looks as though I have managed to secure one of the positions I was interviewed for earlier this week! I'm so excited of what that means that I don't know where to start thinking about it. No doubt this will be the longest weekend of the year!

The medicals pass off without problem, although Ted seemed to take exception to the Doctor prodding and checking Mummy and Daddy and screamed the place down when he came to check him! He took blood, checked our weight, tested eyesight, asked a lot of searching questions, checked in our ears and also felt our stomachs. Standard stuff I imagine. So now we just hope that everything is ok and that the job offer is forthcoming on Monday.

10th July 2007

Given that we now have a planned date for being in NZ (mid September), we have decided to get the medicals done as soon as possible as given that Julia is pregnant, we would definitely want residency to take advantage of the healthcare benefits that would provide. We're lucky and are able to get in this Friday - at a cost of around £550.

9th July 2007

I resigned my position today (am leaving on the 31st August) and also spent last night contacting all of the agencies I'd met whilst in NZ, so they don't forget who I am! I'm optimistic about this week, with 2 phone interviews to come and a definite (well almost definite) plan to relocate.

8th July 2007

Wow, what a week! Where to start….

Auckland – I only managed 2 appointments in Auckland, however the time there was well spent as it helped me recover from the jetlag. My missing luggage was a concern for a while, but it turned up on Sunday, much to my relief.

In terms of opportunities, there don’t appear to be that many for me and my skills (Programme Office Management) there. The business district feels very disparate and I didn’t get the sense that many senior management jobs come up that often. That said, the people I did meet were very complimentary about my CV and were keen to put it in front of their clients

In terms of the city itself, it was warm (the same temperature and weather as I had left Manchester 2 days earlier and it’s winter in NZ!), but felt like a cross between a small American city and large English town. Crucially, it didn’t really seem to have a ‘heart’ to it and as a result I couldn’t really picture us living there. I’m not saying that it wasn’t nice, it just didn’t feel like the place for us. The transport system wasn’t great and property was pretty expensive.

On the plus side there was a strong multicultural feel to the city with many Japanese, Indonesian and Korean restaurants and it felt clean and safe. More so than any English city I could think of.

With the time I had available in Auckland I did manage to search the web, find a couple of jobs and set up a couple more appointments for my trip to Wellington.

Wellington – things were more than a little hectic in Wellington and it really was a productive 2 days.

I loved Wellington. Loved the feel of the city which had a buzz about it that I didn’t feel in Auckland. Plenty of shops, café’s, things to do, all in the centre, which you can traverse in about 25 mins. It was clean, well set out, not busy traffic-wise and had a vibrancy about it. At lunchtime it was busy without being crowded, the kind of place I was hoping it would be. It was also a good deal colder than Auckland, more seasonal, although in my whole time there I didn’t get to sample the famous wind.

At my first appointment, they actually prepared me for an interview they’d managed to schedule for me at 4pm that same evening, so instantly I was heartened by the opportunities for me. The further 3 appointments went really well and everyone was friendly, complimentary about the CV and encouraging about my opportunities for employment.

By the end of the second day I’d had 2 further interviews off the back of 4 appointments, all of which went as well as the previous day and indeed on my trip home on Friday I was still fielding calls from interested parties!

It was such a hectic 2 days that with hindsight I’d have spent an extra day in Wellington and less time in Auckland. It drove home to me that you have to put yourself in front of agencies in order for them to consider you a viable candidate. Most of them said that they wouldn’t have put me in front of clients had they not seen me face-to-face. This really proves to them that you’re serious about the move and that you’re plans are in progress.

The flights home (via Auckland, Sydney, Bangkok and Heathrow) were long, but I managed to stay awake enough to almost re-adjust myself back to British time, which really worked for me.

25th June 2007

The schedule is complete and by the end of today the flights will be booked! I have 7 confirmed appointments (the bulk of which are in Wellington) and a lot of keen people to talk to me. I redid my CV based on feedback I’d received and lengthened it from a very British 3 pages to a very NZ 5 pages, which detailed all of my experience and qualifications attained. It’s also a requirement to include 2 referees/references on your CV as these are taken up before a job is offered, unlike the UK where it’s hit and miss.

So, I fly out to NZ from Heathrow on Thursday 28th, touch down in Auckland on Saturday 30th and then the schedule is as below with me returning to Manchester (via Auckland, Sydney, Bangkok and Heathrow) on Saturday morning. That’s a lot of flying (and no doubt a lot of money) so I need to make sure it’s all worthwhile.

Lost in the pursuit of a job is that I need to ensure that NZ is the kind of place that Jules, Ted and I want to live! Pretty important that one. So I’ll be taking some time to find out what the respective cities are like, what the transport links are, what the house prices are like and so on. I’m going to tap up each of the agency people I meet for information as well especially as a couple of them are ex-pats.

22nd June 2007

God, I’m so tired! I have spent the last couple of weeks in front of the computer late night/early morning, emailing my CV to agencies and phoning to arrange interviews. I’ve been really encouraged with the feedback that I’ve had based on my commitment to be out there. I’ve got a skeleton of a schedule now – fly in to Auckland on Saturday and spend Saturday and Sunday recovering from the jet lag. Remain in Auckland Monday and Tuesday, before flying to Wellington and spending Wednesday and Thursday there, before flying home on Friday. It’ll be a busy week, but I need to make it worthwhile. 2 more appointments (to add to the 5 I already have) and I’ll book the flights.

6th June 2007

We’ve decided that I’m going to head to NZ in the first week of July. I’m not going to book the flights and accommodation until the last minute, just in case some of the appointments don’t come off, but I’m aiming to be ready for appointments w/c 2nd July. All of a sudden it feels very very real!

4th June 2007

NZ has played 2nd fiddle to our Wedding/Honeymoon which we’ve just returned from, however I now have a list of agencies in both Auckland and Wellington that I intend to contact by way of looking to arrange a trip out there. I’m starting with a consultancy firm I work with here in the UK who also have offices in NZ, which should hopefully be an easy appointment to make.

9th May 2007

When time allows I have continued to search for jobs, by way of understanding who the key recruitment agencies are. The best website to use to do this is www.seek.co.nz that seems to carry listings for all agencies. Encouragingly, there seem to be a number of opportunities in the areas that I’m looking at, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I can get out there and maybe get something or at least get a feel as to how much risk our moving out there without a job offer would be.

27th April 2007

Well our fears were confirmed today when I received notification that our EOI had not been accepted. As I don’t have a degree I can’t claim the points that go with the Absolute Skills Shortage and as I result our application points total fell under the required limit for being invited to apply. The immigration clerk was very nice in her email and said that given that I didn’t have a degree, getting a job offer was the way forward for us, so once we’re back from the States, all of our energies will be ploughed into that.

Whilst we’re disappointed, deep down we knew that this route was a long shot and that at some stage I’d need to get out there, this email just confirms that. How glad are we that we didn’t shell out £500+ on medicals as well! They’ll be needed at some stage, although they’d have been out of date (they’re only valid for 3 months) by the time we came round to apply again.

Disappointed but not undaunted. NZ here I come!

10th April 2007

I phoned New Zealand House again today and was told that with the points total that we had, our application should definitely have been looked at by now and gave the name of a lady at immigration to contact. The phone call to NZ House wasn’t cheap (£1 per minute) and wasn’t helped by the fact that I had to phone back twice more because the email details the girl had given me were incorrect! Anyway, finally sent the email and had it delivered only to receive an out of office notification!

In other news the house will be on the market next week, along with about 20,000 other properties by the looks of it. Selling our ‘unique’ house, may not be as quick as we’d like…

2nd April 2007

Still no word from NZ, so we are now convinced that nothing will happen. Every day I’m checking my email expecting to see something there. I’ve also started looking for jobs and since the last update have applied for 2, however I got no further as I wasn’t in NZ. Getting a job whilst sat in the UK doesn’t seem to be the answer, so I may need to head out there at some stage.

30th March 2007

We finished the work we wanted to do on the house in order to get it ready for sale, so it’s time to go shopping for estate agents!

10th March 2007

Still no news and in that time I’ve booked and cancelled medical appointments twice. As I mentioned earlier, there is just no point risking wasting that kind of money, so we’re sitting tight and ploughing all our energies into planning our Wedding, which is now only 9 weeks away!

22nd February 2007

Three things NZ related today, actually, 4 things:

1. Our police conviction records arrived in the post today - thankfully both are clean, so that's one hurdle cleared.
2. I phoned New Zealand House to try to find out if there'd been any progress on the EOI. The girl was pleasant enough but basically said that if I didn't have a job offer it'd be 3 months, etc. etc. It was worth a try.
3. I spoke to my new NZ contact who wishes to talk further with me on the 23rd - so that may yield something positive.
4. I received an email back from the NZQA saying that my qualification couldn't be assessed as, and I quote "The Qualifications Recognition Service will only assess qualifications that are awarded by recognised, accredited and quality assured institutions. The recognition, accreditation and quality assurance must be obtained by the organisation that the government for that particular country has deemed responsible." This is in line with the guidance set out in the guide and assessment of International Qualifications. More and more I'm starting to believe that the ITA won't come as a result of me not having a university degree. My one light of hope is that NZ House (based in London) who are responsible for the ITA recognise my professional qualifications and that they also contribute towards the area of skills shortage in NZ.

I'll have to cancel the medical appointments set for Monday. Pointless doing anything now until the ITA arrives (or otherwise).

All of a sudden, the glass is half empty. Waiting around doesn't help...

13th February 2007

I had a huge stroke of luck today, which may yet bear fruit (although I've probably jinxed it now).

I met with a potential supplier and to my surprise found out that he was originally from Wellington and (like most other people) has nothing but good things to say about the islands. He has friends in immigration, who (of course) can't process anything any quicker but could give me some tips. Additionally he's handling recruitment on behalf of New Zealand House and his father owns one of the biggest companies in NZ! He's promised to provide more information about agencies to contact as having a job is definitely the thing to do to speed this up.

12th February 2007

We suddenly got very itchy about spending over £500 without having an invitation to apply, so I cancelled the chest x-ray appointments for this Wednesday. The medical itself remains in the diary for three weeks hence.

The initial flurry of activity has definitely petered out and we are really frustrated that we haven't yet heard anything. I guess in our hearts we wanted something to happen straight away in order to maintain momentum, but in reality nothing ever moves as quickly as you would like.

We're busy getting the house ready for sale. We're currently having work done on the garden and aim to do things piecemeal in order to have the work completed and the house up for sale by the end of March. Other than the garden there are no big jobs, so it may be possible to get it on the market earlier.

I bought the Rough Guide to NZ today as it was the only book on the islands we don't yet own! though I'm still on the look out for others....

10th February 2007

20 days on from completing my qualification pre-assessment form and I've still not heard anything. I did receive a confirmation on the 24th Jan that it had been received and that I would hear from them 10 days after it had been assigned, so I can only assume that it wasn't assigned until at the least the beginning of Feb. We just need a sign!

6th February 2007

I read on the immigration website today that all applications without a job offer will need to be backed by the NZQA assessment, so I've printed the forms off in readiness. I'm still not keen on parting with the $400+ until I know for sure. I've not yet had a reply from the NZQA with regards to the pre-assessment, which is critical for me to understand the status of my professional qualifications.

I finished reading Living and Working in NZ which was really good and has some excellent tips. I also ordered a new book today called Emigrating to New Zealand: A Guide To, in which a guy tells all about his experiences doing exactly what we're doing.

1st February 2007

All children have to have a medical as well (though not a chest x-ray or blood tests), so Ted will be joining us on our trip to the doctors at the end of Feb.

31st January 2007

The police forms are completed and in the post. As expected, there was a fair degree of repetition (especially as they had to be filled in by hand) but were straight-forward enough. Up to 40 day wait for this now.

30th January 2007

I phoned and made appointments for our medicals today. Having looked at my plan, the latest we will receive our ITA is the 23rd March, therefore I have made the appointments for the end of February, which means that the results (completed medical) should be back to us just before this date (which also allows for delays of up to 2 months).

The medical is split into 2 - a general medical and chest x-ray – for which we are required to visit 2 different locations. The chest x-ray is the easier of the 2. We can get an appointment anytime for this and it costs £55 each. The medical itself is more complicated and thus more expensive! There is a 3 week wait for appointments, then it’s urine sample on arrival followed by blood tests and general medical. The costs for this are as follows:

£120 p.p. - medical
£50 p.p. - admin
£61 p.p. - blood tests
£7 p.p. - optional blood tests
Making a grand total (including x-rays) of £265 each. I’m hoping to hear from immigration prior to going ahead with the medical to ensure it’s not money wasted.

24th January 2007

I received the police forms via email today and am resolved to fill them in this weekend. There appears to be a lot of repetition in the document that needs to be filled out and backed by photocopies of 2 pieces of identification, but it looks straight-forward enough. It’s £10 to get our history, which we’re both expecting to be clear!

21st January 2007

In order to ease my fears over my qualifications, I have decided to apply to the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (www.nzqa.govt.nz) to have my qualifications evaluated. Some qualifications require full validation by the NZQA for which there is a charge of $450 (plus optional extras). You can however have a pre-assessment which provides reassurance akin to that I’m looking for. It can be done online, costs $75 and takes up to 10 days to complete. I’m hoping that my professional qualifications have been assessed before, especially as they’re in an area of skills shortage and as such won’t require the full assessment or payment. Anyway, the pre-assessment application is done, which now involves more waiting!

18th January 2007

Having reviewed the job opportunities in NZ, we have decided to head for Wellington as our initial base. Ideally we’d love to have a place (run down ramshackle place to spruce up over the years), but in order to get established, Wellington seems to be the place for us. We don’t really fancy Auckland (or at least I don’t) and Wellington’s location gives us a good base from which to explore South Island.

16th January 2007

We’re checking every day for notification that we’ve been invited to apply! In order to dampen down expectation, I have decided to fully research timescales and also look at what’s needed in order to potentially steal a march on the ITA (providing we get it). It’s a difficult balance to strike between those things that can be done that don’t involve committing too much money and those things that need to be done/booked in advance to smooth the process.

Looking at it, there are a number of key things required for the ITA, namely:
Assessment of qualifications
Police searches
Medical

In terms of cost, I’ve no doubt the medical will prove to be the most expensive (although I could be wrong) and this needs to be completed by one of the specially selected panel of doctors listed on the NZ Immigration London website. The medical also only lasts for 3 months, so this can’t be done too soon otherwise it could be money down the drain should the ITA not arrive in time. The police searches though last a year, so can be done now. They cost £10 for each application and are handled through the local authority. Not sure whether the assessment of qualifications is required yet, so am awaiting more details. It’s $470 for this, which I don’t really want to lay out until I’m absolutely sure it’s required.
From the information on the website about what’s required, I have built a ‘worst-case scenario’ plan. At the latest we should be invited to apply (qualifications permitting) by the end of March. Once we get the details back to Immigration, it could potentially be a further 7 months until the decision is made, meaning we could be in NZ by December. In reality, providing we sell our house, we’ll be there earlier than that – hopefully.

8th January 2007

We received a letter today from NZ immigration confirming that we’ve been selected from the pool and outlining next steps. They seem to be super efficient and direct us to our local (well, London) office website for more information.

6th January 2007

Our EOI has been accepted! In fact, it was selected from the pool one day after completion! We’re trying not to get too excited as it still will require scrutiny and challenge before being formally ‘Invited to Apply’ (ITA). We’re really excited now and thoughts turn to what we need to do to literally get our house in order for selling. We resolve to produce a much needed list, starting with the garden (which is due to be completed by the beginning of Feb).
Jules is very pleased at the number of potential Montessori schools in NZ for Ted, something that is really important to her.

4th January 2007

I have started to look at opportunities in NZ. Christchurch is currently our favoured location and my current intentions are to go contracting as a PM. There don’t appear to be too many opportunities in Christchurch, however I see a permanent position that takes my eye and give the agency a call. I’m sure that nothing further will come of it (me not having a visa and all), but it causes initial excitement and confirmation that this is really going to happen.
I bought my first NZ magazine this week and Christchurch sounds really nice. Just the kind of thing we’re looking for.

19th December 2006

The application is done! We completed what is known as an Expression of Interest (EOI) online, paid the $300 fee and now go into a pot awaiting selection decisions. The application is based on a points based system, which you accrue for various items including work experience, qualifications, family in NZ etc. We scored 150 points which largely revolved around my professional qualifications for which there was no real category/comparison, so this remains a relative ‘weakness’ in the application. This is sure to be challenged should we be lucky enough to be accepted, however they are internationally recognised professional qualifications in an area of real skills shortage, so I’m hoping that this is viewed positively by the powers that be.

18th December 2006

We have spent some time looking at the relevant immigration policies for both and have decided to plump for NZ. It was always our favourite, truth be told, however the waiting lists for Canada extend to 2 years +, whilst NZ seem much more organised and my skills are in short supply, which should aid our application. Having made the decision, we just want to apply and get the wheels moving. It’s pointless pontificating about it.

10th December 2006

Well, we have decided to leave. We really do feel that Britain is ‘going to the dogs’ and have no other option (other than to moan incessantly for the next 40 years) than to seek pastures new. Ironically, it had been me who’d been against moving away, however I see little future for the country and agree that it’s time to move on.

Obviously family and friends will be left behind and that will be the hardest part, however it’s the long term future and happiness of our own family that is paramount and it’s really important that we give Ted (and future siblings) the opportunity to grow up in a place where they can do or be anything they want to be.

We talked at length about where to move and due to work/language constraints settled on either Canada or New Zealand. I have a cousin who lives in NZ and has nothing but good words to say about it. My best mate has also been there and would move back in a heartbeat. Actually, anyone who has ever been to NZ enthuses about it – let’s hope it’s not just a holiday thing.
My brother recently moved back from Canada to England citing (amongst other things) its lack of family ‘entertainment’ and certainly, having visited where he lived in Nova Scotia he had a point. We have been primarily looking at Vancouver, which seems to be in a great location and also has stuff for Jules and I to do.