On Arrival...

[Burgundy21]

Well in a way you have to laugh, although I nearly cried....arrived calmly at Christchurch to clear blue skies and a friendly welcome. Passport control and the inevitable " how long are you guys staying?" Honest answer " round about 5 or 6 months as tourists during which time we hope to complete out ITA" ( Mum always told me 'tell the truth, shame the devil" ) Sweet girl presses button and then we are moved to the side with a nice lad with rucksack to be told we are entering incorrectly as we have no onward ticket. Of course we don't ,we have sufficient funds.....no,no,no you MUST have a ticket. Would you like to see our bank statement with the Kiwi Bank, set up specifically??? No, no,no, you MUST have an onward ticket, would you like us to rush and buy one? No,no,no.... and so on. So, we got 4 weeks VP and are now having to extend it (paying bien s?r!) by filling in more forms. Oh, and during this time a little old lady was helping herself to one of our suitcases which we didn't get back for 2 days.

So, what is the real story behind the onward ticket issue, because on our new form we just have to show 'sufficient funds' ie 2000 dollars per head.?

Oh, and the bit the immigration guy liked best, the airline is fined 5000 dollars for each of us.

[KiwiHopeful]

Originally Posted by Burgundy21

So, what is the real story behind the onward ticket issue, because on our new form we just have to show 'sufficient funds' ie 2000 dollars per head.?

Oh, and the bit the immigration guy liked best, the airline is fined 5000 dollars for each of us.

Wow. It seems the rules are constantly changing and no one can keep up with them. I'm surprised about the airline? Who did you fly? I noticed when we came over that Air NZ was *very* careful about checking visas, tickets, etc.

[kokopeli]

Oh Kate, not the start you wanted. Hope the avant garde/bijou cottage has lived up to its expectations.

Call if you need any thing.

Chris

[MotherBear]

Sorry to hear you had a bad start, Kate. It has been preached on here several times in the past about not letting anyone know your real intentions if you're entering NZ on a VV and it looks like there's reason behind this.

The airlines are supposed to check before you leave your originating country whether you have an onward ticket or not, as I'm sure Dawn can confirm, having been caught that way herself. There is confusion about this ruling though, as I've heard of others who say they didn't need one.

I wonder why they've given you a 4 week VP when I thought you were entitled to 6months as a British citizen. Must be some punitive measure because of your 'irregular' entry.

Hope you can manage to get sufficient time to complete all your PR paperwork without any more hassle.

[Dawn]

Oh Kate me ode spanner! Bugger!

MB is right, they got us as well but at least they got us before we left the UK albeit in the queue for boarding scaring the pants off us that we might not make the flight!!

At least you didn't get threatened with a criminal record and a $10000 fine for apple smuggling. They may have found the one in my bag but they didn't get the one up my arse!!! Muwahahah and a stroke of the perfunctory beard (for which there is no smiley!!)

[KiwiHopeful]

Wow, Dawn, two thoroughly disturbing images in one single sentence.

[ebianca]

Hey Kate.

Glad you arrived safley but shame about the hassle at the airport.

We were planning on going with full return tickets and then 'cashing' them in once we have our PR granted.

Hope Christchurch is everything you hope it to be and that you settle in well.

Beth