Cindy

Hi, Cindy!
Just wondering how things are going for you.

I got my fingerprint/police check back on May 30, and got everything in the mail to the NZ Embassy on Monday. I sent it priority mail and registered, so I hope it will be there today. The USPS track and confirm is worthless, in my opinion. Registered is supposed to be the most secure way to send something, but there has been no update since I submitted everything at the post office Monday morning. I sent my letters of reference registered in April, and there is nothing about those, either, beyond being accepted at the post office. I tried calling, but the system was down, sent an email and was told when and where my mailings were accepted. (Duh, I already know that!)

I've also registered with a couple of agencies in hopes they can help with the nursing registration. The people at the council of nursing are the absolute worst. They still say they have nothing, even though my partner mailed my application from Auckland to Wellington in April. I just registered with the one Nickydwuk used, so we'll see what happens.

Sometimes it just seems like I will never get there! Although, with my luck, getting there in the middle of winter sounds about right! I also have been informed by my older son that he will be getting married on September 20th in Sedona, Arizona. So I may not be leaving until after the wedding, depending on how quickly I get my work permit. If I get it before the end of this month, I may head over and come back for the wedding. The drawbacks to that are the expenses and making that long trip three times relatively close together. On the other hand, I can't wait to get there and I miss my partner like crazy.

Let me know how things are progressing for you -

Take care,
Susan

Hi, Cindy!

I hope this makes it to you. Still kind of fumbling my way around this site!

Malcolm was told by someone at the INZ that he could bring all my paperwork and submit it in NZ, so he carried my entire life with him - including my passport and original birth certificate, all of the paperwork to go to the New Zealand Council of Nursing - everything. When he got to the Department they said they could not accept it and it had to go to Washington. He went back and forth with supervisors and so forth, and they finally agreed they would send it back to the US in a "diplomatic bag" so it would be very secure. (At least they realized if anyone got my paperwork, it would be a windfall for identity theft!) I was a little bummed out, as I had been ready to mail everything and it probably would have been in Washington before he got back to New Zealand. Well, I did get some good news yesterday! All afternoon I had a feeling I would get a letter from the Department of Immigration, then the rational part of my brain would kick in and think, "There is no way. My paperwork probably isn't in the states yet." since Malcolm last dealt with them on Friday afternoon. Got home, checked the mail and nothing, as expected. Later on I checked my email - one message. I figured it was probably junk. However, I really got excited when I saw it was from the INZ! There was a PIN number and directions to go to a site and set up an account so I could check on the progress of my application! NO WAY! I tried three times - PIN, date of birth and passport number, then it locked me out from trying any more. So I called the Department of Immigration. The woman took my name and date of birth, entered them in her computer and said, "Well, there is nothing there as your application was only lodged on Monday." Then she went on to tell me there would be a case manager assigned who would contact me and set this up. (No where in the email did it say anything like that; it was strictly one of those ""click here and do it yourself" things. Why else would they have sent me the PIN?) Oh, well. Whatever! The good news was that my application was in the system instead of floating around somewhere, sitting in a bag or on someone's desk! When I told Malcolm, he said when he dropped the paperwork in the box where he was told to put it, he attached a letter basically stating that screwing people around is not the way to attract skilled workers, and how they treat people coming from other countries reflects on them and New Zealand in general. I don't know if that helped, but I'm pretty sure my paperwork didn't come back to the states. I've also been told that I can expect to have my temporary work permit 4-6 weeks after the application is received! Whoo- hoo! I've also told Malcolm that I have the dates May 24th and May 27th in my mind for some reason. He said I would probably leave the states May 24th, stay a day or two on Fiji and then arrive in Auckland on the 27th. Yeah, right.

I don't know if you read the NZ Herald, but there has been a story in the news there about how the woman in charge of the entire Department of Immigration kinda sorta helped her extended family members get into the country and get permanent residence - after the quota from their South Pacific island had already been met for the year. The paper interviewed her nephew, who was stocking groceries on shelves, and asked him how he became a permanent resident, and he had "no idea", just come there on holiday and never left! Might be worth it to read the articles. Malcolm said he said something about this to one of the reps and she said she was not allowed to comment on the situation, so he said, "Well, I can comment - and you need to remember this stuff is on the internet and people all over the world are reading our newspapers, so they know this went on. It makes the whole department look corrupt." I know your OH has good experience and I bet he can get a job. Malcolm seem to think that people coming from English speaking countries are a bit more welcome. I've read some other places (maybe blogs attached to the above mentioned articles) about people in India wanting to come to NZ waiting 2 years or more for an ITA!

Have you and your OH been looking at the job ads?

Malcolm does say it is expensive to live in NZ. He said gas ("petrol") is $2 a liter! (That's about $8 a gallon.) Diesel fuel is even more expensive. He put on a few pounds here because he loves those McDonald's $1 double cheesburgers. He said there is no dollar menu for anything there. We usually had 2 double cheeseburgers, one snack wrap and small fries and would sometimes splurge on a sundae each for our total order (usually about $7) - He said that would easily be $20 or more in NZ!

Once I go, I only plan to come back to the states to visit. My mom is 90 years old and kind of frail, but she can manage on her own, and my younger son, who is 24, lives with her (as I do), so I might come back to see her on a fairly regular basis. He takes care of the yard and gets her to the grocery store and so forth. I have a sister that lives in Vermont and she can be there to help out if need be. (She comes to visit once a year if she really has to, so I don't feel bad about shifting some responsibility to her.) I don't have any grandkids (neither of my kids is married.) My younger one is not sure about me making this move. He told me the other night that both he and his brother were at the age when they might have kids, and wouldn't I want to be there to have a relationship with them? He isn't even dating anyone at the moment! LOL!

I am not exactly sure where I will be living, but it will be around Auckland. Malcolm is sharing a place with a former flatmat, and they just found out the owner is selling the house, so they will have to move. I think we will probably be around Manakua City or Papakura. I don't know if I will ever learn to pronounce all the names of places! The rental places I've looked at are TINY, and sometimes you only have a bedroom, and a bathroom and kitchen facilities are shared. And you are talking $200 a week for that! I even saw this metal box (mobile shelter) that literally looks about the same size as the shed we have in the back yard. It has a tiny kitchen and bathroom and I think one room to live in. Crazy. I've also noticed there are NO appliances in these places (whiteware), and the fridges are under the counter if they are even there). Wow, I haven't hung clothes on a clothesline in a long time but I guess I can get used to it. I'm terribly spoiled with my washer and dryer! I think you are very right about the culture shock. At least I will have someone who can help me get used to it. Malcolm says it doesn't get cold like here - but it gets to be that damp cold in the winter, the kind that goes to the bones. (We had a 10" snowfall at the beginning of March - Malcolm got his first sled ride and made his first snowman! LOL!) I won't miss snow.

I think we should definately stay in touch! I would love to meet you in New Zealand! I have never been there either, and I give you high marks for going for it. Might take us a day to get lost and found to get together but it would be fun!

Malcolm has worked in Australia and he likes Melbourne. He said Sydney has more of an impersonal, big city feel. Malcolm is getting a job in NZ, and also starting a small business. If the business takes off, we will stay in NZ, if not, we will probably go to OZ and see if we can get jobs in the mining region. He has a cousin that works for Rio Tinto mines and they say you usually need to know someone to get your foot in the door. I am working on getting my commercial driver's license, so if we do go, I can qualify to drive one of those humongous dump trucks. (The money is awesome - starts at about $84,000 a year, they provide food and lodging. You work 6 - 12 hours days, have a day off, work 6 - 12 hour nights, then have a week off. If you choose to stay in the mining camp on your week off, you get an extra $260 per week, or they will fly you in and out if you live elsewhere.) I would imagine overtime is pretty sweet if you pick up some on the week off. We thought about doing that for a couple of years if the business doesn't take off. We'll save up money and move back to NZ and enjoy it.

I hope we make it under the family plan. We are pushing that one. Malcolm and I actually met last May. He was driving a truck here in the states. We don't have any joint accounts or rent payments or anything. He pretty much lived in the truck since he was on the road a lot, and the company he worked for paid for a hotel room every three days he was out on the road.We got together whenever we could. I did have a couple of pictures of us at a couple of social functions, and I wrote our story out, and we signed it. I hope that works. Besides, we are a bit older, so it's not like he is a 50 year old man trying to get his 18 year old Chinese bride into the country. I hope they will see that we are pretty darned dedicated to each other.

It was great to hear from you! I'll look forward to hearing about your progress.

BTY, Malcolm said Fiji is very nice. You know you can do stopovers on the way if you fly Air New Zealand or Air Pacific, and it's all part of the same airfare. He stayed in a hostel because it was cheap and he was always out and about during the day. (He did say he picked a cheap one and it was kind of crappy, but he had a four bed room to himself.) The hotels on the island are about $90 a night if you can find that. They usually have a place to lock up your luggage while you are gone from the hostel for the day.

Take care,
Sue

Hi! My name is Susan and I live in Cincinnati, Ohio. I met a wonderful kiwi here in the states. He has gone back to New Zealand as he was not able to find a job here in the US, after 2 1/2 months of applying everywhere. (He is a truck driver with 10 years of driving in the UK, Australia and New Zealand - but not enough "American" experience.) Needless to say, I am a bit ashamed of the way he was treated here. He had to go back home last October as his dad was very sick, and he came back here at the end of January.

He has all of my immigration paperwork with him and is going to turn it in to the Department of Immigration this week. (He stopped on Fiji for three days on the way home.) I can't wait to get there! Now I have to wait to get my passport back from the Department of Immigration and hopefully, a work permit. (Going under the family program as a de facto partner). I'm a nurse, so I don't think I'll have too much of a problem finding a job. Since I grew up in the same little town and raised my kids here, this is a real adventure for me.

What made you decide on New Zealand and have you been there? We will probably be living in the vicinity of Auckland. (I've been reading the forums here and can't remember if you said you had been there.)