Phil & Ali Smith
11th November 2007, 08:12 PM
Hello all,
I haven’t posted for some time as it was all a little bit depressing! So I thought I’d wait until I had some good news.
BLUE STICKERS HAVE ARRIVED !!!!!:clap
We never really doubted that we would eventually get our visas to NZ, but we didn’t expect the journey to be such a long & difficult haul. EOI to PR in over a year.
I’m not trying to worry anyone unduly, but if your BMI is over the 35 mark, start trying to do something about it straight away. As you can see from our signature, we applied for EOI with 115 points (extra points in skills shortage area & experience,- Phil’s a joiner). ITA arrived, medicals done, police checks, information collected & so off goes the ITA.
Then months go by, no news, until the queries start. I’m 46 & in good health (according to the medical report, x-rays, blood tests etc.). However, I’ve had 2 knee replacement ops (one on each knee), during the past 3 years. The ‘experts’ can’t say definitively why I’ve had osteoarthritis in both knees (no other joints are affected), but probably due to injuries in my youth. As I’ve said, all other medical tests were good.. BUT… my BMI was 38. I’ve struggled with my weight for years, but have stayed relatively fit by swimming 3-4 times a week, I had to give up the gym when my knees deteriorated.
The medical assessors wanted written reports, short/long term prognosis etc. from the 2 surgeons who had performed my ops (at 2 different hospitals). I had to pay for one of these reports (private doctor).
Then when reports sorted & sent to NZ House a further 2/3 weeks went by…. 'Thank you for the surgeons reports' … ‘we would now like a report from your own GP as to your general state of health and some further tests (diabetes) & other blood tests, as your BMI is high.’ (They knew this from the beginning, and at that time I’d done the extra fasting lipids tests etc. (& all had been good). This all seemed so ‘over-the-top’, but hey, I want to go to NZ, so I made an appointment with my GP, who did what was asked of him (more cost to me). All tests came back. GP wrote an extremely positive report concerning my state of health and that I had lost some weight (BMI 36), and could only foresee me losing more weight rather than gaining any. So the report was emailed/sent to NZ House. More weeks went by.
Then came the most upsetting letter. Phil’s application would be deferred for 3 months until my BMI was below 35. I felt well & truly shattered, we’re not getting to NZ & it’s all my fault.:no
All this time we’d been corresponding with our case officer by email, but when this one arrived, he’d actually put his direct line phone number on the bottom, knowing that Phil would want to talk to him. Phil phoned straight away & told him how upsetting this was for me. The real question was why hadn’t they said from the outset, if your BMI is over 35 you’re not going !!! Especially making me pay for all those extra tests when the initial medicals were all good & they knew 6 months ago that my BMI was greater than 35.
Within 2 weeks of receiving this email my BMI was already down to 34, but I had to get a doctors letter to prove it!
This was accepted relatively quickly (I think our case officer was feeling a little sorry for us by then) and he rang & made an appointment for the telephone interview, for the following week. Phil said that the interview was fine (not scary at all), and the case officer told Phil he’d hear from him within 10 days.
Then comes the next chapter, sorry to go on & on…..
10 days pass no news, 14 days, we’ll send him an email, 18 days, no response, another email. 3 weeks, no news. We’ll phone. Automated message…. You case officer has left the NZ immigration department, to find out what you need to do …email this address… Sent email, asking what’s happening… email is promptly returned (no such email address).:mad:
Phoned the very expensive number for NZ Immigration. Ask ‘how do we find out who is dealing with our application’.. Answer… ‘ you’ll have to fax this number, you’ll get a quicker response to a fax’…
Sent fax… 2 days, no response, re-sent fax, 2 more days no response. Sent new fax (pleading for answers). 4 days later, received email you’ll have decision in a couple of days. Finally had email contact. Couple of days go by……nothing… it’s now a week, we email again. 2 days… you’ll have a decision by end of day tomorrow.
Tomorrow came…. YIPPEE! PR !!!!!! :D
Booked flights for 17th January, to Christchurch.
Then the journey will truly begin.
Thank you one and all on this forum, you’ve helped so much during this process and I’m sure you will continue to do so. My apologies for this extra long rant, but I really needed to get it off my chest, and who better to talk to !!!
Ali
I haven’t posted for some time as it was all a little bit depressing! So I thought I’d wait until I had some good news.
BLUE STICKERS HAVE ARRIVED !!!!!:clap
We never really doubted that we would eventually get our visas to NZ, but we didn’t expect the journey to be such a long & difficult haul. EOI to PR in over a year.
I’m not trying to worry anyone unduly, but if your BMI is over the 35 mark, start trying to do something about it straight away. As you can see from our signature, we applied for EOI with 115 points (extra points in skills shortage area & experience,- Phil’s a joiner). ITA arrived, medicals done, police checks, information collected & so off goes the ITA.
Then months go by, no news, until the queries start. I’m 46 & in good health (according to the medical report, x-rays, blood tests etc.). However, I’ve had 2 knee replacement ops (one on each knee), during the past 3 years. The ‘experts’ can’t say definitively why I’ve had osteoarthritis in both knees (no other joints are affected), but probably due to injuries in my youth. As I’ve said, all other medical tests were good.. BUT… my BMI was 38. I’ve struggled with my weight for years, but have stayed relatively fit by swimming 3-4 times a week, I had to give up the gym when my knees deteriorated.
The medical assessors wanted written reports, short/long term prognosis etc. from the 2 surgeons who had performed my ops (at 2 different hospitals). I had to pay for one of these reports (private doctor).
Then when reports sorted & sent to NZ House a further 2/3 weeks went by…. 'Thank you for the surgeons reports' … ‘we would now like a report from your own GP as to your general state of health and some further tests (diabetes) & other blood tests, as your BMI is high.’ (They knew this from the beginning, and at that time I’d done the extra fasting lipids tests etc. (& all had been good). This all seemed so ‘over-the-top’, but hey, I want to go to NZ, so I made an appointment with my GP, who did what was asked of him (more cost to me). All tests came back. GP wrote an extremely positive report concerning my state of health and that I had lost some weight (BMI 36), and could only foresee me losing more weight rather than gaining any. So the report was emailed/sent to NZ House. More weeks went by.
Then came the most upsetting letter. Phil’s application would be deferred for 3 months until my BMI was below 35. I felt well & truly shattered, we’re not getting to NZ & it’s all my fault.:no
All this time we’d been corresponding with our case officer by email, but when this one arrived, he’d actually put his direct line phone number on the bottom, knowing that Phil would want to talk to him. Phil phoned straight away & told him how upsetting this was for me. The real question was why hadn’t they said from the outset, if your BMI is over 35 you’re not going !!! Especially making me pay for all those extra tests when the initial medicals were all good & they knew 6 months ago that my BMI was greater than 35.
Within 2 weeks of receiving this email my BMI was already down to 34, but I had to get a doctors letter to prove it!
This was accepted relatively quickly (I think our case officer was feeling a little sorry for us by then) and he rang & made an appointment for the telephone interview, for the following week. Phil said that the interview was fine (not scary at all), and the case officer told Phil he’d hear from him within 10 days.
Then comes the next chapter, sorry to go on & on…..
10 days pass no news, 14 days, we’ll send him an email, 18 days, no response, another email. 3 weeks, no news. We’ll phone. Automated message…. You case officer has left the NZ immigration department, to find out what you need to do …email this address… Sent email, asking what’s happening… email is promptly returned (no such email address).:mad:
Phoned the very expensive number for NZ Immigration. Ask ‘how do we find out who is dealing with our application’.. Answer… ‘ you’ll have to fax this number, you’ll get a quicker response to a fax’…
Sent fax… 2 days, no response, re-sent fax, 2 more days no response. Sent new fax (pleading for answers). 4 days later, received email you’ll have decision in a couple of days. Finally had email contact. Couple of days go by……nothing… it’s now a week, we email again. 2 days… you’ll have a decision by end of day tomorrow.
Tomorrow came…. YIPPEE! PR !!!!!! :D
Booked flights for 17th January, to Christchurch.
Then the journey will truly begin.
Thank you one and all on this forum, you’ve helped so much during this process and I’m sure you will continue to do so. My apologies for this extra long rant, but I really needed to get it off my chest, and who better to talk to !!!
Ali