[Mildred]

Feel I should make people aware that NZIS can make mistakes. After several years contributing to this forum and considering whether or not to finally put in our application, we put in our EOI last April. We then received ITA which we submitted at the end of last September having spent nearly a thousand pounds in medicals in London. Well we received 2 e-mails, the first of which stated:-

I am your visa officer allocated to processing your application for residence in New Zealand. Thank you for your patience while you have waited for your application to be assessed.

Could you please advise whether you have had any further contact with the Plumbers, Gasfitters and Drainlayers Board since the last letter you have provided with your application dated 8 July 2005.

I am in the process of verification checks on your application now. All going well, we will then need to make arrangements for work to residence visas for yourself and your family.

As a gasfitter, you require registration in NZ. You cannot obtain full registration until you begin working in NZ under supervision of your employer. Therefore, we can only grant you a Work to Residence visa to allow you to travel to NZ, obtain a job offer and commence employment.

Under Work to Residence, you have three months to arrive in New Zealand and you obtain a nine month work permit on arrival.

Please let me know if you have any queries regarding the Work to Residence category. I will be in touch again shortly.

[Mildred]

I then received a second e-mail which stated

Thank you for your response. I actually have some bad news for you in regards to your application.

Upon further verification of your application, I have found that your Expression of Interest was assessed incorrectly. You had claimed and were mistakenly awarded 10 bonus points for your qualification and 15 bonus points for your work experience in an area of absolute skill shortage - Plumbers. I find that all your qualifications, work experience and your letter from the PGDB state your expertise are not as a plumber, but a gasfitter. Although regularisation of these trades are handled jointly by the PGDB, they are two separate trades.

As you are not eligible for the bonus points you have been awarded as a Plumber, you therefore do not meet the selection criteria to be Invited to Apply for residence under the Skilled Migrant category.

Your points allocation has been reassessed as follows:
10 points for your age
50 points for your qualification
30 points for your work experience
Total: 90 points

this is minus
10 bonus points for a qualification in an area of absolute skill shortage
15 bonus points for work experience in an area of absolute skill shortage

To meet the selection criteria you need to meet one of the following:
100 points or more with a job offer; or
140+ points without a job offer
After speaking with my Manager in regards to your situation, we have come up with the two following options for you:
Withdraw your application now for a refund of application fee; or
We will keep the application open for a couple of months while you look for a job offer in NZ.
A secure job offer will award you another 50 points, enough to meet the selection criteria.

Please read over the above and let me know your decision. I understand this will come as a disappointment to you and I apologise this has happened.

In regards to your concern below, we can only offer residence to a plumber or gasfitter if they obtain full registration while still in the UK. Often this is not possible as the applicant will need to attend an examination in NZ or complete working hours under supervision of their NZ employer. Particularly in the situation where the applicant has no job offer, we could only ever offer Work to Residence. We will however cross this bridge when we come to it should you decide to continue with your application.

[Mildred]

Well we are in a position where all the gas companies we have contacted in NZ are not prepared to give a job offer without at last wtr in place and NZIS not being prepared to give us wtr without a job offer.

Feel this is a sign that perhaps it was not meant to be.

As NZIS has admitted to making the mistake feel they should refund our medical fees as well.

Has anyone else been faced with a similar situation?

[StevieD]

Ah the old catch 22, sorry to hear this Mildred, good luck on whatever route you decide to take.

And no, NZIS is not exempt from making errors.

[JandM]

Really tough. Yes, good luck.

[victoria]

I've pmd you

[Mildred]

Thanks for the p.m. and to others who have been in touch.

So far we have contacted numerous companies direct by e-mail and phone and no one wants to give us the time of day without WTR. What concerns us, bearing in mind ITA have already admitted making mistakes, is what if we did get to NZ on WTR. Are they going to change the goal posts again as far as skilled trades are concerned. Could we end up with the situation that PR would be impossible if further changes were made to their policy?

Find this all very frightening. We could just accept their offer to refund the fees we have paid to NZIS, but we struggled to pay the £1000 medical fees which are still accruing interest on our credit card and just don't know what to do.

Incidentally, just want to thank Bevs for all her help!