[MB]

Hi again, all. Just thought I'd start a new thread in which N.American applicants can "drop off" their very latest progress or experiences in the immigration process. One interesting angle might be whether you have had any experience in whether the physical distance from NZIS London has led to any slight modifications in the bureaucratic process (e.g., interview arrangements; air-mailing experiences).

As you might know, NZIS received all our docs. and app. this time last week and we are awaiting the letter and/or e-mail. It looks likely to us that US applicants will get interviewed by one of the US NZIS staff members (the Marketing Directors?) rather than by someone in London.

:nice1

Cheers,
Matt.

[cloudboy99]

No real update from me. Still waiting on my FBI background check to come back (lodged just before receiving my ITA). One of my former employers is being really stingy with giving me an employment letter so hopefully my original offer letter and business card as I was "let go" after only two months. Now I just have to convince my GP that I don't just need immunization shots for traveling to a foreign country, I need an actual physical and X-Ray.

I did confirm with Terry Murphy (Portland, OR NZIS Marketing Director) that the marketing directors can do the interviews, either in person if you are close or over the phone (no sense waking up at 2am for a phone call...).

[MB]

Thanks. Yes, Terry Murphy has been a good help to us. I understand that, as with all the Marketing Directors, he is there to help with more general 'residence-exploratory' enquiries than very specific case worries. Understandable.
It's nice to have some NZIS staffers this close to home - I think they're quite new appointments.

Matt.

[xanctus]

Matt,
I got an interview with officer in Washington DC, not from those 3 marketing people. Maybe the fact that I am not living in the west side.
My officer who interviewed me, said that after the interview he will sending the result to the London offficer and she will make the final decision based on the outcome of the interview.

hope that helps

[MB]

Xanctus - thanks. V. helpful, as usual. My guess (oh-oh, we know where those get us, don't we? :laugh ) is that anyone such as your D.C. officer or the M. Directors are equipped to do the interview, as the encouraging signs/red flags they're looking for in candidates are probably fairly well defined.
And Happy Presidents' Day, everyone... perhaps a suitable day to have started this thread!

Matt.

[DrPhred]

I wonder which coast will contact us in the mid-west?

And is it better to be interviewed by a marketing guy or by the Washington officer?

[tigerlily]

We are still just in the waiting phase. Plan on doing an EOI next winter, if the points don't go through the roof. Waiting for hubby to finish his schooling here in the states.

[xanctus]

DrPhred,
You're located in Minne right? so I think more likely you will be contacted by the Washington officer to do a phone interview first. At least that what happened to me. I got a phone interview on tuesday, and he said he need to do a "face to face" interview, so I flew the next day to DC.

Which one is better? I think both are not major issues. Based on my experience, the interview was quite easy and warm.

[sweetpea]

I'm not doing anything bureaucracy-wise yet. That's all on hold until I pay the first semester's tuition, which I'm putting off as long as possible in hope that the US dollar will strengthen.

Bought hiking boots, a sleeping bag and a tent (couldn't resist a great sale and wanted to get ready for tramping). Arranged my rabies vaccine (needed for an upcoming volunteer trip as well as vet school in NZ) -- my health insurance here is covering - yay! Confirmed my doctor is board-certified in IM and willing to fill out the medicals when the time comes.

Got a quote on sending my stuff over door-to-door, Berkeley, CA to Palmerston North: for 195 cu ft, 1200 lbs, $2275 + insurance; for 390 cu ft, 2400 lbs, $4195 + insurance. I'm starting to think I'm going to ship minimal stuff over, and just sell the rest.

[DrPhred]

I got a phone interview on tuesday, and he said he need to do a "face to face" interview, so I flew the next day to DC.


Yikes! I didn't even know that was a possibility! Another possible expense to add to the list.

Did they say why the interview couldn't be conducted over the phone?

[xanctus]

well, he was saying...if it's possible not to ask the applicants to fly over DC, then he would avoid it. However, some circumstances requires ther person to do the face to face interview.
To be quite honest, face to face interview feel so much better than phone interview. :) He or She can see you in person, and vice versa and that would make you kind of have a feeling how to react...u see, some elements like that which can make you feel more comfortable actually.

expense? yeah...at the beginning I was quite bumped that he asked to come over to DC, but the positive side about it is that I had the chance to see DC (see capitol hill, white house and etc) and Georgetown; so more likely a sight seeing as well. ;) :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

[JohnM]

Hey all you yanks, greetings from Michigan. I have been lurking on here for about a month after coming back from a trip to NZ and falling in love with it. I'm at the point of liquidating my assets for a return trip to NZ this summer to scout out jobs/places to live before I make the decision to go forward with immigration. But this is a great forum and lots of good people and useful info.

John

[catjlin]

Our EOI is still being processed as apparently it was lost when they did all the computer glitch fixing in December. Luckily, it is back on track as of this week and we are to hear something soon.

Either way, we have our tickets and arrangements for the dogs to go the first week of June. YAY!
Cat

[xanctus]

welcome aboard John...
where in MI are u in?

[JohnM]

xanctus---I'm in Ann Arbor

[xanctus]

xanctus---I'm in Ann Arbor

Ann Arbor, OK I went to college in Mount Pleasant, CMU...boy what a city/village (maybe :mrgreen: :P )

[MB]

Who is interviewing N.American candidates, as it turns out? We know Xanctus' experience: thanks. Any others?

Cheers,
Matt.

[mechidna]

I would like to know that too. I would prefer Terry, but I've talked to him enough to feel comfortable.

Btw, I'm in Nebraska.

[RoadRunner]

I'm in the same boat as Cloudboy - waiting on the FBI Background check in order to submit my ITA. I sent mine in about 7 weeks ago and asked for it to be returned no later than end of February. Not sure if I should keep waiting or try to call? My fear (after too many years in DC) is that if I call, they'll automatically move mine to the bottom of the pile. Any advice?

We also had a hard time getting a letter from past employers - best we got is a one line "yes, previously employed" type of letter on company letterhead. Will have to hope that is sufficient. :hopeso

RoadRunner

[cloudboy99]

I was lucky enough to be in good with my 3 1/2 year past employer's HR department so they created a form letter exactly how it is requested. Of course my 2 1/2 month company wanted me to fax them the ITA front page requesting the letter (a call from me wasn't good enough for some reason). With any luck, a combination of my offer letter, business card, and paycheck stub will work for that one. I do wonder how they'll view my Navy discharge paperwork. I wouldn't even know who to write for a letter.

Man I hope that my FBI check shows up before 4 APR...

[RoadRunner]

Cloudboy - do you have a number to call the FBI? Or should we just be patient? Hard to wait...

[cloudboy99]

I tried looking for a number but couldn't find one. Someone in one of these messages said they called and were able to expedite the request, but no number was attached.

[cloudboy99]

Ok, good news for me. Here's my timeline for my FBI background check:

Mailed: 10 JAN 05
Received: 03 MAR 05

Now just to do the medicals and pony up the quid.

[emid]

anybody willing to talk about how the interview went--general questions, what they seem to be looking for, etc?

thanks--we're paid up, got everything in (or so we think) and just waiting for interview now, probably with officer located in Dunedin (we're in NM, so this could be a painful scheduling/wake up situation)

[MB]

News from us:
it looks like our interview will be an in-person interview with our Marketing Director. Our case officer in London, I believe, is now on leave for two weeks so -- what with scheduling the meeting -- we probably won't have any news for at least three weeks.
:nice1
Cheers,
Matt.

[Tate6]

Hey Cloudboy-

See that you also have Navy experience. My hubby was in Navy for 3 years about 14 years ago. We are not at PR application yet, still looking for work. But, we too are wondering, where to get letter proving time in Navy. Hubby was AMS and we were told by a Kiwi that there would be a need for that and it would be good money. Hubby is in process of trying to get A & P license. May have to wait until we get there and are in an area where school is offered. We live in too rural of an area and would have to travel 4 hours just to get to the school. No chance of taking night classes that way!!

Let me know if you find out where to send a letter requesting references. I too will keep searching..........
Thanks!

Terry

[mathmussim]

Any US military veteran can get a copy of their military records from the National Archives. The website is

http://www.archives.gov/research_room/vetrecs/


John

[Going2NZ]

Howdy all-

This has been a really good thread to follow - with such a small percentage of Americans emigrating to NZ it helps to have experiences to compare to.

Our situation, my husband and I received our ITA last week (whooohoo!) and are in the final stages of gathering information. The last big hurdle is the medical requirements. But we have a really great PCP so I think we'll be OK there.

I posted this as a seperate post but thought I would add it here as well since it seems relevant since I mentioned somewhere that you could call the FBI. My husband swear the number is on their website but I couldn't find it.

For anyone in the US who has questions about the status of your FBI check: the (US) number to call is 304 625 5590, then choose option 3. They are located in Virginia so regular business hours (8-5 I think) eastern time.

From what my husband said, an actual human being answers the phone. nice1 Go figure! Or, as we say in Austin, what's up with that?!

Susan

[xanctus]

For American applicants in regard of FBI matters, when you call them (asking of your application status) you can actually request the personel to have them send the background check based on your date request. (that's what we did)

Good luck guys...

[MB]

Adustment to my Friday update:

we now have a 'phone interview, later this week. May or may not be our only interview.

Cheers,
:nice1 Matt.

[MB]

We have just had the interview with an officer in D.C. He was very helpful and put us at our ease.

It lasted 45-55 minutes. My wife and I both got on phones in different parts of the house, to have the conversation.

Just the sort of questions already reported.

Our interview, in fairness, seemed to go pretty well. If I'm right in saying that, what worked for us was to make a Word doc/notes of all the questions others have helpfully put on this forum.... and then prepared answers with the realism, names, details and figures we have tried very hard to work out over the last few months. We also spent a good while in recent days verbally asking each other the questions. I strongly reckon this helps, as it really makes you think (sometimes uncomfortably) about some questions to which you think you already had complete answers (try this at home, for example: 'Why New Zealand?')

Our case officer is on leave for a week or two, so we may not hear the outcome for a little while.

Finally: thank you everyone for all your outstanding forum and PM help as we prepared. It was all so valuable. :nice1

Let us know if we can return the favor in any way. :nice1

Cheers,
Matt and family.

[Bubbles]

I thought we'd already agreed on a beer or two Matt :nice1

Oh, and well done mate

:cheers

John

[MB]

Cheers, mate!

And, as an IOU....

a :cheers or :cheers :cheers

:yes Matt.

[MB]

Some encouraging news, we hope. We got this from our CO this morning (my bold type, by the way):

"Hi. Your application is awaiting the final decision, which I hope will be made within the next 1-2 weeks. We have recommended that residence is granted, but this decision is not yet confirmed. Kind regards..."

Is the 1-2 weeks in place for the second-officer check?

Cheers,
Matt.

[xanctus]

Matt,
indeed a good news...I am sure you'll get the PR. :nice1
now time for these eh?? :cheers :cheers :cheers :cheers
:D

[MB]

Thanks so much, Xanctus! Yes, we're very encouraged!
Probably even enough for a :cheers

Matt.

[Timbo]

Sound promising Matt. Good luck.
:hopeso