[Jacqi B]

We got our ITA on 155 points and no job offer. We submitted it (by hand, in London) a week ago.

I know that, unless my OH gets a job offer, it will be about eight weeks before we are even assigned a case officer, and that it could be one to three months after that before we get a decision. While we are waiting my OH, who never likes to assume things will go right and who is supersticious of saying things will happen for fear of making them not (if you know what I mean), still tells people 'we are hoping to emigrate to NZ, and insists on correcting my 'when we live in NZ' to 'if we move to NZ'. Now, it's not that he is unsure whether he wants to go or not. He really, really does. He just doesn't want to put the mockers on it (as my mother would have said. I can see where he is coming from. However, I'm finding the 'ifs' and 'hopes' mean that I still feel like it's something we are hoping to do at some time several years in the future rather than something Ineed to get my finger out and get organised for now.

What have others told themselves?
How likely is it that we would be turned down (we passed our medicals, have 'no trace' police certificates, both have degrees, he has provable qualifications and experience in IT, I have a half brother who is kiwi by birth and still there we both visited NZ)? :confused:

[Mamee & Co]

HI Jacqi

I am a bit like your husband and I think in the time waiting for the EOI to get a decision successful and the ITA to come out had sort of thought arrrrgghhh why am I doing this. But in 24 hours from seeing the decision successful the reasons for doing it are starting to flood back into my brain.

I catch myself saying when occasionally but have not told many people or my employers yet. Like your husband I am scared that something might happen, probably with the medical side of it as I know there are things there that will get us referred but from chatting to people it is unlikely to ground the idea as they are not things that should cost a lot in NZ to deal with. But I don't like to tempt fate.

Now that the ITA is here it is a case of starting to prepare plans and get this show on the road.

Though I reckon once the ITA is in I will start to get the cold sweats and cold feet again!
Just hope the housing market improves next year and we can sell the house!

Mamee

[lindreth]

hi Jacqi B - Our ITA was lodged just a week before yours, so we're in the same boat as you.
I figure that if we weren't qualified, we wouldn't have gotten the ITA in the first place, right? My impression is that it's pretty much just a formality from here on out. We've submitted the evidence they asked for, and now we wait for them to review it. Absent medical problems, it seems that the worst case scenario is that they want more evidence and we're delayed a bit. Maybe I'm overly optimistic, but my attitude is that we ARE going to new zealand, and it's just a matter of when.
With that said, I better go knock on some wood now...:exit
:) lindsay

[Jacqi B]

HI Jacqi

I am a bit like your husband and I think in the time waiting for the EOI to get a decision successful and the ITA to come out had sort of thought arrrrgghhh why am I doing this.

No, no, he doesn't have any doubts that we are doing the right thing. He just doesn't like me saying 'when' rather than 'if'. I told him this morning that I think it is putting me in the wrong frame of mind, like I've got all the time int eh world to sort out the house, throw away stuff we wont take, do the odd jobs that need doing to make it fit to rent out.

I think I will have to tell myself that we are going by 'x' date (but know in the back of my mind that the date is arbitary and that they still might say no) so that I have a deadline to work to.

Fingers crossed for you and I'll knock on wood that the housing market picks up for you,too.

[JandL]

How likely is it that we would be turned down (we passed our medicals, have 'no trace' police certificates, both have degrees, he has provable qualifications and experience in IT, I have a half brother who is kiwi by birth and still there we both visited NZ)? :confused:


Unless you really mess up the interview or have a secret hidden background then your chances of getting in are very high. We have just been given our PR and are similar with both of us having degree at 140 points.

The wait until you get your ITA is a killer, just spend your time researching where you want to live :).

[ourquest]

I think your OH's way of dealing with it is quite normal, probably because he knows that from now on the decisions are out of his control. I suspect that even if he became much more definite in his choice of words you might still feel like you are in the "wrong frame of mind", purely because it is a symptom of living in limbo. At least everything is going smoothly in your application so far and I agree with others that it is largely a formality from here on in. And of course the fact that you are both committed to making the move is important (rather than one partner being an unwilling participant).

And to answer your original question we just told ourselves to focus on each task at hand knowing that it was part of a greater plan (to give us the best chance of a positive outcome). And in between we tried to take each opportunity to relax and appreciate the things around us which we knew one day we might miss.

Best wishes for the next part of your journey.

[elleann]

Jacqui, I can totally understand your OH's position, because I tended to speak and think in exactly the same way! ;-) I'm utterly committed to this emigration, but I still carry two anxieties about it which are: 1) that it won't happen due to something outside of my control and 2) and that it will happen but for some reason it'll prove to have been a wrong decision that I end up regretting. LOL, how silly, huh?

I recognize what lies behind both of the anxieties and I'm dealing with the issues, but I still have to watch the way I speak, and consciously try to focus on dropping the 'we're hoping to ...' speech patterns!

[Mamee & Co]

HI JAcqui

I think that I am recognising though that my "Why am I doing this" and way of speaking is most definitely coming about because of a fear of it not happening and therefore not wanting to invest my whole self in it.

I think that Elleann hits the nail on the head with the two anxieties. But life is what we make of it and i think that I will have to make myself think positively about it. I know when we have moved in the past this is what I have to do. Having the ITA arrive today has helped as there is something that I can move forward with....and hopefully everything will be OK. Though my anxieties are now for those things outwith my control e.g. medicals etc. Though overnight I have noticed that I said "when" rather than "if" a couple of times....maybe my thought patterns are slowly becoming convinced.

Mamee

[Jacqi B]

Thanks everyone. Mainly for your reassurance that it is (probably) 'just a formality' from now on.

I've decided that, as we will probably be allocated a case officer in mid January and the decision could be anytime from mid-February to mid-April I should get my head (and all the stuff I need to do and investigate) around being ready to go in mid-Feb. That way there'll be no last minute rush and panic but I know I could have two months more.

I also know that once we get the blue stickers we have up to twelve months to go but we want to go asap.

[Flutterby]

well, our situation is a little different but, We ARE going to NZ no matter what, the decision has been a long time in the making (basically since OH arrived in the UK) we constantly look at the brick walls that we may experience and then look for a way around them, Like if for some reason my partnership visa was declined, then i would look towards Student visa or working holiday visa or something and eventually we would find another route.
We have come up with the questions like why am i doing this? but it really doesn't take long for some event to answer that question.
For a long time while looking into the options we used the word "if" and told others that we "hoped" to, but when we made the decision to do it, the wording changed to "when" and we "will"
There are still so many unknown factors, but the attitude is definitely more of a can do/will do rather than might do/would like to.

I think its highly unlikely that you will be turned down, but if you do get turned down there may still be other routes to take in order to achieve your dream!

[b&k]

We submitted our ITA this week and figure it will be a formality. The worst that could happen is we have to find more evidence of work experience.

I have booked flights for January even though we're not expecting a decision until March. If I find a job when we get there then it will speed the process up, otherwise I'll enjoy the NZ summer.

So it's definitely a 'when' for us.

[Jacqi B]

Well I've resigned myself to having either winter-spring-winter or winter-autumn-winter as late Feb is the earliest we are likely to hear. Still it's not as if we had much of a summer here this year anyway!

Are you allowed to go while waiting for a decision?
Sounds like a silly question, I know, but an Aussie friend of mine returned home to Australia from a long stay in England. While in England she'd married an Irish guy (who'd been living in England for 20 years) and had a baby. She registered the baby as an Autralian citizen, so he got in okay. However, she was told that if her husband applied for Aussie residence while living in the UK, then travelled to Australia, he would have to reapply, and repay. This was ten years ago, and was Oz rather than NZ, but it does/did seem strange.

[Flutterby]

i think you can find information about that on the immigration website, but i'm sure i remember reading something about what happens if you travel while your application is being processed!

[ourquest]

i think you can find information about that on the immigration website, but i'm sure i remember reading something about what happens if you travel while your application is being processed!

We arrived as visitors in NZ while we had an application for PR lodged in London. Within a couple of hours of arriving at the airport an email arrived from london stating:
"I am your case officer."
Which was very much like a Darth Vader approach, and then went on to say:
"I note that you are now in New Zealand"
so they sure are on top of what's happening!, and then proceeded to say:
"I would be interested in what you plan to do while in the country" or something to that effect.
We wrote a polite (obviously) email explaining that it would give us an opportunity to get to know the country and introduce ourselves to employment agencies etc, and we indicated that we would be in a position to stay on if our PR was issued while we were here.
Apart from some small insignificant issues it all went smoothly from there and we had PR within a month of arrival. For us it was a risk that paid off (in terms of arriving without PR) but we always knew that we were legally permitted to arrive as visitors whilst we had an application for PR lodged. NZIS treat each permit application separately and whenever you are granted one it will overide any "lower" permit you already had. Work permit overides visitor's permit, residence permit overides work permit as examples. Unlike Australia, you can be issued with these "higher" classes of permit whilst in the country.

[Jacqi B]

Ourquest, thanks for clearing that up!