[BadlyDrawnGirl]

Hi guys,

Just wondering - we have received word from our CO that upon receipt of our required documents (which we have already sent/faxed, she just needs to track them down internally) she will be able to make a final assessment of our case. What is the norm for informing applicants of the decision? Did you receive an email first, or did you find out through the INZ website? Just wondering which I should be checking obsessively throughout the day. :laugh

[JandM]

I don't know - but surely you WILL be checking obsessively throughout the day, whatever anybody tells you?:laugh

[Kalla]

hi

for our EOI, we heard nothing for weeks!
i checked the website like a maniac (3 times a day at least)
then one day the status changed to 'Decision successful' and the very next day we had our ITA on the doorstep from the postman.

we didn't get an e-mail or any contact prior to this.

[BadlyDrawnGirl]

I don't know - but surely you WILL be checking obsessively throughout the day, whatever anybody tells you?:laugh
Yes, true. :laugh I suppose I'm just trying to prepare myself for however the news is going to come, lol.

I'd imagine that since we have already been in contact with our CO, she'll probably email us with the decision before it's posted on the website, no?

[np2nz]

Only e-mail I have received so far from the NZIS people is the one when my EOI got selected. I think in your case, they will e-mail you first and update it online after that. Good luck to you.

[Jakarta]

We were very lucky... Our Eoi nearly expired after 6 months in the pool (we had given up hope) but was selected with 3 days to spare!

Then it was deselected without us even knowing it had been selected! We changed addresses since application and the email address we used, we do not check very often.

We got the email telling us we had been deselected and had 14 days to appeal and we only got the email on day 12 of the expiration period. Sent a quick reply and thankfully we were reselected! Went down to the wire.... Our ITA was only returned with 3 days to spare to deadline....

[lindreth]

We found out by logging into the website, never got an e-mail. OH had logged in to check weeks before we realistically expected to hear anything - that "decision successful" was a great surprise! lindsay

[BadlyDrawnGirl]

Well, it's been a week since we were told we would be hearing "shortly." This is putting my OCD into overdrive... :wah :laugh

[AlastairUK]

It's been two weeks now and I'm checking daily. Will be ramping it up to hourly before long.

[BadlyDrawnGirl]

God, they've had our EOI for two and a half months now. Give us an answer!! :wah

[Achavar]

We were asked extra questions, and after exchanging a few e mails had a message congratulating us on being succesful(two weeks before the status changed on the website)

[Toonster]

Even after being asked extra questions (they needed a job description for me), I didn't get informed that my EOI had been selected - I just had to keep on checking the website till it went "Decision Successful".

Keeing every finger and toe crossed for you!

[BodaciousBean]

Hey there,

Jumping in kind of late but we found out by logging in one morning and there it was..."Decision Successful." I was beginning to lose hope. I even remember saying to my husband, "I don't know why I am even checking because it is going to say "selected" and lo and behold, it actually said "Decision Successful!" I had to rub my eyes, slap my face a few times. And 11 days later, our ITA arrived by the USPS and I had to sign for it. No word at all from NZIS, no email, nothing. However, before our decision was successful, someone from the NZIS contacted me and had a few questions about my job and then 20 days later, our status changed. :clap

Hang in there. :nice1

[BadlyDrawnGirl]

Okay so, the fact that we've still heard nothing might not necessarily be a bad sign, right?... :uhoh I just want this to be over...

[BadlyDrawnGirl]

Right, well seeing as though it's been... [counts] ...three and a half weeks since our CO informed us that she now had "all the sufficient information to make her decision" and still no word either way. So, I can therefore conclude one of two things: A) that NZIS is populated by sadists who enjoy inflicting psychological torment, or B) they employ either carrier pigeon or snail courier as their primary method of communication, which would explain why I am still obsessively checking the website every two minutes for any sign of progress.

Okay, this is the LAST time I am posting in this thread, I swear... [tears herself away].

(Really, I am usually a lot more normal than this.)

[BodaciousBean]

Hi there,

Sorry it has been taking so long to hear. I remember when the NZIS contacted me on Oct 31st, and then hearing nothing at all drove me insane. And almost 20 days later, I logged in and found our status changed. Without a job offer, it really does slow down the process to the point it is almost unbearable. Hang in there. :nice1

[BadlyDrawnGirl]

Should I email them and ask them if they need anything else? :wah I just don't want them to have chucked us back in the pool without telling us and then having our EOI expire without even getting the chance to argue our case... :(

It's been almost a month since they told us they had everything we needed, almost three months since we were selected.

I'm just getting really concerned because there are several people on the boards who were selected on the same date as us (3rd December), some even with fewer points than us, and were approved within a few weeks and now already have their ITAs, whereas ours has just been dragging out...I'm terrified that something is wrong. :uhoh

[Toonster]

It might be worth emailing them and asking if there is anything else they need, or if they can give you an indication of the timescales of when you are likely to hear so that you can get your certificates etc prepared... (it might help if they think it's not just a nagging email!)

[BadlyDrawnGirl]

It might be worth emailing them and asking if there is anything else they need, or if they can give you an indication of the timescales of when you are likely to hear so that you can get your certificates etc prepared... (it might help if they think it's not just a nagging email!)
You don't think that would be too presumptuous? I don't want them to think that I'm "demanding" a successful decision, I just want to know, either way...

[Toonster]

I'd think that after three weeks you are entitled to ask if they can give you an indication of the timescales (if they are working through a backlog and it's going to be another month, for example, it is better to know so that you don't damage your finger from clicking "refresh" every two minutes!)

But my contact with the NZIS has been very brief, so if anyone else has better advice than me, listen to them! ;)

[BadlyDrawnGirl]

Okay, I sent her a "gentle nudge" email (after all, she did say in her last email, dated Feb 4th, that she would let me know as soon as she'd received my fax, and I haven't heard back yet). I am holding my breath every time I check my Gmail account!

Seriously, I really am turning into a basket case over this. :uhoh The only way for us to get any more points on our application is if my OH goes back to school and gets a degree, which will take three years, at the least. I so desperately do not have to wait that long to go back to NZ...we will, if we have to, but we are just dying to get back there ASAP.

Really, you Kiwis will love us! Just let us back in!... :laugh

[Toonster]

Keeping my fingers crossed that you hear soon! (Nicky Saunders, my CO was very quick at getting back to me, so hoping that your's is, too...) :nice1

[BadlyDrawnGirl]

My CO's name is Ash Gopal...she seems very curt in her emails... :uhoh

[BodaciousBean]

Nope, I had a guy named David Lillie shoot me a few emails. He seemed very nice and helpful.

[lindreth]

ugh -it's horrible isn't it??? I wonder if there are a few bored government workers over at NZIS london moving at a snail's pace, taking 2 hour lunch breaks, smoke breaks every 20 minutes, totally oblivious to the fact that there are eager intending immigrants ready to slit their wrists if they don't hear back soon!!! argghhh
No doubt most of them are lovely and dilligent, but you know there must be one or two who hate their jobs and don't give a damn if we wait a week, a month, forever... I used to work for the immigration service in the U.S., and there were plenty of people in my office who were just like that... I hope we haven't been assigned to that person!!

[BadlyDrawnGirl]

Nope, I had a guy named David Lillie shoot me a few emails. He seemed very nice and helpful.
He was our second CO! :laugh Our first one (Sascha Kerr) wrote me two or three emails, then told us we were being transferred to Dave, but then Ash wrote me (CC'ing everyone in) saying that she had taken over our case. It's been a bit of a circus...

I used to work in the immigration world in the States as well - for an attorney, not for the government, but I was still exposed to a lot of the ugly aspects of the business. I suppose that's one reason I'm so ultra-paranoid, I know about all the things that could go wrong. :laugh

I just don't get why they would tell me to hurry up and submit all my info ASAP because "they couldn't keep my application open indefinitely" but then, after I jump through their hoops, keep me hanging for almost a month with no updates! :mad:

[BadlyDrawnGirl]

Yet another person whose EOI was submitted after ours, and they've received an ITA. It definitely seems as though something is wrong with ours. What on earth could it be, why have we still heard nothing, and when will this end?... :wah

[Toonster]

Really, really silly question, but you said that your CO said they would process it ASAP once they got your fax - you did check that they got your fax, didn't you? (I know they can go astray...):(

[BadlyDrawnGirl]

Really, really silly question, but you said that your CO said they would process it ASAP once they got your fax - you did check that they got your fax, didn't you? (I know they can go astray...):(
That's what I emailed her to ask. She didn't say she would process it "ASAP" but said that she would let me know when she'd received all the docs. I guess I was just so afraid of bugging her that I didn't follow up until now. :(

[BadlyDrawnGirl]

Hallelujah! :clap Well, it's not much to celebrate about, but at least we know that we haven't been outright denied yet! Apparently our CO never got the envelope we sent in the post containing my CV or his job offer letter, so we're going to just attach it in a PDF to her and get that sent along. We were originally told to mark them to the attention of Dave Lillie, but shortly after we were switched over to Ash, so it might have just gone missing in the fray. Funny though, when she said that she'd "let us know when she received them" I also sort of assumed that meant that she would let us know if she hadn't received them, lol...but oh well.

You'd think if there was some sort of major issue aside from this, like something that would cause us to get docked major points, they would tell us not to even bother, right?...

[Toonster]

Fantastic! :cheers
Fingers crossed it all moves smoothly now :)

I also sort of assumed that meant that she would let us know if she hadn't received them, lol...but oh well.

Ah... I deal with Local Authorities (and therefore bureacracy and red tape) as part of my daily job; I never assume anything with them, as the path of least resistance (i.e. doing nothing) is always the easiest!

[johanpet]

Us too - no email just changed on the immigration site and the following day ITA delivered

Good luck to you

[BadlyDrawnGirl]

Right, they've got the PDF in their inbox this morning. Let's hope they decide it's enough to let us in...

[BadlyDrawnGirl]

Okay, I emailed it to her two days ago and she hasn't even replied to let me know that she's received it! :mad: What is the point of having a case officer who refuses to even write you a five-second note to keep you in the loop?? And this is after our first officer demanded that we submit everything ASAP because "they can't keep our application open indefinitely" (that was over a month ago!).

Should I bug her again and ask her if she got it?!...just don't know what to DO anymore. :wah

[Toonster]

{hugs}
It might be worth emailing, on the basis that the last submission went missing, and you are concerned that your email might have also gone astray...

It does sounds like you have someone particularly rubbish there! :roll

[BadlyDrawnGirl]

This is what really scares me...we were terrified of who we were going to get assigned to when we submitted our EOI, because there seems to be two types of NZIS officials...the people who genuinely want to help you, and the people who want to keep you out at all costs. When we were renewing OH's WHV we ran into several folks who honestly seemed elated that his visa might expire on a technicality and that he would have to leave the country. They told us there was absolutely no way we could keep him in New Zealand without him becoming an overstayer. Then we got someone different on the phone (and without being too specific or offensive, they actually had a native Kiwi accent, unlike the others) and he was completely sympathetic, and told us we had nothing to worry about. So when our EOI started getting transferred among all these different COs, we really started sweating...

I know it's just paranoia, but it is so hard not to feel singled out by this whole process. We're just trying to do things by the book and we don't think we're any less qualified than anyone else with the same number of points. I just don't understand. :wah

[BodaciousBean]

UGH!! I can see why you are so frustrated. Perhaps shoot this young lady an email to confirm she received the PDF file, so if there is an issue, you would lke to fix it ASAP. I really do not see the harm following up on your end. I would say, go for it! Got nothing to lose, right? But I can understand you being hesitant. I felt them same way when our CO emailed us about my job and heard nothing for 20 days. People suggested I write him and see what is going on but I did not want to seem pushy. But you have been waiting for ages and I do not blame you for feeling the way you are.

Hang in there and I look forward to updates. :nice1

[BadlyDrawnGirl]

Thanks for the reassurance, and I'm glad I'm not just being overly-paranoid. I truly do think we have been left in the lurch, first with being swapped between three COs, then because our current assessor failed to even tell us that a piece of evidence we sent had not arrived (almost three weeks passed and she didn't even email me to let us know - how lazy, but furthermore, how rude!!). And again, this is after WE were told to hurry up and get all our stuff in because they couldn't keep our case open forever.

These are our LIVES that they are messing with, and they treat it like a piece of paper on a desk...they have no idea how important this process is to people's futures. I know, welcome to government bureaucracy...but still. :(

[BadlyDrawnGirl]

Well, I sent her a very polite email asking simply if she had received the PDF and if she was able to open it. I also mentioned that I was only following up because I had been advised by a previous CO that our application was not open-ended and that we needed to be speedy about things.

I hope this satisfies the Immigration Gods...

[lindreth]

well worded! should hopefully elicit a response... let us know what you hear!

[JandM]

All the best. Quite understandable that you should be on pins...

[Toonster]

Keeping my fingers and toes very tightly crossed!

[BadlyDrawnGirl]

Thank you for your support everyone. Unfortunately she wrote me back today to tell us that she has declined our EOI.

It was nice knowing everyone, thank you for letting me be a part of your community. :wah

[Toonster]

Oh gawds {hugs} :wah
Did she give a reason?

[BadlyDrawnGirl]

She only awarded me 10 out of my 15 points for my work experience because she claimed that one year of it was not related to my degree. Then she told us that my OH's job offer letter was not valid because he had been employed by them through a temporary agency in the past and therefore they were not satisfied that it was a genuine job offer.

She also chided me and said that "I must stress the importance of making an accurate points claim." As if I had deliberately tried to mislead them.

I have never felt so crushed in all my life.

[BadlyDrawnGirl]

Oh, and she also noted that she had been under "a very heavy workload" lately, explaining her late response - which she did NOT apologise for.

[Toonster]

She only awarded me 10 out of my 15 points for my work experience because she claimed that one year of it was not related to my degree. Then she told us that my OH's job offer letter was not valid because he had been employed by them through a temporary agency in the past and therefore they were not satisfied that it was a genuine job offer.


Is there any way of appealing? I wouldn't have thought that the fact that he had been employed through a temp agency would invalidate a job offer! Is there also any way of showing that your work experience was related to your degree?

[BadlyDrawnGirl]

I can't access my Gmail at work so I was reading it on my tiny phone screen, so maybe I read it wrong, I'll have to study it more carefully at home. But it seemed to be that she disagreed that it was a permanent and stable role.

We've got two weeks to submit additional documentation, if we have it. I doubt an appeal would go anywhere.

[BodaciousBean]

Oh I am so sorry about your EOI. Our first EOI was declined last summer as my hubby was the Principle Applicant. So we redid it with me as the Principle Applicant. I know how you feel, I even went home early from work because I felt so awful. There has to be another way to get over there. Perhaps a Visitor's Visa and you can look for work? I just can't believe it is all over.

Hang in there.

[JandM]

So sorry to hear this. Maybe you can get the firm offering your OH the job to testify about the nature of it.

[lindreth]

ugh this is terrible news!! I am sorry to hear it. there must be another way to get there. don't give up yet! As others, we too had to do a second EOI before having success. Maybe there's a Plan B in your future??
keep your chin up - We will have that speights on the beach one day!! :)

[np2nz]

BadlyDrawnGirl,

I am so sorry to hear about your EOI. Be strong. You are young and you have a plenty of time to immigrate to NZ (once you have more experience). If you really want to move there soon, you know all the routes like student visa and other work visa options. I hope that something will work out for you soon. Take care.

[BadlyDrawnGirl]

Thanks all for your continued support. I think one of the reasons I was so gutted yesterday was because a few hours before I got that email I'd been to a job interview for a new, more interesting and better-paid position, and had been offered employment on the spot, so I was really on a bit of a high. But then came crashing down as soon as I read the news. Just seemed unfair that I couldn't even really enjoy my job success because I was so upset about the EOI.

Anyway, like many companies these days, OH's potential employer is now reconsidering their hiring strategies and are vastly more hesitant to take on new staff at the moment, so we are unlikely to get a more solid offer out of them. So we are concentrating on trying to secure a firmer offer from another company (well, we're both trying, but as his parents are currently in New Zealand it's easier for them to network on his behalf than on mine). As we only have two weeks to find one, it's not looking good at the moment. Re-submitting a new EOI would be pointless as I'm the only one with a degree, so it makes more sense to maximise our points for that by using me as the principal. We have both maxed out our WHVs, so I suppose the only other chance we have is sending him back to school for three years so he can get a degree and then get more points.

It's amazing that even in this current job market I am easily able to find employment, yet NZIS don't consider me "skilled enough" to be granted PR. I found myself last night almost wishing I had never been to New Zealand in the first place; at least that way I wouldn't know what I was missing.

I don't know if I should stick around here, or take a break from this place, I'm so happy for everyone who gets those famed blue bananas, but it hurts so much feeling left behind...

[Toonster]

Sending even more hugs :( (why isn't there a hugs emoticon?)

And congratulations on your job offer - is it degree related? I.e. could you work there for a couple of years (I know this puts the NZ dream into the future...), then use that to bring your points levels back up, and resubmit then?

[BadlyDrawnGirl]

It is degree-related, but it's only a temporary project, so I wouldn't be able to stay there long term.

It's particularly galling that I lost points (even if it was only 5 points) because she decided that I only had 3.7 years of experience, instead of the 4.2 I had claimed for. You get 10 points for two years, and 15 points for four years, so I was only three months away from the cutoff. Yet she still stuck me in the "two years" category. Keeping in mind that I only graduated from university four years ago, I don't see how I possibly could have accumulated much more full-time work experience than I already have...

[BadlyDrawnGirl]

We are currently in the process of tapping every single one of our New Zealand contacts (and writing them some fairly lachrymose emails) trying to get a job offer out of them. We have about a week.

I am so pleased to hear of all the good news about everyone's interviews and ITAs and hope the good luck eventually rubs off onto us. Best wishes...

[Toonster]

Keeping my fingers very tightly crossed that your contacts come through for you.