lindreth
4th March 2009, 03:32 AM
Whew. So after what seemed like years of waiting we heard from our CO last Thursday and she arranged our interview for today. Of course as luck would have it I am traveling on business right now so had to do it from my hotel room. I emailed her the hotel # and room # and there were no problems. A couple of problems were for some reason I thought it was scheduled for 30 minutes earlier than it was! I had a major freak out for about 10 minutes. I also arranged the interview for 6:30am AZ time but I am in California right now so it was at 5:30am. Then I thought it was supposed to be at 5am so it was an early start. I will sleep well tonight!
I started by trying to write down the questions she asked but failed abysmally after the first one which was have you been to NZ before. The conversation just flowed and I just put the pen down and went with it. Thanks to everyone else posting the questions before I was aware of what she would ask and sure enough she covered all of the questions that have been brought up before.
As I'm a Brit living in the US and I moved here 6 years ago I was able to relate my previous emmigration experiences and how I was able to overcome any problems. I told her that moving to NZ would be a lot easier than moving to the US. The Brits and the Kiwis are much more alike than the Brits and the Americans. She asked what the biggest obstacle I faced moving here was and I told her the language difference! It really was. For the first 6 months I had a lot of trouble with people understanding me but gradually I was able to adapt my speech and pronounciation and fit in a little more. Still after 6 years there are moments when people look at me like I'm from another planet. Also Gareth is not a name that is common here, in fact I have never come across another person with the same name. It's always Garth, Garett or bizarrely enough, Darren. Whenever we eat out Lindsay has to put her name in for a table, Gareth can just be too much to handle.
I have a sister who lives in Auckland so she asked what kind of support I could expect from her. I think she will be a great point of reference for every day questions. The how, what's, whys and wherefores. In addition to the awesome mine of information on these forums of course.
At the end of the interview she laid out the 3 possible outcomes. Denial, PR or WTR. She told me that we won't be denied and that a decision will come within the next week.:) Once the decision is made they have our passports and they will be put in the queue to have our blue stickers put in there then it's all systems go go go.
The timing has gone a little off but here's where we stand. We were able to sell our house last year and closed on Dec 19th. We then moved in to a 1 bed apartment and put a lot of stuff in to storage. The apartment was on a short term lease until March 31st. We can't extend at all as there is a new tenant planning to move in right after us. We don't think our passports will be back in time and don't want to take the chance of booking international flights if our passports don't arrive in time. So, we're taking off on a 2 week roadtrip around the western US. Highway 1 from LA to San Fran, over to Yosemite, across Nevada to Utah then back down through AZ to Phoenix. From there we fly to Florida to visit family, DC to visit friends, over to the UK to visit family and friends and show Lindsay York where I lived for 5 years and still think that it's the best city in the UK. Up to Scotland for a few days, down to North Wales to visit my Mum, then back to London to fly out.
From there it's off to Illinois for a couple of weeks to visit more friends and family, then back to Phoenix to pick up everything that we will be carrying with us.
We then go to LA either in a one way rental car or fly to catch an Air NZ flight. Not to NZ just yet though. We're planning on a 10 day(ish) stop off in Rarotonga to decompress. Lying on a beach for 10 days should do that. Then off to Auckland and my sister for a week long visit. Buy a car in Auckland and drive down to Christchurch, finally! Should put us there at the beginning of June. Let us know if there will be a June meet up!
Sounds like quite a trip, and it will be. All the while we are travelling around we will be sending out CVs and applying for jobs so hopefully we can set some interviews up for when we get there.
Sorry for the long post, just needed to get it all out there, I am so excited!
Cheers
Gareth
I started by trying to write down the questions she asked but failed abysmally after the first one which was have you been to NZ before. The conversation just flowed and I just put the pen down and went with it. Thanks to everyone else posting the questions before I was aware of what she would ask and sure enough she covered all of the questions that have been brought up before.
As I'm a Brit living in the US and I moved here 6 years ago I was able to relate my previous emmigration experiences and how I was able to overcome any problems. I told her that moving to NZ would be a lot easier than moving to the US. The Brits and the Kiwis are much more alike than the Brits and the Americans. She asked what the biggest obstacle I faced moving here was and I told her the language difference! It really was. For the first 6 months I had a lot of trouble with people understanding me but gradually I was able to adapt my speech and pronounciation and fit in a little more. Still after 6 years there are moments when people look at me like I'm from another planet. Also Gareth is not a name that is common here, in fact I have never come across another person with the same name. It's always Garth, Garett or bizarrely enough, Darren. Whenever we eat out Lindsay has to put her name in for a table, Gareth can just be too much to handle.
I have a sister who lives in Auckland so she asked what kind of support I could expect from her. I think she will be a great point of reference for every day questions. The how, what's, whys and wherefores. In addition to the awesome mine of information on these forums of course.
At the end of the interview she laid out the 3 possible outcomes. Denial, PR or WTR. She told me that we won't be denied and that a decision will come within the next week.:) Once the decision is made they have our passports and they will be put in the queue to have our blue stickers put in there then it's all systems go go go.
The timing has gone a little off but here's where we stand. We were able to sell our house last year and closed on Dec 19th. We then moved in to a 1 bed apartment and put a lot of stuff in to storage. The apartment was on a short term lease until March 31st. We can't extend at all as there is a new tenant planning to move in right after us. We don't think our passports will be back in time and don't want to take the chance of booking international flights if our passports don't arrive in time. So, we're taking off on a 2 week roadtrip around the western US. Highway 1 from LA to San Fran, over to Yosemite, across Nevada to Utah then back down through AZ to Phoenix. From there we fly to Florida to visit family, DC to visit friends, over to the UK to visit family and friends and show Lindsay York where I lived for 5 years and still think that it's the best city in the UK. Up to Scotland for a few days, down to North Wales to visit my Mum, then back to London to fly out.
From there it's off to Illinois for a couple of weeks to visit more friends and family, then back to Phoenix to pick up everything that we will be carrying with us.
We then go to LA either in a one way rental car or fly to catch an Air NZ flight. Not to NZ just yet though. We're planning on a 10 day(ish) stop off in Rarotonga to decompress. Lying on a beach for 10 days should do that. Then off to Auckland and my sister for a week long visit. Buy a car in Auckland and drive down to Christchurch, finally! Should put us there at the beginning of June. Let us know if there will be a June meet up!
Sounds like quite a trip, and it will be. All the while we are travelling around we will be sending out CVs and applying for jobs so hopefully we can set some interviews up for when we get there.
Sorry for the long post, just needed to get it all out there, I am so excited!
Cheers
Gareth