MB
1st April 2005, 05:10 PM
Whilst our PR experience is still fresh in our mind, just thought I'd post some brief lessons that we learned from our experience. Hope they're of some interest, especially to folks at or near the start of the process. To be honest I (Matt) am writing these myself 'cos the others are tucked up in bed, but I think Vera agrees with them and I'll have her read and post if she has stuff to add. Anyway:
1.) We're glad that we rolled up our sleeves and got our EOI in, in the first place. Yes, it took hours over several days, plus staying up on the final evening and reading everything aloud to one another before finally clicking 'Send', but it was worth it. Once the EOI is in, you're in the system. The NZIS can't do much with just intentions.
2.) Because, almost inevitably, one partner just tends to know more about the overall system than the other (at least for several weeks), we very early on put up a wipe-on-off board where we could jot simple timelines, the main bureaucratic steps, etc. So we both got up to speed pretty quickly. Besides, this is where each person can jot down valuable NZ tips, phone numbers, things to do, etc.
3.) We found it valuable to try to provide NZIS with exactly what they asked for. Although it's perhaps tempting to think that NZIS won't notice one or two faulty papers in a huge stack of otherwise well-presented detail, they probably will. We're not saying that they expect applications to be perfect, but we reckoned that if we could help it we should just try to get things right to start with: saves anguish and delay later. Example: if they asked for a list of job duties in ex-employment letters, we had the ex-employers list the job duties in their letters (duh!)
3.) We tried to bite the bullet and familiarize ourselves with the NZIS Operations Manual (available on their site). I say "bite the bullet" not because of the reading work involved, though there is a bit, but because sometimes we didn't want to peep in case one of their criteria would have made worrying or disappointing reading. It happened - I got right to the end of their skilled-experience criteria and then found clauses about part-time experience needing to be pro-rated. But things turned out okay and it was worth learning about early 'cos we could gear our application accordingly.
4.) We think it was valuable to include a few unrequested documents that added substance to our case. What we were proud of is that we sat down together and asked ourselves "What evidence do we have to hand, that we wouldn't normally think of because it's so obvious to us?" In answer, we thought of a couple of good things such as an annual List-of-Members book that showed my wife's name and address and membership of a prominent national professional organization. So we enclosed the whole (small) book and a photocopy of the page which featured her nicely published name and address.
5.) We started preparing for the NZIS interview early. We used this forum to find out the likely questions, then clothed our answers with the genuine detail that we harvested from our research into housing, schools, job statistics, etc. We slowly developed a script using computer's Notepad program, leaving it open on the screen for weeks so that each of us in turn could casually modify, add to it and click Save when we had a moment. We weren't intending to read it out verbatim, of course, but it gave us substance and focus. And crucially, I think, we asked each other the questions out loud and worked through a couple of awkward silences because the silences showed that our answers weren't as complete as we were taking for granted!!
6.) We tried very hard indeed to walk the tightrope between not bothering NZIS staff on the one hand, and on the other not just leaving small things unattended that we thought called for a little enquiry. Silly but good example: we had an idea our Case Officer was going on leave but didn't want to bother CO with asking about that on spec... but there's nothing wrong with a ten-second after-hours call to hear CO's voice-mail message, though, which told us what we wanted to know plus CO's date of return. We didn't bother anyone and we got the info we wanted.
7.) I've said it here before, but for my money the 'migrant experience' started when we started the process of discussion and application... not when we finally got PR acceptance. That is, it's right from the start that you begin to shape the whole venture: the way you bring the topic up with family; the care you take preparing the EOI; the way you catch youself staring into the middle distance thinking of NZIS stuff when you're reading your child's bedtime story and haul yourself back into concentrating on the book, etc., etc. It's all part of the experience, not a precursor to it.
8.) Despite this list maybe sounding a bit over-serious and wordy, we did make sure we kicked back and had a laugh and a few beers an awful lot of times. And we really tried to accept the sometimes edgy, sometimes fun, sometimes scary stuff that goes on in your head while all this is going on. And tried to get some fresh air and sleep, too, of course!
:nice1
Cheers,
Matt, Vera and Winston.
1.) We're glad that we rolled up our sleeves and got our EOI in, in the first place. Yes, it took hours over several days, plus staying up on the final evening and reading everything aloud to one another before finally clicking 'Send', but it was worth it. Once the EOI is in, you're in the system. The NZIS can't do much with just intentions.
2.) Because, almost inevitably, one partner just tends to know more about the overall system than the other (at least for several weeks), we very early on put up a wipe-on-off board where we could jot simple timelines, the main bureaucratic steps, etc. So we both got up to speed pretty quickly. Besides, this is where each person can jot down valuable NZ tips, phone numbers, things to do, etc.
3.) We found it valuable to try to provide NZIS with exactly what they asked for. Although it's perhaps tempting to think that NZIS won't notice one or two faulty papers in a huge stack of otherwise well-presented detail, they probably will. We're not saying that they expect applications to be perfect, but we reckoned that if we could help it we should just try to get things right to start with: saves anguish and delay later. Example: if they asked for a list of job duties in ex-employment letters, we had the ex-employers list the job duties in their letters (duh!)
3.) We tried to bite the bullet and familiarize ourselves with the NZIS Operations Manual (available on their site). I say "bite the bullet" not because of the reading work involved, though there is a bit, but because sometimes we didn't want to peep in case one of their criteria would have made worrying or disappointing reading. It happened - I got right to the end of their skilled-experience criteria and then found clauses about part-time experience needing to be pro-rated. But things turned out okay and it was worth learning about early 'cos we could gear our application accordingly.
4.) We think it was valuable to include a few unrequested documents that added substance to our case. What we were proud of is that we sat down together and asked ourselves "What evidence do we have to hand, that we wouldn't normally think of because it's so obvious to us?" In answer, we thought of a couple of good things such as an annual List-of-Members book that showed my wife's name and address and membership of a prominent national professional organization. So we enclosed the whole (small) book and a photocopy of the page which featured her nicely published name and address.
5.) We started preparing for the NZIS interview early. We used this forum to find out the likely questions, then clothed our answers with the genuine detail that we harvested from our research into housing, schools, job statistics, etc. We slowly developed a script using computer's Notepad program, leaving it open on the screen for weeks so that each of us in turn could casually modify, add to it and click Save when we had a moment. We weren't intending to read it out verbatim, of course, but it gave us substance and focus. And crucially, I think, we asked each other the questions out loud and worked through a couple of awkward silences because the silences showed that our answers weren't as complete as we were taking for granted!!
6.) We tried very hard indeed to walk the tightrope between not bothering NZIS staff on the one hand, and on the other not just leaving small things unattended that we thought called for a little enquiry. Silly but good example: we had an idea our Case Officer was going on leave but didn't want to bother CO with asking about that on spec... but there's nothing wrong with a ten-second after-hours call to hear CO's voice-mail message, though, which told us what we wanted to know plus CO's date of return. We didn't bother anyone and we got the info we wanted.
7.) I've said it here before, but for my money the 'migrant experience' started when we started the process of discussion and application... not when we finally got PR acceptance. That is, it's right from the start that you begin to shape the whole venture: the way you bring the topic up with family; the care you take preparing the EOI; the way you catch youself staring into the middle distance thinking of NZIS stuff when you're reading your child's bedtime story and haul yourself back into concentrating on the book, etc., etc. It's all part of the experience, not a precursor to it.
8.) Despite this list maybe sounding a bit over-serious and wordy, we did make sure we kicked back and had a laugh and a few beers an awful lot of times. And we really tried to accept the sometimes edgy, sometimes fun, sometimes scary stuff that goes on in your head while all this is going on. And tried to get some fresh air and sleep, too, of course!
:nice1
Cheers,
Matt, Vera and Winston.