[eric_amanda]

So you've submitted your EOI; got your ITA; spent ages gathering all the info...then how do you present it???

Did you just stack it all together, cram it in an envelope and hope for the best? or put it in a smart file with labels etc

What did you write in your covering letter? What did you miss out that you should have put in???

We are at that crucial stage, just not sure whether to go OTT or not:confused:

Thanks guys

Amanda

[SharpBlade]

Including in the ITA form received from the London NZIS office was an itemised checklist with all the documents to be submitted, e.g. qualification assessment (NZQA report), work experience (reference letters from former employers including periods of employment, positions and hours worked), police certificates, medicals, English requirements (IELTS report),...
What we did was to gather all the documents regarding each item from the list in a specific paper envelope. In the envelopes, each original document must be clipped with its copy.
In the cover letter, we specified the list of items: each item is assigned a reference number that we wrote on the corresponding envelope.
In the cover letter, I explained briefly why we wanted to move to NZ and, that I had completed a fact finding trip to NZ in order to meet recruiters and potential employers and to check out where we could settle. Also, I explained why I could not easily get a job offer (IT area, you need to be physically there to be taken seriously).
Please note that we did not send our passports but certified copies as we needed them to travel.
Now that we have just got PR approved in principle, we filled in the Migrant Levy form and sent it with our passports by registered post to our case officer. They reckon it can take up to 4 weeks to get the passports back with the blue stickers.

Hope this helps

[Smiler]

Hi Amanda

We used the checklist on the front, clipped all the originals with the copies and did little stickies down the side, like a file folder, saying what was what.

We put in our covering letter about G's job and what he had done to find work, (but that he was finding it difficult from here). We said what I was doing for work etc, but we did keep our letter brief and the guy on the desk at NZIS ruffled through it all and just mentioned some letters from past employers he thought Gary would need.

Apparently NZIS don't like applications in plastic folders or files as they fall off the pile and there was no way I wanted ours to end up on the floor and forgotten about:laugh So even though it went in by hand, we put it in a huge envelope, just to keep it all together.

We were handed back our passports, photo's of evidence and all original docs there and then.

I'm pleased we kept it simple, that was right for us.

Good luck

Deborah

[Carl and Liz]

Hi Amanda,

I put all of our originals together, in the order specified on the checklist, and put a cover letter on top. I made a copy of that stack and sent it as well (and, of course, kept a copy for us).

In the cover letter, I reproduced the checklist and put a brief comment next to each item, as necessary.

I saw the cover letter as an opportunity for the immigration folks to get a sense of who we are aside from the stack of papers. So I described how many times we had been to NZ, why we wanted to live there, what we had done about finding jobs, etc. If you'd like, I can try to send you a copy of the letter (if my technical skills allow it) that you could use as a base.

I also used the cover letter to address any potential problems. For example, Carl and I had only been married for a few months at the time we submitted our application (no, I did not marry him just for his immigration points!! ;) ), so I sent documentation that we had lived together for the required twelve months and photos to prove that we were in a legitimate partnership.

Since we could not hand deliver our application (we're in California) I had to go to the UPS store and had them hand make a box to fit the application. The chest x-rays made it really unwieldly but fortunately the UPS guy did a good job and our application made it okay.

We had our interview last Friday and the visa officer said everything was in order so we didn't have any problems.

Hope this helps.

Liz

[StevieD]

Eric/Amanda, can't say any more than the other have said. Just make sure you register the envelope and ensure it is a sturdy one!
Take copies of everything, and keep them for reference sake, just in case.
You do not have to put it in pretty folders, in fact they tell you not to do that.

Good luck on your ITA - we just had the interview today, and hey, the guy virtually told me we are in! :)

Steve

[eric_amanda]

Thanks guys for your advice. But I don't seem to have a check list that you all talk about, have checked through all my documents and notice it mentions a check list in the ITA letter we received. Maybe I will e-mail our case officer for a copy???

Thanks Liz for your offer, I will PM my e-mail address

Amanda

[selchie]

But I don't seem to have a check list that you all talk about, have checked through all my documents and notice it mentions a check list in the ITA letter we received. Maybe I will e-mail our case officer for a copy???Ours was stapled to our ITA. If you didn't get one, you probably should contact your case officer.

We were instructed not to put our application in folders, so I put a big rubber band around the documents. I would have clipped them, but didn't want to add much more to the weight. I just didn't want the papers sliding around and getting reshuffled. I had to make a box too, because the X-rays made the package just a wee bit too large for the largest envelope available. FYI, we paid about $35 to send it via USPS's global mail with certification, insurance, tracking, etc.

In our cover letter, I mentioned additional documents which supported some discrepancies in names and such (e.g. old married name on my diploma). I told them that we will need our passports in a few months, and asked if they would return our passports as soon as possible. - We didn't get around to finding someone who would certify copies of them, and are (foolishly?) trusing we will get them back in time. I explained why we hadn't been looking for employment yet (long story, but we're working on another big life change simultaneously with immigrating). At the end I made an itemized list of enclosed documents and whether there was a photocopy of each.

[Moorf]

had to make a box too, because the X-rays made the package just a wee bit too large for the largest envelope available



Just to pick up on this point, we didn't have to send our X-Rays with the ITA, in fact, after the doc had seen them and the X-Ray form signed and sorted he said we could do what we liked with them... but they definitely didn't go with the ITA (unless it's different for non-UK applications :confused: ).

One point the case officer did make very clear was that they really hate plastic folders as just one in a pile of ITA's makes the stack in their in-tray very unstable (tooo slippy!). I guess they have a point (for info, book publishers have the same rule for the same reason!).

I made an appointment with our Case Officer (we transferred our case to NZ as we were already here when our ITA arrived) and he kindly went through my ITA with me before taking it away and processing it. Not sure if you can do this easily outside of NZ (or Chch) but it was easy to do here.

[selchie]

Just to pick up on this point, we didn't have to send our X-Rays with the ITA, in fact, after the doc had seen them and the X-Ray form signed and sorted he said we could do what we liked with them... but they definitely didn't go with the ITA (unless it's different for non-UK applications :confused: ).
Maybe I misinterpreted the instructions in the X-ray certificate itself. Oh well, too late for me now :o . Will let y'all know if I find out whether they were needed or not.

[Smiler]

No we didn't need to send our x rays either.

The nice doc said just put them in your suitcase if you want. :clap


D

[Carl and Liz]

Selchie,

I'm with you - I could have sworn that the form required us to attach our actual x-rays. Maybe they just wanted to see our American lungs. (and the smog deposits from living in LA for too many years). At any rate, they got a free peak at ours whether they wanted to or not.

As I'm writing this, I remberered that NZIS changed the medical form right around the time we recieved ours from NZIS last spring. Or, I do think different countries are rated as higher and lower TB risks. Maybe that explains the difference.

Oh well...

Liz