[janeb]

Just wanted to say "Hi" to everyone, I'm Jane and me, my partner and our baby are in the process of completing our ITA for permanent residency, how stressful an ordeal is this !!! We spent a wonderful year in NZ 3 years ago, travelled round and settled in Methven just an hour away from Christchurch, and have spent our time since trying to get organised to make the move over there! Got our ITA on January 6th, and so have only 1 month to get our NZQA assesment back, my police check (now 55 days and still no sign of it...), the signed contract of employment and proof of our relationship, 4 months seems an ok amount of time, but hell no! Anyway good luck to everyone who is trying to make the leap, it will be worth it so keep smiling!
Cheers :cheers
Jane

[tee and dee]

Hi Jane,
If you want to know some of my saga read the NZQA thread - just wanted to reassure you though that you can submit your ITA without some of the relevant docs e.g.NZQA assessment - I did back in Oct and am still trying to get it yet - but our very nice case officer who we were assigned in January seems happy to wait and has even advised me that there is no way of hurrying them, Good luck,
Tracey

[jo b]

Welcome Jane

I think you will need to get a babysitter for your little one as this forum is VERY addictive.

Where abouts are you from??

If you don;t mind me asking.

JO

[janeb]

HI

Thanks Tracey, nice to hear that they can be understanding! Not sure why we needed to get the NZQA assessment as my partners qualification was on the level 3 approved list, but our case officer said we had too!! Have just chased the NZQA and our result is in the post, scared now that this has been too easy and waiting for some hitch!

We are based in the midlands, just outside Derby...hopefully not for too much longer, hope to be out there by October !

:cheers
Jane

[tigerlily]

Welcome to you and your family!
Who has the job? Where will you be landing? We love success stories.

What have you missed most about NZ since you've been gone?

[janeb]

HI tigerlilly !

My partner is a joiner, so he has the job, I shall be playing house and looking after our little one!! We our determind to get back to NZ, whether we get the PR or a work visa we hope to head off to Christchurch in October....There are so many things we miss about NZ, the clean air, the wonderful friends we made, the pace of life and the emphasis of whats really important - the quality of your life, your health and happiness not your material possesions. We went back for a month a year ago to make sure we werent looking back with rose tinted glasses, and it reconfirmed that it is the place for us to raise our family. Oh and we miss the mountains, skiing and snowboarding on a sunny spring day with hot chocolate (and brandy) is just the best ! :clap Whats your situation tigerlilly ? :)

[tigerlily]

Sounds like you have found the right place!
Hot chocolate on a cold snowy day, could be the best thing about winter.

I'm waiting for my partner to finish his degree, and then I hope we all can move to wherever the job turns out to be (hoping by next January). We in this case includes the 3 year old twin boys too. That's my job and it's very portable. I think why we want to move has a lot to do with what kind of values we want our kids to have too. It's so hard to raise non-materialistic kids in America these days. I'm sure it can be done, but it's swimming upstream.

Glad you could join us on the forum!

[katandbob]

Welcome Jane, :)

Well I agree this forum is addictive, I didnt get a chance to log on yesterday and now theres 2 pages for me to read......but that will have to wait for the weekend....now I had better scoot or I'll be late for work.... :nice1

Kat

[jim&alma]

:raebanana Hi Jane! :raebanana
Just wanted to welcome you and your family. Whatever stage in the process you're in, I'm sure you'll find this forum useful and entertaining (lots of friendly helpful wackos around here for sure :laugh ). See you around!
Alma

[willsken]

Hello and welcome to this wonderful forum. If you have already spent a year there then you KNOW you're doing the right thing! :nice1

[xanctus]

Hello there and welcome aboard

[zardell]

Hi Jane.

Welcome to the forum.

Julie

xx

[K&CS]

Hi Jane

Welcome to the forum. We leave for Christchurch on Monday - we're in Singapore this week so have already done the goodbyes. How old's your baby? I've got a 6 month old little boy (and two girls aged 6 and 8).

Hope you get yourself sorted soon. Christchurch is lovely and I can't wait to get back there myself!

Kate x

[gil]

Hi Jane, welcome!
Gil