No movement on our applications yet. We aren't expecting any, of course, but it is still frustrating to not know how long we'll be sitting here waiting.
On the plus side, even if we have to wait a few more months, it looks like the housing market here will still be very buoyant, which is great news for both of us. Skry has a 50% stake in one house, and I have 100% of another (well, apart from our mortgages of course). The people two doors down just sold their house for three times what I paid for mine, which is a great sign! Theirs is a little bigger, but it's still a good indication of what mine will sell for once we've spruced it up a bit. I should be looking at £100,000 profit at least, if the market stays the way it is right now. That will be a huge help in getting us set up in a new country.
Monday, December 18, 2006
Friday, November 17, 2006
Dreams
I spent most of last night dreaming about forms, applications, missing deadlines, missing documents, and various other stressful situations. Looks like I still have some residual stress from the ITA process to deal with!
However, I'm happy to report that I tracked yesterday's delivery on the Royal Mail site, and they say the package was delivered before 9am today. We'll be able to see the electronic proof of delivery within 72 hours, which will set my mind at rest for good. We may still have a few hurdles to cross between now and getting permanent residency, but at least the ITAs got there on time.
However, I'm happy to report that I tracked yesterday's delivery on the Royal Mail site, and they say the package was delivered before 9am today. We'll be able to see the electronic proof of delivery within 72 hours, which will set my mind at rest for good. We may still have a few hurdles to cross between now and getting permanent residency, but at least the ITAs got there on time.
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
ITAs submitted
Our applications are in! I can't believe how busy the last few days were, but we got there in the end. Skry's extra blood tests were processed extra fast, thanks to the nice nurse who wrote "URGENT!!" all over them before submitting them to the lab. We got those back yesterday, and thankfully he was fine and has no problems with his liver. What a relief.
Most of my lunchbreak yesterday was spent rushing to the solicitor to get certified copies of our passports, then rushing to the doctor's surgery to get Skry's medical results, then rushing to the post office to use their passport photo machine there. I had blisters on the soles of my feet by the time I sat back down at my desk! And Skry spent a large chunk of the morning getting his work references from previous jobs printed out. But by last night, we were able to sit down and finalise the application forms, put everything into envelopes, and leave out to be posted today.
The whole process has been very expensive. Here's the breakdown for the two of us (roughly, as I can't remember some of the exact figures):
Hopefully that won't happen, though! I can track the package online, so I will hopefully be able to see that it has been delivered tomorrow morning. After that, the waiting game begins in earnest!
Most of my lunchbreak yesterday was spent rushing to the solicitor to get certified copies of our passports, then rushing to the doctor's surgery to get Skry's medical results, then rushing to the post office to use their passport photo machine there. I had blisters on the soles of my feet by the time I sat back down at my desk! And Skry spent a large chunk of the morning getting his work references from previous jobs printed out. But by last night, we were able to sit down and finalise the application forms, put everything into envelopes, and leave out to be posted today.
The whole process has been very expensive. Here's the breakdown for the two of us (roughly, as I can't remember some of the exact figures):
- initial Expressions of Interest £200
- x-rays - can't remember, think it was about £60
- medical deposit £40
- medical £142
- blood tests £152
- Skry's extra blood tests £31
- copy of Skry's university degree, (which still hasn't arrived) £25
- copy of Skry's birth certificate £11
- solicitor £20 (lower than normal as it was a personal favour)
- application fees £1170
- postage £18.90
Hopefully that won't happen, though! I can track the package online, so I will hopefully be able to see that it has been delivered tomorrow morning. After that, the waiting game begins in earnest!
Thursday, November 09, 2006
Medical woes
Skry got a phone call from the doctor yesterday. His results for the liver function test aren't good enough. This is worrying, because we only have another week before the ITAs have to be in the post and en route to London. That doesn't allow enough time for a second run of blood tests. He is waiting to hear back from the doctor again today, to see if the doctor will say he passed, and let the NZ immigration folk decide if the results are just too dodgy, or if the doctor won't say he passed. If it's the latter, we could be in big trouble, as I don't know how much leeway we'll get for going past the deadline for the ITAs to be in.
We're trying not to panic about it, as that won't achieve anything, but it is certainly a bit worrying...
We're trying not to panic about it, as that won't achieve anything, but it is certainly a bit worrying...
Thursday, November 02, 2006
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Medicals and wedding eve
Life has been very busy recently, so I haven't updated. Here's a summary.
We had our medicals on Thursday. This wasn't traumatic in itself, but both K and I are scared/phobic of needles. We were both dreading the blood tests. However, we purchased a self-hypnosis MP3 for dealing with phobias, and both of us had a listen before going to the surgery. We obviously should have been more prepared and listened to it more than once, but I still think it helped. I wasn't at all as nervous as I would normally be around a needle (the only other time I had a blood test, it took two nurses, one to comfort me while the other one did the deed), and K seemed to take it in his stride as well. I know neither of us enjoyed the experience, but we did get through it with relatively little trauma.
The general medical was an all-clear, and the blood tests are due back in ten days or so. We're hoping that we can submit our ITAs after that.
And, in other news, this is the eve of our wedding - we are getting married at 3pm tomorrow! Very exciting. I am so happy to be marrying such a wonderful man, and it makes our NZ plans even more fun than they would have been anyway. I can't wait!
We had our medicals on Thursday. This wasn't traumatic in itself, but both K and I are scared/phobic of needles. We were both dreading the blood tests. However, we purchased a self-hypnosis MP3 for dealing with phobias, and both of us had a listen before going to the surgery. We obviously should have been more prepared and listened to it more than once, but I still think it helped. I wasn't at all as nervous as I would normally be around a needle (the only other time I had a blood test, it took two nurses, one to comfort me while the other one did the deed), and K seemed to take it in his stride as well. I know neither of us enjoyed the experience, but we did get through it with relatively little trauma.
The general medical was an all-clear, and the blood tests are due back in ten days or so. We're hoping that we can submit our ITAs after that.
And, in other news, this is the eve of our wedding - we are getting married at 3pm tomorrow! Very exciting. I am so happy to be marrying such a wonderful man, and it makes our NZ plans even more fun than they would have been anyway. I can't wait!
Friday, October 06, 2006
X-Rays and Police Certificates
Things are still moving forward, albeit very slowly. We have both had our police checks done, from the Gardai and also from the PSNI. And on Monday we had our X-rays taken. The radiologist will have the results from that on Friday, and we can pick up the plates then to take them to the medical. We don't have the medical actually booked yet, but hopefully we will get an appointment quite soon. Skry's fear of needles is making him drag his feet on that one...
However, there has been another reason for the length of time that the visa application process is taking us. We are getting married at Hallowe'en! It has been a real whirlwind, because we only got engaged in mid-August, so obviously that has been the focus of most of our energy. It is the only thing that could have been so exciting that it made New Zealand take a back seat, I think!
However, we can't let NZ slip too far. Our ITAs have to be in London by November 17th at the absolute latest. I would much rather have them submitted before the wedding, so that we can relax. But we'll see what happens.
However, there has been another reason for the length of time that the visa application process is taking us. We are getting married at Hallowe'en! It has been a real whirlwind, because we only got engaged in mid-August, so obviously that has been the focus of most of our energy. It is the only thing that could have been so exciting that it made New Zealand take a back seat, I think!
However, we can't let NZ slip too far. Our ITAs have to be in London by November 17th at the absolute latest. I would much rather have them submitted before the wedding, so that we can relax. But we'll see what happens.
Thursday, August 10, 2006
Housing
So, we've been thinking about housing once we get to New Zealand. To buy or to build? There are some really nice energy-efficient house designs on the EEH site - not only are they gorgeous houses in themselves, but they are meant to be much easier and cheaper to keep warm in winter. I know Christchurch should be sunnier than Ireland in summer, but it does get cold in winter, and most New Zealand houses are very poorly insulated. Not to mention that they don't seem to believe in central heating...
If we could get a house built, it would be to our specs and it would be well insulated. That sounds fantastic to me. The only real drawback is the price of land. If we're looking at NZ$300k just for a patch of land in a nice area, there won't be any money to build the actual house.
Of course, there is cheaper land. Ordinary housing-estate land in ordinary areas. Are we being greedy by hoping for more? I honestly don't know. I know there should be a good big deposit once my house is sold and Skry's house is sold; I just don't know how far it will stretch when we get there.
Oh well, no point in worrying too much about it now. We still haven't even got the stuff together for our ITAs! I'm going to have to give Skry a nudge in that direction this weekend, because he has a lot more documentation to pull together than I do. I'll have to keep him in order, as well as myself!
If we could get a house built, it would be to our specs and it would be well insulated. That sounds fantastic to me. The only real drawback is the price of land. If we're looking at NZ$300k just for a patch of land in a nice area, there won't be any money to build the actual house.
Of course, there is cheaper land. Ordinary housing-estate land in ordinary areas. Are we being greedy by hoping for more? I honestly don't know. I know there should be a good big deposit once my house is sold and Skry's house is sold; I just don't know how far it will stretch when we get there.
Oh well, no point in worrying too much about it now. We still haven't even got the stuff together for our ITAs! I'm going to have to give Skry a nudge in that direction this weekend, because he has a lot more documentation to pull together than I do. I'll have to keep him in order, as well as myself!
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
A Blase Family Reaction
I was on the phone to my mum last night, and brought up the subject of me moving away from Belfast. I was expecting some kind of reaction, but all I got was, "Oh, we'll miss having somewhere to stay when we're up north"!
It would be pretty cool if that was how my whole family reacted. I know they'd miss me, and I'd miss them too of course, but it would be good to not have guilt to add to every other emotion that I'll be feeling when I leave Ireland.
Of course, there's also the chance that my mum is thinking, "I'll believe it when I see it". Emigrating to the far side of the world is probably something that a lot of people talk about but never do. I didn't tell her that I'd already started the process to obtain a visa, or that Skry will be coming too, as this is something that I'm trying to keep quiet both with family and with work. It will take months more to even get the documentation together, never mind get the actual visa in our passports, so that bit of news will keep.
It was quite funny tonight, though. My sister texted me to say that she'd heard I might be moving to NZ, and could she come and visit? She said we might see more of each other if I'm on the far side of the world, which is probably true!
It would be pretty cool if that was how my whole family reacted. I know they'd miss me, and I'd miss them too of course, but it would be good to not have guilt to add to every other emotion that I'll be feeling when I leave Ireland.
Of course, there's also the chance that my mum is thinking, "I'll believe it when I see it". Emigrating to the far side of the world is probably something that a lot of people talk about but never do. I didn't tell her that I'd already started the process to obtain a visa, or that Skry will be coming too, as this is something that I'm trying to keep quiet both with family and with work. It will take months more to even get the documentation together, never mind get the actual visa in our passports, so that bit of news will keep.
It was quite funny tonight, though. My sister texted me to say that she'd heard I might be moving to NZ, and could she come and visit? She said we might see more of each other if I'm on the far side of the world, which is probably true!
Sunday, July 30, 2006
Our ITAs arrived!
Skry and I got back from the Netherlands two days ago, and our ITAs were here waiting for us! Well, his was -- I had to collect mine from the post office today, as it required a signature, and there was nobody at my house to sign for it when the postman called.
I am really surprised that the ITAs arrived so quickly. They are dated 17 July, which was only a few weeks after our EOIs were submitted. I fully expected us to be waiting two or three months before we heard anything, but it looks like we've been put in the fast lane for some reason. Maybe the London branch of the NZIS is catching up on its backlog.
It's all good news, anyway. Now we need to start getting our documentation together. The biggest two things are the police certificates (we both need certificates both from the UK and from the Republic of Ireland) and the medical checks. There are two immigration panel doctors available in Belfast, so we'll have to see about getting an appointment with one of them. We've got less than four months to get everything together, so the clock seems to be ticking quite loudly already!
I am really surprised that the ITAs arrived so quickly. They are dated 17 July, which was only a few weeks after our EOIs were submitted. I fully expected us to be waiting two or three months before we heard anything, but it looks like we've been put in the fast lane for some reason. Maybe the London branch of the NZIS is catching up on its backlog.
It's all good news, anyway. Now we need to start getting our documentation together. The biggest two things are the police certificates (we both need certificates both from the UK and from the Republic of Ireland) and the medical checks. There are two immigration panel doctors available in Belfast, so we'll have to see about getting an appointment with one of them. We've got less than four months to get everything together, so the clock seems to be ticking quite loudly already!
Monday, July 17, 2006
Post #1 - The Background
So, my boyfriend Skry and I are moving from Northern Ireland to New Zealand. Hoping to, anyway! I thought it'd be interesting to blog our progress, both for me to see how far we have come, and for other people who are thinking about emigrating.
We submitted our EOIs (forms expressing our interest in obtaining permanent residency visas) towards the end of June 2006, and both of us were selected from the pool of applicants in the very next draw after we submitted, which was fantastic. Applicants need at least 100 points to even be considered, and we were lucky enough to have 115 points (Skry) and 125 points (me), but it was still uncertain if either or both of us would be selected. It was great that we both got selected at the same time.
Last Friday we each got a letter from NZIS (New Zealand immigration), confirming that we had been selected from the pool of applicants. The next step is for NZIS to send us the ITAs, Invitations to Apply, which should be sometime in the next two or three months. We then have four months to gather all our supporting documentation (degree certificates, proof of work experience, birth certificates, and the like) and have our medicals done. Skry doesn't like needles, so he's not looking forward to that last bit! But hopefully it will all be pretty straightforward.
I still haven't told my family about our plans to leave Ireland. I'm not sure whether they'll think it's a good idea or a bad one, but for the moment I'm just keeping it under my hat. It's not that I don't want them to know; it's just such early days, and we could be waiting the best part of a year for our visas to finally come through. Then we have another 12 months to get ourselves over there. It just seems a bit early at this stage to start rocking the family boat...
We submitted our EOIs (forms expressing our interest in obtaining permanent residency visas) towards the end of June 2006, and both of us were selected from the pool of applicants in the very next draw after we submitted, which was fantastic. Applicants need at least 100 points to even be considered, and we were lucky enough to have 115 points (Skry) and 125 points (me), but it was still uncertain if either or both of us would be selected. It was great that we both got selected at the same time.
Last Friday we each got a letter from NZIS (New Zealand immigration), confirming that we had been selected from the pool of applicants. The next step is for NZIS to send us the ITAs, Invitations to Apply, which should be sometime in the next two or three months. We then have four months to gather all our supporting documentation (degree certificates, proof of work experience, birth certificates, and the like) and have our medicals done. Skry doesn't like needles, so he's not looking forward to that last bit! But hopefully it will all be pretty straightforward.
I still haven't told my family about our plans to leave Ireland. I'm not sure whether they'll think it's a good idea or a bad one, but for the moment I'm just keeping it under my hat. It's not that I don't want them to know; it's just such early days, and we could be waiting the best part of a year for our visas to finally come through. Then we have another 12 months to get ourselves over there. It just seems a bit early at this stage to start rocking the family boat...
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