This morning I took a big file full of carefully collated stuff to the New Zealand embassy in London, and submitted my application for a permanent resident's visa, on the basis of my relationship with the Kiwi. £460 lighter, and the wheels are in motion.
The process is unfortunately extremely lengthy. It'll take them two to three weeks to get a case officer assigned to my application. They'll then look over all the documentation and assess whether I look healthy, intelligent, crime-free and sufficiently enamoured of my Kiwi to be allowed in. They'll get in touch with me, and will let me know how long and arduous the process is likely to be. Timescales from this point in are, at the moment, about three months, but it's fairly open-ended in reality.
Eagle-eyed readers will notice that that takes us beyond our departure date, but apparently that's ok. I can get into New Zealand on a tourist visa, as long as I have a valid ticket out of there, but I won't be able to start work until it's processed. Provided everything goes smoothly, this will be ok. If things don't go smoothly, this will most definitely not be ok.
So, not ideal, but ok. Worryingly, the lady who took my application mentioned that some of my blood results were marginally outside the normal range, and that they've been very strict on that lately. I may be asked to undergo (and pay for, presumably) another medical, but right now I'm focusing on that not being necessary. I am a big pile of stress and nerves and freak-out at the moment and I really just want this all to be over. More on this as I get it...
1 comment:
here is hoping it all works out hun... guess its kinda out of our control so not much we can do about it... x
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