22nd February 2007

Three things NZ related today, actually, 4 things:

1. Our police conviction records arrived in the post today - thankfully both are clean, so that's one hurdle cleared.
2. I phoned New Zealand House to try to find out if there'd been any progress on the EOI. The girl was pleasant enough but basically said that if I didn't have a job offer it'd be 3 months, etc. etc. It was worth a try.
3. I spoke to my new NZ contact who wishes to talk further with me on the 23rd - so that may yield something positive.
4. I received an email back from the NZQA saying that my qualification couldn't be assessed as, and I quote "The Qualifications Recognition Service will only assess qualifications that are awarded by recognised, accredited and quality assured institutions. The recognition, accreditation and quality assurance must be obtained by the organisation that the government for that particular country has deemed responsible." This is in line with the guidance set out in the guide and assessment of International Qualifications. More and more I'm starting to believe that the ITA won't come as a result of me not having a university degree. My one light of hope is that NZ House (based in London) who are responsible for the ITA recognise my professional qualifications and that they also contribute towards the area of skills shortage in NZ.

I'll have to cancel the medical appointments set for Monday. Pointless doing anything now until the ITA arrives (or otherwise).

All of a sudden, the glass is half empty. Waiting around doesn't help...

13th February 2007

I had a huge stroke of luck today, which may yet bear fruit (although I've probably jinxed it now).

I met with a potential supplier and to my surprise found out that he was originally from Wellington and (like most other people) has nothing but good things to say about the islands. He has friends in immigration, who (of course) can't process anything any quicker but could give me some tips. Additionally he's handling recruitment on behalf of New Zealand House and his father owns one of the biggest companies in NZ! He's promised to provide more information about agencies to contact as having a job is definitely the thing to do to speed this up.

12th February 2007

We suddenly got very itchy about spending over £500 without having an invitation to apply, so I cancelled the chest x-ray appointments for this Wednesday. The medical itself remains in the diary for three weeks hence.

The initial flurry of activity has definitely petered out and we are really frustrated that we haven't yet heard anything. I guess in our hearts we wanted something to happen straight away in order to maintain momentum, but in reality nothing ever moves as quickly as you would like.

We're busy getting the house ready for sale. We're currently having work done on the garden and aim to do things piecemeal in order to have the work completed and the house up for sale by the end of March. Other than the garden there are no big jobs, so it may be possible to get it on the market earlier.

I bought the Rough Guide to NZ today as it was the only book on the islands we don't yet own! Although I'm still on the look out for others....

10th February 2007

20 days on from completing my qualification pre-assessment form and I've still not heard anything. I did receive a confirmation on the 24th Jan that it had been received and that I would hear from them 10 days after it had been assigned, so I can only assume that it wasn't assigned until at the least the beginning of Feb. We just need a sign!

6th February 2007

I read on the immigration website today that all applications without a job offer will need to be backed by the NZQA assessment, so I've printed the forms off in readiness. I'm still not keen on parting with the $400+ until I know for sure. I've not yet had a reply from the NZQA with regards to the pre-assessment, which is critical for me to understand the status of my professional qualifications.

I finished reading Living and Working In NZ which was really good and has some excellent tips. I also ordered a new book today called Emigrating To New Zealand: A Guide To, in which a guy tells all about his experiences doing exactly what we're doing.

1st February 2007

All children have to have a medical as well (though not a chest x-ray or blood tests), so Ted will be joining us on our trip to the doctors at the end of Feb.