Two Americans emigrate to New Zealand from Colorado,
USA.
We talk about
our life in Nelson, New Zealand.
Learning all we needed to know through New Zealand Immigration, we decided one night in July 2005 to take the pre-application test online (actually the Skilled Migrant Points Indicator) and see how many points we might be able to rack up. We didn’t really know what we were aiming for, to be honest, but we got our number. It was 125. The points target at the time was 100. We decided that Angela’s work experience fit most closely to an area of skills shortage: social work. Because of that, we were able to get extra points because she had done similar work without being licensed or degreed in that area. As such, Angela became the primary applicant.
Via the web site Angela learned that there were a marketing directors for NZI on the west coast of the U.S., one of whom was in Portland. She called him and chatted for 10 or 15 minutes. He seemed supportive of our chances after hearing about our circumstances and encouraged us to apply, but quickly because he felt that the points ceiling would rise in the next few months, above the 100 point mark. He actually said he thought it would change to 140, so best to get in right away. After talking to him, we felt nearly giddy with joy at the likelihood that we would be successful.
Angela asked him if we should consider using an immigration firm to assist us with our application. He said bollocks, no way, we could do it ourselves and save the money. Angela had received a quote from a firm in Auckland to do her immigration application, and it would have cost NZ$15,000, or about US$12,000. We opted out, no way. We had a pretty good idea of what all the fees would be (and there are many along the way) and there was no way we'd come close to spending that kind of money.
Back onto the NZI website we went. Only those who scored points over 100 were welcome to submit an Expression of Interest (EOI). Well, the good students we are, we felt good about passing the first test! By scoring 125 on the points indicator, we moved forward one night in early August with all the necessary information about our lives, work experience, education, etc., and filled out the online Expression of Interest. We submitted it with a large fee--presumably to dissuade less serious persons--to New Zealand Immigration on 4 August 2005.
Every two weeks, or fortnightly, NZI collects all the EOIs that arrived and totals up the data. Every EOI scoring above 100 points the undergoes preliminary verification to determine if an invitation to apply for residency will be issued. Our fortnightly selection occurred on 17 August and our request to be considered for an invitation to apply for residency was in the queue.
back to Part 3: Research into immigration possibilities | Immigration home | on to Part 5: Invitation to apply for residency
