The Path to NZ (We are here!)

hello hello...I must apologize for suddenly going MIA by making my blog private bcos I think my blog privacy may have been infringed..lol! But after thinking thru things, oh well...I have nothing to hide from anybody, pry if they must.

so we have been in Auckland for slightly more than a month now. The little missy have been settling in well. In fact when people ask me how am I doing in NZ and how is she doing. I would tell them she is adapting and settling herself in nz better than me ..lol

she loooves it here..although I am not sure why since shes stuck with me at home most days anyway..LOL. but its her first day of school today (hence the free time to blog). if you ask her whether she wants to go back to penang..she will say she wants to stay in new Zealand..lol

ok the stupid iPhone app for blogger cant seem to allow me to upload photos..till I find a better solution..i will blog again...haha. aint nobody got no time to slowly upload photo to pc and blog la!

The Path to NZ (The Interview)

So on the 20th April 2016, we had our interview with our CO (case officer). She said she would call us up at 11am Shanghai time, and also asked for the hb to be present. I read from some other people in the forum that not all secondary applicants were required for the interview.

The 2 of us waited at home with a pounding heart at 10:30am...11am came...no phone call...11:05 came and still no phone call. And i was like shit! dont tell me she forgot. At around 11:08, the phone rang. Had to let it ring a few rings first before i pick up, didnt want to look too desperate. LOL

So we got a "no-nonsense" CO. The interview was of a standard structure...she explained that she will ask me a few personal questions to identify myself :

1. what's your birth date?
2. what's your place of birth?
3. what's the name of your degree and from where?
4. What's your company name?
5. What's your current job position?

After those few questions in rapid succession, she then went on to the actual interview questions. She just wanted answers to the questions she asked, and nothing more. And everything i say, i can hear her typing in the background. It was quite unnerving when you have an interviewer like that, cos you couldnt even gauge whether you did well or not

The questions were...

1.       How soon do you see yourself in NZ?

2.       What kind of job field do you want to work in?

3.       What’s the salary scale for this job in NZ?

4.       What kind of salary are you expecting?

5.       If you were offered a lower salary, what would you do?

6.       Have you tried applying any jobs in NZ?

7.       How did you apply?

8.       Have you heard from them?

9.       How many have you applied?

10.   Have you contacted any recruitment agencies?

11.   Do you have any preference for any company that you might want to work with in NZ?

12.   Would you prefer full time or part time jobs?

13.   Do you have any friends or family in NZ?

14.   What kind of support can your friends/or family provide while you are there?

15.   What kind of difficulties do you foresee in your job search?

16.   What kind of difficulties do you foresee in your stay in NZ?

17.   What’s your long term plan for your career in NZ?

18.   Do you have any idea of where do you want to stay in NZ?

19.   Have you looked at house rental in NZ? How much?

20.   How much money do you think you need for expenses?

21.   What do you know about NZ healthcare?

22.   Have you been to NZ?

23.   When was your trip to NZ?

24.   Was it for leisure?

25.   Where did you go?

26.   What’s the reason for choosing NZ?

27.   Have you tried to apply to any other country?

After that, she asked for the hb and he was asked 3 questions:

1.       Do you intend to work in NZ?

2.       What field are you currently in and what do field do you intend to work in in NZ

3.       Have you looked at schools?

dThen she asked for me again and that was it. She said she will get back to us within 4 weeks...it has been around 1 week plus and the wait is nerve wrecking~~!!!

Things she says - part 2

My poor little girl has been sick whole weekend. Down with fever since Friday night. So there goes the weekend for everyone. What's more worrying is, her temperature kept going up and down hovering between 38 to 39 on Friday- Sunday morning.

Only during Sunday afternoon, her temp at least went down below 38 and seems to be stabilising there *keepig fingers crossed*

But she still seem pretty active all weekend. And during the weekend she picked up the habit of asking questions. A bit annoying when she keep repeating but cute at the same time. Lol

Like just now I was showing the hb a video of a zombie video game and she also wanted to see...

Me : baby don't want this. It's too scary for baby
She : why bb scared, mama?

Awwww. So cute the way she ask it 😊

Things She Says

Ok. Going to start a new series. Like any proud mother (I think?) I m always gushing about what she said and what antics she was up to mostly to my sisters and family and to any friends who are interested to hear (I'm not that annoying a mother lah!)

So I figured why not type it in my faithful old blog so that I can read back when she is grown up and refuse to talk me (I hope not)

Convo # 1:

(There's this nursery rhyme that goes "ding dong bell, pussy in the well")

She : ding dong bell!! Pussy catttt!!!

Convo # 2:

We were at mcds. She was holding a sundae cone while trying to eat fries off our tray. So she put her cone on the table n took one fries each in both hands and she stuffed one fry into her mouth n tried to precariously pick the cone off the table with the other fry still in her other hand

Me : use 2 hands
She : (mumbled something which I couldn't make out at first and still trying to get the cone)
Me : *repeated* use 2 hands
She : wait first (and proceeded to stuff the other fry into her mouth)
Me : 😐

Convo # 3:
In the car at night. I was sitting at the backseat with her and replying messages on my phone

She : arghh!!! My eyes spoil!!!

Referring to my phone being too bright 😒

Convo # 4:

While bathing her I always name out the parts I am washing. Lol! So the other day when I was bathing her she suddenly went

"I like butt butt"
"I like armpit"

Lol!!! Don't know whether I should treat her proclamation of love for her body parts with respect or laugh

Convo # 5:

Now when we close our eyes to sleep ..

Her : mama's eyes!!! Where are youuuuuu!!!

LMAO!

Convo # 6:

She can't differentiate between the usage of "you" and "baby". So normally she will go like..

"'Mama help you Pom Pom" (she's referring to herself)

So I always try to correct her by saying "baby not you"

So now it became

"Mama help baby you Pom Pom"

😅

The Path to NZ (NZQA IQA- the whole shitty process-CO interview)

Hello, it has been nearly 4 months since my last update on our NZ Resident Visa application. This is our application time line so far.

27/10 - EOI submitted
28/10 - EOI Selected
16/11 - ITA Issued
11/12 - ITA sent to Shanghai
14/12 - ITA Lodgement
11/01 - IQA requested and other information
20/01 - IQA request submitted
22/01 - IQA documents sent over
26/01 - IQA documents received (File set up)
03/02 - IQA request for extra documents
22/02 - Extra documents sent to Shanghai
29/02 - Extra documents sent to NZQA
30/03 - NZQA assignment and evaluation
01/04 - NZQA complete and couriered
20/04 - CO interview

Meaning those in bold red is what have happened since my last post. Phew! Seems like a long list. In a nutshell, on the 11th of January, our CO requested for 3 things
The 3 things are :

1. further proof of partnership dating more than 12 months. apparently its not enough for me to just send our marriage cert ( of 3 years) and a child's birth cert :( 
2. a letter from our study of institution (Inti College Sarawak) proving that our course was done entirely in english as medium of instruction
3. this was the biggest blow...IQA was requested for both our degrees! 

When i received this email from the CO, i was a bit disappointed. Proof of partnership i can dig out all letters and what -nots with both our names addressed to the same address in the past 18 months la. Letter proving that English was the medium of instruction was a little tricky to say the least. Cos for one, INTI COLLEGE SARAWAK DOESNT EXIST ANYMORE!

So i called up the old number of INTI College Sarawak and the guy picking up asked me to call INTI College Nilai since they are the ones who are taking care of our enrolment records now. Got in touch with a lady from the admissions office and she got me the letter pretty fast (in 2 weeks time) although i had to convince her i was from INTI College Sarawak and all that. 

Truth be told, I tried to get a "shortcut" around getting an IQA for our degrees. IQA costs NZD746 per person to apply! That's a lot of money ok. Since our degree was a 3+0 Degree programme with our degree awarded by an Australian University, I was referred to INTI College Subang who takes care of this 3+0 Degree Programme now since our previous college is no more. Wah this is where the complication starts.

Anyway long story cut short, we still had to get an IQA lah. Cos NZ Immig only accepts an official IQA (International Qualifications Assessment) as proof that our degree is "comparable" to a bachelor's degree of computer science obtained in NZ. How is it possible leh!!! (we asked) Our Degree from AUSTRALIAN university boh! Australia and NZ so near leh! And our university was actually in the list of universities exempted from IQA in the NZ Immig website. 

Anyway, I posted a few questions in the enz forum and snooped around and found that they have recently changed the rule that all qualifications obtained off-campus (from the list of universities exempted) must get an IQA regardless (source : http://www.immigration.govt.nz/opsmanual/46247.htm)

So an IQA we applied, and parted with our NZD746 x 2! Sobs!

Submitted on the 26th of January, and we waited and waited and on the 3rd of February, we finally got a reply from NZQA....to ask for extra documents :|

Now they want an official letter from our institution of study (which doesnt exist anymore, refer above) stating that we had credits transferred from INTI College to the awarding university. Again the emailing and the phone calls to INTI started. Called up INTI College Subang who is currently taking care of this programme now but the lady told me they do not have our enrolment records. And they need to cross-check with INTI College Nilai :( 

This went on for like 3 weeks until i couldnt stand it anymore and contacted INTI College Nilai directly who gave me my letter within a week! Sent everything to NZQA, and it took them another 1 month to process everything and couriered everything back to us. Quickly contacted our CO in shanghai that we finally have our IQA (yippee!!!!) and she immediately scheduled an interview for us next week! 

Wormy the 20 month old

Wow...cant believe she is nearly 2 years old already! it feels just like yesterday we celebrated her 1st birthday. ok what can she do now...

1. Just recently she started counting 1-2-3....she can actually count till 10 but she will miss out a few numbers here and there. and she will try and try again...it sounds like there's a count drcula in the house (from sesame street)
2. can complete sentences from some of her favourite bedtime stories :
1. daddy pig is very ? SPORTY! his tummy is? BIG! but it is made of pure ? MUSCLE! (from daddy pig gets fit)
2. in the light of the? MOON. a little? EGG! lay on a green? LEAF (the very hungry caterpillar)
3. same goes for some of her nursery rhymes...e.g.
1. the wheels on the bus goes? ROUND ROUND. the horn on the bus goes? PEET PEET PEET
4. can do simple chores like take glasses for daddy, take mummy's bag, get remote control for mummy, put your clothes in dirty bin, throw your dirty diapers :)

The Path to NZ (ITA Lodgement)

Got an email from NZ Immigration Shanghai office a few weeks back that they have received our application and it will take around 2 months to get a CO (Case officer) assigned. What??? 2 months just to get CO assigned???

Oh well, i guess patience is key. More waiting....

Just to keep record, here is our time line for the whole application:

27/10 - EOI submitted
28/10 - EOI Selected
16/11 - ITA Issued
11/12 - ITA sent to Shanghai
14/12 - ITA Lodgement

Some people actually got their PR/WTR (work to residence) like within ONLY 8 months of submission, some ppl had to wait 18 months...so we'll see