Happy Birthday Darrel!

Although I'm fairly certain Darrel doesn't read this blog, I want to wish him a Happy Birthday. Darrel is my good friend in New Zealand whom I met when he lived in this area for a few years. We met randomly, but he made a great impact on my life. Not only was he one of the best guy friends I've ever had, but clearly he has influenced where I (and Darren) want to live.

Before I visited Wellington, I had no idea why Darrel wanted to leave here and go back home to a place so far away (so far from everything). He had seen me through some tough times (read: dating horrors), and I selfishly wanted him to stay. We IM'd quite a bit, and I actually saved one of the 'conversations' we had right before he left. I saved it as inspiration; Darrel was so sure that I would meet a great guy. Better than that, he was certain that I deserved someone who would be good to me - something I didn't always believe. My favorite line from that conversation is: "basically, everyone sucks except you and you deserve an equally awesome man". It was one of the nicest things a friend had ever said to me (don't know why it means more coming from a guy friend, but it did).

While Darrel moved shortly after that, I kept those words in my head. It took me a while, but I found my 'equally awesome man'. So, thanks, Darrel, for the confidence and support. And now that I've seen New Zealand - and Wellington - I get why you wanted to go back. And Happy Birthday, sweetie. You deserve all things that are good.


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Three Things

Ok, so I wasn't "tagged", but Heather suggested in her blog that we all should list 'three things you may not know about me'. Those who know me well probably know this stuff, but it's still fun!

1) I didn't learn how to ride a 2 wheel bicycle until I was 12. Yes, that's right - 12. I had training wheels up until then! Several people tried unsuccessfully to teach me, including my step-father's ex-wife. Granted, she tried to teach me on a cement sidewalk (it didn't go well). I finally learned to ride my bicycle on the slight grassy hill in our back yard at the instruction of my brother Robert.

2) I only eat bread if it's toasted. I never got into the white bread sandwich thing as a child, as my poor brother Kevin discovered. He is 10 years older, so my parents often tasked him with being my babysitter. Every sandwich had to be on toasted bread or I wouldn't touch it. I had no idea how much this scarred him until I was at his house a few months ago - he asked if I wanted a sandwich, and of course I said "yes! On toast, please." - he rolled his eyes and yelled "TOAST! Always with the damn toast!". Ironically, I bought him a toaster (at his request) for Christmas a few years ago.

3) When I was very young (say, around 3 or 4), I refused to wear pants because "princesses don't wear pants". Instead, I insisted on wearing dresses - long dresses - every day. Even to go out in the yard and play. Needless to say, I tripped a lot, but still. I was a princess. My mother would on occasion hold me down and forcibly put pants on me under my dress just in case I fell (again).

"Decision Successful"

After a nice long weekend, I was dreading going back to work, so I checked my email. Nothing from NZ Immigration. Just in case...I checked the NZ Immigration website itself. After logging in, I quickly looked at our EOI status - and there were the words I'd been waiting for: "Decision Successful". After 3 weeks of seeing "Selected" day after day, I couldn't believe it! Just to make sure, we clicked on those sweet words, and here was the explanation:


Congratulations.

We are very pleased to confirm that your Expression of Interest has been successful.
You will shortly receive a letter inviting you to lodge an Application for Residence. The letter will contain information to help you complete your Application for Residence.


Now comes all the work! We have to gather evidence of our 'partnership' (as we are not yet married), our prior jobs and then get complete physicals. I understand the letter we will receive has a huge checklist of things we need to do and documents we need to gather. GAH! And SQUEEEE! :)

And yes, Heather and Amy, you can write a letter in protest. To get it to the right people, just give it to Darren or me and we'll make sure it's included in our Application package. Promise. Mmhmmm.

Hiccup

So, as you know from our post below, we were selected from the New Zealand EOI pool on December 21st. That day just happened to also be the day the NZ Immigration Authority changed all the rules! Instead of only needing 100 points to qualify for the pool, an applicant now requires 140 points, which can only be reached by having a job offer first. The good news is that if an applicant has 140 points or more, they automatically receive an Invitation to Apply for Residency (ITA).

What about those of us who were picked on the 21st? Well, theoretically, we fall under the "old" rules. But not really. The Immigration website was confusing and had contradictory statements. Although applicants selected from the pool on that day were under the old rules technically, if they had 100 or 105 points, their applications were automatically put back into the pool. To be nice, the Immigration Authority extended the length of time to be in the pool to 6 months (from 3). If an applicant needed to reapply, they could do without paying the fee again. The next selection date won't be until Feb 1st.

Ok. That sucks. But...wait a minute...we had 110 points. Nothing on the website addressed those Selected who had more than the 100 or 105 points mentioned above. So, I called! They were less than helpful and couldn't tell me how the new rules would affect me.

I received this email RIGHT after I hung up:

CHANGES TO THE SKILLED MIGRANT CATEGORY

Dear Dawn

You should have recently received a letter from the New Zealand Immigration Service advising that your Expression of Interest (EOI) has been selected from the Pool for consideration.

You may be aware that the New Zealand Government recently announced changes to the selection process under the Skilled Migrant Category. We are writing to inform you that these changes will not affect the preliminary checks of the information you provided in your EOI. Your EOI will continue to be checked on the basis of your selection from the Pool.

If you are invited to apply for residence and you subsequently submit an application for residence, your application, once received, will also be assessed on the basis on which you were selected from the Pool.

More information on the Expression of Interest process and living in New Zealand is available on our website at www.immigration.govt.nz. Alternatively please feel free to call the National Contact Centre on 0508 558 855 (within New Zealand) or contact your nearest branch of the Immigration Service.

All the best with your Expression of Interest.


Kind regards,


Pool Management Team
New Zealand Immigration Service


We are still in the running! It has now been two weeks...we hope our status will change to "Successful" in the next month. If so, it will mean that we have received an ITA.