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.