Getting the Visa

Kia Ora! Here I am once again apologizing for taking so long to post. I have a good excuse this time - Brad and I were asked to speak in church this past Sunday so last week all my spare time went to preparing my talk. Hopefully you will forgive me for neglecting my blog! But I'm back, ready to pick up where I left you....

 All right, so now we had a job offer. The next step was to apply for a visa. Just because we had a job offer didn't mean we'd get to live in New Zealand. They are pretty strict with who they let in and it is not a simple nor cheap process. The visa we applied for cost $3000 USD and if they don't approve you there is no refund, you're just out $3000, but we felt it was worth the investment. 

So, what all does it entail? Let me tell you.

1. You must have a job offer from an accredited employer. Many companies in New Zealand are not accredited (Microsoft wasn't accredited but supposedly was working towards being accredited). And, remember, your employer must show that they were not able to find a suitable candidate among the citizens of NZ who applied before they can even offer you a job.

2. Your position must be on Tier 1 of the "Green List" - NZ Immigration has different lists of job positions and ranks. Your position must be one that is in high demand here in NZ and on the Green List. If your curious you can go here to see what jobs are on the list.

3. You can include any single, dependent children 24 years and younger on your application. You must prove that they are supported financially by you. This was pretty easy for the youngest 4, however a little trickier with Ryan. Thankfully at the time we submitted the final paperwork he was back home living with us and had yet to find employment.

Side story: As you probably know, Ryan lived in New Zealand in 2023 for 9 months. He had planned on living there longer, but in September he felt like it was time to go back to the states. He was a bit bummed by this, he had just gotten moved and was living in a fantastic little apartment and he was applying for a new position - still working for the church but in a managerial role and with a hefty salary increase - and it looked like he had made it to the final round of candidates. But, Ryan knows when the Spirit speaks he needs to listen. We later learned that if he had not come home when he did he would not have been able to be included in our visa application and as such would not have been able to come back and live in NZ (his visa expired in February). So grateful Ryan followed those promptings even when he didn't necessarily want to leave.

4. Prove your identity. We had to provide acceptable photographs of everyone (which is trickier than you might think, it took 3 tries for my photo to be accepted!) as well as a scan of their passport and birth certificates. After our visa was approved we also had to mail everyone's passports to DC for authentication. Which was a little nerve-wracking. I sure was glad when they all were returned to us safe and sound.

5. Provide proof you are of good character.  Anyone on the application 17 or older (so James, Ryan me and Brad) has to have a police certificate submitted from any country you lived in over the past 10 years. I have to say this was the least scary part of the visa for me as I knew we were all law abiding citizens!

6. You must be in good health. Everyone on the application must complete a chest x-ray and medical examination, including bloodwork and urine tests. Though Daniel was young enough he didn't have to have the chest x-ray. And, not only do you have to do this but it has to be done by a NZ approved physician. The closest one to us was in Provo - yup down at BYU! So, during the kids fall break in the beginning of October we took a quick family trip to Provo. Unfortunately, Brad got sick the day before we left, poor guy. He was not doing good. We got to Provo the day before our exams and he went right to bed. Next morning we were up and headed to the BYU Health Center where yup - everyone got blood work, urine tests and then the chest x-rays. Things were moving along pretty quickly and I had hoped we'd be done by 2 or 3 (we were heading home right after). But when it came time to the weight and height checks and then the actual physical examination by the doctor things slowed way down. First, my blood pressure was high - no surprise there, it's lame I know, but I always freak out at the doctor offices and by freak out I mean get nervous and anxious and my blood pressure goes through the roof. My doctors have me take my pressure at home and it's pretty much always within normal ranges. So, here we are at a new doctor (I usually calm down a bit when I am familiar with the doctor and my pressures get more normal at the office) and I'm also super nervous about if we're going to pass the health portion of the visa. The nurse takes my pressure again and then demands that I calm down telling me if I don't we won't pass the health exam and get to move to NZ. Well, you can imagine how much that helped. She took it again and it was higher, for which she once again got after me. They had split up the girls and the boys and Brynn was so sweet and trying to help me and also wasn't very happy with the nurse! They did the boys first and then the doctor came in. I explained about my blood pressure issues and showed him the numbers I get at home. He made a note on the papers they would be submitting to NZ letting them know my numbers at home all looked good. He also told me I should get a note from my neurologist letting NZ know that my PTC or IAH was under control and I had not been taking medication for it for over a year. The only other red flags for our health was that my dad has diabetes. (and if you haven't guessed yet, we all passed!). 

7. You must be 55 or younger at the time you apply. We passed this one as well.

8. You must prove that you have a genuine relationship with your partner and children. Not joking, you have to do this. We had to provide our marriage license but even more we had to prove that we've been living together and are happy together. This included pictures of each other throughout the years, showing social media posts where we are both tagged/mentioned, showing joint accounts, emails sent to us that mention both of us showing that others recognize we are in a relationship. We also had to include pictures through the years of us with our children.

9. You must speak and understand English. This one wasn't too difficult to prove, except for Daniel. And not too crazy, but his school teacher had to submit a letter verifying that he does in fact speak and understand English. 

10. Acceptable Employment. Yes, our job was on the Green List but there was more to it than that. The job has to be full time and genuine, the role must be permanent - at least 12 months or more - and the salary has to be over a certain amount. Part of this also included showing that we knew how to handle our own finances and live within a budget. We had to include bank statements showing this.

We had everything submitted the end of October and we learned a few days before Christmas that our application had been approved and we could move to New Zealand. Until then we did not know for certain if we would be moving or not. So, once we got the approval things started to feel real and a little scary!

I have to say, while there was a lot of hoops to jump through, I wish America would up their immigration game and make it harder to move here. Essentially we had to prove that we would be a benefit to their country and not a drain and I think that's a great thing!

All right, we've made it through the nitty gritty details or our move, soon we will have more exciting (and pretty) posts! Yeah! 

Wth Love from New Zealand,

Lyndsay