| 14-10-2008 |
During our holiday in Portugal
we (finally) took the decision to try to emigrate to New Zealand. This
first step was the hardest one to take. After that you just take a new step
whenever you have to take one. The problem was that during our holiday we
couldn't do anything so we had to wait until we got back home again. |
| 26-10-2008 |
After we arrived back home yesterday we
surfed over the internet the whole day today to get an idea of everything we
have to do to emigrate to New Zealand. Soon it became clear that our best
way was using the 'Skilled Migrant'-possibility by submitting an EOI ('Expression Of Interest') as
Martin gathered a lot of points with his education and workexperience. If he
could also arrange a joboffer in New Zealand then he would gather more than
140 points and would we be invited to apply for a Residence Visa
automatically. Without a joboffer we would gather 125 points and then we
have to wait if we get this invitation. |
| 26-10-2008 |
Martins has updated his CV,
translate it into English and sent it around in New Zealand and hope that
someone is interested in offering him a job. |
| 26-10-2008 |
To claim points for our EOI Martin had to get
his Dutch qualification assessed. This has to be done by the NZQA (New
Zealand Qualifications Authority). So we directly applied for an online
assessment which cost us NZD 75 (~EUR 35). |
| 04-11-2008 |
We received several emails from
New Zealand and they all had no job to offer or we had to look on their
website for the latest joboffers. Not really what we expected but on the
other hand it was quite obvious. Which company wants to offer a job to
someone who is on the other side of the planet and not capable to drop by
for a visit so they can see how he's like and capable of. But most important
is that he can only start in a couple of months (at least) and they want to
have someone NOW! So we decided to submit our EOI without a joboffer. |
| 05-11-2008 |
We received an email from the NZQA dat
Martins qualification was the equivalent to a New Zealands
'Bachelors degree'. We knew that already but we had to get this on paper as
well. |
| 10-11-2008 |
The last couple of days was Martin
busy filling out all the questions of his online EOI. And as they asked a
lot of questions he was very busy collecting all information and filling
them out. On the website they mentioned 2 hours work but we spend quite a
bit more. Fortunately you don't have to fill out everything at once. When
all questions were filled out and checked we submitted our online EOI. This
costs us another NZD 400 (~EUR 187). If the EOI was submitted by mail it would cost us NZD
500 (~EUR 234). With the submission of the EOI you don't have to include any
proof as you have to show any proof during your official application. |
| 10-11-2008 |
We had a look at the statistics
of the last EOI selection of 05-11-2008. Then they selected 854 EOI's of
which 403 had 140 or more points; 97 had a job or joboffer in New Zealand.
Next they selected all the people with workexperience in 'Skill Shortage
Area'. As this also applies for our EOI we would have been selected as well
(with only 500 out of the 854 selected before ours). Previous selections were
similar. So if the next selection (at 19-11-2008) is done in rougly a
similar way we will then be selected. If not so we will almost certainly
selected during one of the next selections. Oops! In this case everything
wil go much quicker than we expected. |
| 18-11-2008 |
Today we received our French Police
Certificate for which we applied online. We need this as well as we have
lived more than 12 months in France during the last 10 years. It didn't
surprised us that they couldn't find anything worth mentioning. |
| 19-11-2008 |
We slept very well while we knew that they
probably select our EOI from the pool at the same time. So in the morning we
checked the selection results directly and we found out that indeed we were
selected from the pool although we haven't received any personal respons
yet. There are 808 EOI's selected this time of which 545 EOI's were selected
before ours (criteria 1. and 2. see above). |
| 02-12-2008 |
To our surprise did we finally received an
email which gave us more information about the progress of our selection
procedure. First of all our request was transferred to the NZ Immigration
office in London and after 2 weeks they are assessing our request. They
needed a copy of the PAResult of the NZQA and I also included scans of my
degrees in the same email. Later that afternoon we received a second email
stating that the (faster) PAR-procedure of the NZQA we followed was
sufficient for now but that we still need to follow their full procedure for
the final residency application. We knew this already. Also did they want to
know which electrical occupation I was looking for in New Zealand as some
occupations are protected by law and require registration. This we knew
already as well but not that if you're not able to register in New Zealand
this can be a reason to refuse your residency application. Also seems it difficult
to register in NZ as long as you don't have a job(offer) in the country. For
a short moment we were panicing but after a thorough search on the internet
we found out that registration is only required for Electricians, Electrical
Service Technicians etc. but not for an occupation as 'Electrical
Engineering Technician' I am looking for. To be sure we have checked this by
email with the Electrical
Workers Registration Board. |
| 03-12-2008 |
Just before we went to bed we received an
email from the EWRB stating that for my occupation as 'Electrical Engineering Technician' registration
is NOT needed, although there are some exceptions but I don't have a
joboffer. This is good news because now we can't be refused for not being registrated. |
| 15-12-2008 |
We received a letter (dd. 24-11-2008!) from Immigration New Zealand which
stated that... our EOI was selected from the Pool and was forwarded to their London
branch for consideration. So actually there was nothing new in this letter. |
| 18-12-2008 |
Every day we have a quick look at the website of Immigration New Zealand to
see the status of our application. Tonight it suddenly was changed from 'Selected'
to 'Decision Successful'! So this means that after going through our application they
couldn't find anything to reject us. In a couple of days we receive a letter
(hopefully does this letter does not need three weeks to arrive!) with more
information. So now we can start with preparing things as until now nothing
was sure yet. |
| 22-12-2008 |
Dad called this morning to tell that they received a letter from London for us.
Why they sent this letter to Holland we don't know but Dad will send the
letter today to France. So we have to have a little more patience to read
this letter. |
| 26-12-2008 |
This morning the mail delivered the long
awaited letter from Immigration New Zealand with the 'Invitation to apply
for residence'. As expected it was a thick letter and we still have a lot to
do before we can submit our official application, but that's why they give
us time and we have to submit the application before 16-04-2009. |
| 06-01-2009 |
After 2 weeks in which everything was closed
for holidays we are now busy in getting all our important dutch documents
translated into English. This is not as easy as it seems as we are not
allowed to do it ourself but it has to be done by a registrated translator.
After some searching we found one so we have emailed her copies of these
documants already. In the meantime we have to arrange certified copies of
all documents as only then the translator can finalise the translations. So
there's still a lot of work to do. |
| 08-01-2009 |
Yesterday I went to the local notary to have
all my copies of Dutch documents certified. He made a mistake to stamp on an
original stating it was a copy. I stopped him straight away but the harm was
already done and he apologised himself many times. But on the other hand it
showed that my copies were (almost)
identical to the originals. So today I send all these certified copies to an official
translator to be translated into English. When I get all these documents and translations back
from her I can send everyhting to the NZQA (New
Zealand Qualifications Authority) for assessment. They already assessed
my qualificatation but now I have to have a full assessment and have to
proove all my claims with documents. This time the NZQA does not only assess
my qualifications but also my work experience to see if I can claim them as
'Relevant workexperience'. |
| 12-01-2009 |
Today we were busy to prepare the medical
examination. We made an appointment with a by the Immigration New Zealand
recognised radiologist near Toulouse for some x-rays in the end of February.
That same afternoon we have an appointment with a by the Immigration New
Zealand recognised doctor in Toulouse. In this way everything will be done
the same day and we can receive the final results directly. But before we
need to have a blood and urine sample analysed for 17(!!!) different kind of
things so we visited our doctor today and he arranged everythingwith the
laboratory. So as soon as we have new pasphotos we can visit the laboratory
and give them our 'samples'. |
| 16-01-2009 |
This morning we visited the laboratory and
left a blood and urine sample behind. Somewhere next week we can pick up the
results. Also all the translations of our Dutch documents are ready as well
as my work reference of my last employer
Brugman and all
these documents are send to us as quickly as possible so we can forward them
to the NZQA.
Another story is the translations of our French documents. It's not
difficult to find a translator here but a sworn translator is something
different. Even big regional translating companies couldn't help us. Because
we have translate only our French 'Police certificates' I went to the local
court (where they have loads of official documents) and they gave me the
addresses of three sworn translators English. So next week I will find one
for us. Fortunately these 'Police certificates don't have to be send to the
NZQA! |
| 21-01-2009 |
Today we collected the testresults of our
blood and urine sample. It was 3 pages full with numbers each person. We
can't make out of it if we're healthy but at least we feel that way. Next
month we have an appointment with a doctor in Toulouse and he will certainly
tell us if we are healthy. |
| 23-01-2009 |
Yesterday we received the translations of our
Dutch documents so today we were quite busy sorting out all the documents
necessary for the NZQA. As it wasn't completely clear to us from which
documents we have to send in the originals we sent the NZQA an email about
it. This also gives us a little extra time to receive my work reference from
Brugman which is send to us from Shanghai! |
| 27-01-2009 |
The response of the NZQA was clear:
'originals are compulsory for my final qualification only, for all other
documents certified copies are fine as well'. So today we finished the whole
NZQA procedure on the internet ('Fast track'-procedure) and put all
documents in an envelope to send it to the NZQA tomorrow. It resulted in an
envelope with 35 sheets of paper! |
| 13-02-2009 |
It took quite a while but after more than two
weeks our papers have arrived at the NZQA where they have four weeks to get
everything assessed. |
| 25-02-2009 |
This morning we left home early for Toulouse
as today we had our compulsary medical checkup. In the morning we had a chest
X-rays made (Martin needed two X-rays to have his whole chest covered) and
after some waiting everything was OK and we could go.
In the afternoon we had an appointment with a by the INZ (Immigration New Zealand)
recognised doctor in Toulouse. He checked our X-rays and bloodsample
lab-results and together we filled out a very extensive medical
questionairy. We also had a medical examination but here also everything was
fine. Finally the doctor put all his finding on paper in a Medical
Certificate and that was all for that day, so we could drive back home. |
| 08-03-2009 |
After a long silence from the NZQA we received today an email from them.
At the moment they are accreditating my qualifications and therefor had to
contact 'third parties' and I was not allowed to get involved in it.
Therefor they can't say how much longer the procedure is going to take. So
the only thing we can do now is to wait a little bit longer. |
| 16-03-2009 |
The NZQA finished its assessment today and
have send all the documents back to us. As they haven't send us any email
about their results we will have to wait until the documents have arrived
here before we can read what their final conclusions are. A little more
patience!!! |
| 19-03-2009 |
Today DHL delivered a package with our documents from the
NZQA despite that today was a day that lots of people went on strike here in
France. All my documents I had send to the NZQA were returned together with
a brief report about my level of education. That they came to the same
conclusion as with my PAR-request in November 2008 was no surprise at all. A
surprise however was that I had to send in lots of papers about my work
experience as well and that this is not mentioned in their report at all.
And because we're applying for a Skilled Migrant Residency this is crucial
as well. So I immediately send an email to the NZQA to clearify this. |
| 23-03-2009 |
The response of the NZQA was clear: they
don't assess my workexperience but sometimes it is an essential part of a
qualification. Also it might help them to judge a qualification more
accurate. So it's the INZ who finally assess my workexperience so we have to
send all these papers to them as well. |
| 24-03-2009 |
As we were in Holland we took the oppertunity
to renew our passports. Our passports were still valid for another
year but renewing them in New Zealand would mean much more hassle as the
Dutch Embassy would be involved in it and we still would have a valid visa
in our old passports. Now we don't have to bother about our passports for
the next five years. With our new passports we have now (finally) collected
all the documents we need for the INZ. So when we're back home in France we
can sort out all the documents and send them in to the INZ in London. |
| 02-04-2009 |
Yesterday we went to the notary in Figeac to
have our last copies of documents certified. For the whole day we were busy
selecting and sorting out all the documents and copies and (double)check if
we had missed something. It was a lot of work but just before we went to bed
we had our pile of documents ready for sending. It finally resulted in a
pile of 143 sheets. Yes, INZ does want to know a lot from us! Today we put
the whole pile in an envelope send it to INZ London with registered mail. It
was a big relief because (for now) there's nothing we can do anymore and
it's up to INZ. We even managed to stay within the 4 months period we were
given by the INZ for the application. |
| 08-04-2009 |
Our official application has entered the
procedure in London yesterday as today it was mentioned at the website of Immigration New Zealand.
Here is stated that our application for a Residence visa is pending and that
they received our full medical certificate as well. Funny is that they also
mention our application for an extension of our visitors permit which we
applied for in November 2002 when we arrived in New Zealand during our
Worldtrip on our motorbikes. |
| 24-04-2009 |
Today we got a letter from the INZ in
London with a confirmation that they have received our application at 07-04-2009,
but that we new already. What we didn't know was that it can take up to 4
months before they even start with assessing our application!!! And on top
of that they can take up to 3 months before they have to make a decision.
And as applications with a job-offer have priority we assume it will take 4
to 6 months before we receive a decision. This is longer than we thought but
on the other hand we're not in a hurry and at least we can enjoy our summer
here in Europe. The last month we couldn't plan ahead as we didn't know how
long INZ needed... but they need a long time! |
| 09-06-2009 |
Today we received an email from our 'case officer'
in London who's going to handle our immigration application. Of course he
missed the evidence of our English language skills. We hadn't add this
evidence to our application because we don't have any. We sent him some
references and offered him to visit them in London. If this is acceptable to
them we don't know, but the most important thing about this email to us was
the fact that we were drawn out of the pile of applications in London and
have now a case officer. This is another (small) step in the procedure. |
| 23-06-2009 |
Today we received an email from our 'case officer'
informing us that a personal interview with an immigration officer is NOT
accepted as proof for our English language skills. So we need to do an
IELTS-test (International English Language Testing System). So now we
have to look when and where we going to do the test and we need to apply for
it asap.. Fortunately the test can be done anywhere but the dates are fixed
and almost similar. We have to look where there are still places available
and what does fit in our busy schedule. |
| 03-07-2009 |
Because there is no IELTS testing in France
in August (and all tests in July are fully booked) and we want to perform
this test asap. we decided to do the test in London on Saturday 08-08-2009. In London
there are a lot of oppertunities to perform this test and we had planned to
go there anyhow. So today we sent in our application forms by email and got
directly a confirmation back. We also informed our 'case officer' about it
so he keeps up-to-date and he can schedule a personal interview if that's
still necessary. |
| 06-07-2009 |
Immigration New Zealand was still very
interested to have a personal interview with us as we read in their
todays email. So we have scheduled a meeting on Friday 07-08-2009. |
| 07-08-2009 |
This morning we had our interview with our 'case officer'
which was pleasant and informal.
He was mainly interested why we want to live in New Zealand and what we
think to contribute to their economy; which makes sense if you want to enter
the country as a skilled migrant. We could tell him quite a bit about New
Zealand and the fact that we have several friends there didn't work against
us either. So all together we had a good feeling about the interview.
Also we took the oppertunity to ask him about the rest of the application
procedure. That was fairly simple: they had received all the necessary
documents except for the test results of the IELTS-test (which we will
perform tomorrow) but they are expected in about 2 weeks. Then they can make
a decision about our application so in about a month we will be notified
about their decision. |
| 08-08-2009 |
Today was a tough day as the whole day we had
our IELTS-test. It started directly with a 3½ hour non-stop session in which
we had respectively a listening-, a reading- and finally a writing-test.
Especially the listening-test was quite tough as it was our first test and
we didn't know exactly how to approach the test the best way. Also the text
was read only once so we both missed a couple of answers. But we both think
we passed our minimal required grades (6½ for Martin and 5½ for Jeannette on
a 0-9 scale). In the afternoon we had our individual speaking-tests which
was the easiest test of the day. The only thing was that Jeannette was
scheduled at 16:30 hours so we had to spend the whole day at the testing
centre... but finally we left here with a good feeling and a big relief! |
| 28-08-2009 |
We haven't received any mail from London yet
regarding the IELTS test results. But today we received an email from
Immigration New Zealand in which they confirmed that they received the test
results yesterday and that they are now able to finalise our application
very soon. Also we heard 'from a reliable source' that we both scored above the
criteria set by INZ. So we're vey curious what their decision will be. |
| 04-09-2009 |
This morning we finally received the long
expected mail with our IELTS testresults. Despite markings on the envelop
like 'Air Mail' and "Priority' it takes apparently more then 2 weeks
before we receive mail from London. As expected were our testresults well
above the minimal values as set by INZ. Martins best result was the reading
test and Jeannettes best result was the..... (what a surprise!!!) speaking
test. |
| 17-09-2009 |
Today we unexpectedly received an
email from Immigration New Zealand that they decided that we 'could
contribute to New Zealand' and therefor we are allowed to emigrate to New Zealand. Formally
first only for 9 months but if Martin finds a job during that period in his
skills then it's converted into a permanent residence permit. This is done
as Martin doesn't have a job(offer) yet. To us it doesn't really matter, we
got what we were looking for and we are convinced that we stay in New
Zealand.
But we're not completely finished as formally we didn't apply for this
'temporary' residence permit but they have send us the forms for it as well
(per email as per mail it takes a bit longer!). Within 3 months we have to
return this form together with our flight details and proof of our
financially capability to survive the first 3 months in New Zealand and of
course our passports where they have to put our visa in!
This means that we finally can start with arranging all kind of affairs as:
flight reservations, quarantaine for our pets, movers etc.. So we have a
(very) busy time ahead!!! |
| 23-09-2009 |
This morning we received the decision of INZ,
which we received per email last week already, per mail. This letter made
the trip from London much quicker than our last letter from London. |
| 29-09-2009 |
Finally we have booked our flight for the
emigration to New Zealand. We're flying on 04-12-2009 from Toulouse
to Christchurch where we're arriving on 06-12-2009. |
| 30-09-2009 |
Because we've booked our fight now we have
send in our application for a 'Work to Residence' visa today. We're
expecting our passports back in about 2 - 3 weeks time WITH the visa for New
Zealand. |
| 15-10-2009 |
Today we've received an email from INZ
telling us that they have received our application and passports and that
it's forwarded to the department which issues visas. |
| 17-10-2009 |
On the website of Immigration New Zealand we
saw today that they have issued us a 9 month Work-permit on
15-10-2009 and we have to arrive in NZ before 15-01-2010, but that's no
problem at all. |
| 22-10-2009 |
Today we received back our passport... with
the visa!!! Herewith is ending a procedure which took us almost a year to
complete and the only thing left us to do is to travel to New Zealand. There
is some time left but we're sure we don't get bored in the meantime! |
| 06-12-2009 |
After a long trip of 38 hours we finally
arrived in Christchurch New Zealand. The arrival in Auckland earlier that
morning made us realise once more why we had decided to go living in New
Zealand. At the gate for the last flight to Christchurch we were welcomed
home and that was exactly how we felt it as well.
We are now allowed to stay in New Zealand until 06-09-2010 and Martin has to find a job
before this date to get our Work Permits converted into a Permanent
Residence Permit. So there's still some work left to do! |
| 17-02-2010 |
Just before Christmas we arrived
in our small house in Invercargill and could we start looking for a job. Timingwise
it wasn't the best moment to look for a job as it was not only the Christmas
holidays but here in New Zealand that's also the summer holidays so most
companies are on minimal activity for a month. Furthermore we found out that
here in Southland there are not a lot of jobs in 'Process Automation'.
However there are plenty of jobs as an 'Electirican' but you have to be
registrated for it (and Martin isn't). Finally he came in contact with a
company which was very interested in hiring him as 'Automation Engineer' but they hadn't enough
contracts to employ him yet, but were expecting these soon. Finally they
agreed that Martin would start as an 'Electrician' to gather work experience
in New Zealand and to work towards his registration, something he really
needs as without you're not even allowed to connect a pump or a switch. So
he will start the job on 22-02-2010 and can switch to their Automation
Department as soon as they have the expected contracts. |
| 29-05-2010 |
After been in the job for more
than 3 months now we have met the criteria from INZ to get our permanent
residency. So Martin obtained a letter from his employer stating that he had
been working for them for more than three month now and sent all the
paperwork together with our passports to London. Yes! Our residency permit
is going to be issued in London even if we are currently in New Zealand as
London is the office where they handled our file and going to finish it as
well. |
| 10-06-2010 |
It would be too easy to get our residence
permit already! Immigration has received the documents from Martins employer
but it stated that he is working as an Electrician. To work as an
Electrician you need a registration and because he hasn't not his
registration they raised some
questions about it. To change the job description is a lot of hassle and as
Martin is waiting for his registration anyway we decided to wait a little
bit longer. |
| 21-06-2010 |
Still we had no results from Martins
assessment regarding his registration as an Electrician, but we
decided to follow the NZ regulations course anyhow so Martin attends that
course this week and have his practical assessments next week. This was as
much we could do before the results of his Dutch qualification assessments
were known. |
| 26-06-2010 |
Today we received finally (after 10 weeks waiting!) the assessment results
from the registration board which was very clear. They accepted all Martins
work experience but nothing of his theory. (How can you accept all some ones
work experience as that same person has no acceptable theoratical
knowledge?) Because he already did some courses
he has to do his theory only. Why they reached this conclusion was unknown,
even after phoning the registration board.
But more important was that they offered Martin a provisional license so he
could work towards his full registration. So we filled out the application
for a provisional license straight away and sent it back to the registration
board. |
| 26-07-2010 |
Last week we received
a letter from the registration board stating that they granted Martin a
provisional license. Finally we had the feeling that we made some progress.
So today we send (certified) copies of this letter to Immigration New
Zealand. Hopefully it will be enough for them to grant us our residency
permit now.
It is about time as we also received an automatic generated email from INZ
saying that our visa was due to expire in 45 days. But no worries as we can't
leave New Zealand as our passports are still in London. |
| 18-08-2010 |
When we received
another automatic generated email from INZ saying that our visa was due to
expire in 23 days we got a little bit uncomfortable and send a email to INZ
London. They finally responded, with some delay due to the summer holidays,
with the good news that they had granted our residency. But because Martin had
worked before without a license that time wasn't counting for the three
months in a job. This 3 month period started in mid July (when he got his
license) and will be passed at mid Octobre. But this date is after
06-09-2010, the date our work permit expires. This was no problem as INZ
London is going to make a special note in our Residecy visa which will be
removed later when Martin has the three month work in his job. An extra bit
of paperwork but this doesn't bother us at all as we finally have what we
were after! |
| 24-08-2010 |
Today we received back our passport... with
the residence permits!!! OK it still contains the special clause (18A) in it but we can have it
removed later this year. And the good news is that we can go to Dunedin to
remove this and don't have to send the passports back to London. But the
main thing is that we can stay in New Zealand now indefinitely! |
| 16-12-2010 |
Last Monday we send in our
passports to Dunedin to have our special clause (18A) removed and today we
got our passports back already. They had removed special clause 49(1) and
put an additional Resident Visa in our passports. We had no idea what clause
49(1) was and why we got an additional Residence Visa instead of a Residence
Permit. But a phone call to Immigration made everything clear. Last November
a new Immigration Law got effective and Permits don't exist anymore, only
Visa's. Furthermore was clause 18A now renamed into clause 49(1). So
although there were a lot of new names and numbers we got what were looking
for: an unconditional Residence Permit (sorry: Residence Visa!). The only
thing we have to do is getting an permanent Residence Visa (so we can travel
in and out New Zealand whenever we want) but we can only apply for this
after having 2 years our Residency. So for the time being there is nothing
to do for us anymore but enjoying New Zealand!
|
| 15-01-2011 |
In the mail we received the results of
the exam Martin had last November and he passed it. This means that he has
ticked all the requirements the Electrical Workers Registration Board (EWRB)
demanded so now he can apply for his full Electricians registration. |
| 12-02-2011 |
Today we received a letter from the EWRB with
the confirmation that Martin is a registered Electrician now. This means the
end of a long process (over a year) of
which we initially thought was just a formality (to have your qualifications
transferred). So there is reason to party but there is a downside on it as
well... as Martin has to do now call-outs in the middle of the night as well
for his company! |
| 25-08-2012 |
Although we had our permanent residency for
New Zealand since August 2010, it wasn't really that permanent. After 2
years the permanent residency permit has to be reviewed. Nothing special as
it's only a check to make sure that people are really going to live in New
Zealand after receiving their permanent residency permit. So for us it was
just a formality and so we had our passports back already from Dunedin 4
days after we send in our application and passports. From now on there are
no restrictions for us to live in New Zealand anymore. We only have to
transfer our permanent residency visa every time we get a new passport. |
| 24-08-2015 |
After having our permanent residency for more
than 5 years we are eligible for New Zealand citizenship now. So today we have mailed our
application for New Zealand citizenship. We had to send in all our original
documents. Getting a New Zealand citizen is our last step to become a real
Kiwi as that's how we're feeling. |
| 03-09-2015 |
Today we received all our documents back and
a letter that our application was sent to the Minister of Internal Affairs
for 'consideration'.. So we have to wait a little bit longer... |
| 27-10-2015 |
Today we received a letter that our grant for
New Zealand citizenship was granted. All there's left to do is taking the
oath of allegiance at a citzenship ceremony here in Southland. We will be
contacted when this is going to happen. |
| 15-01-2016 |
Today we received a letter with an invitation for our citzenship ceremony here in
Invercargill on Thursday 11-02-2016. So finally we know when we are becoming
a 'real' kiwi now. To our surprise it's our local hero mayor Tim Shadbolt
who is hosting the ceremony!. |
| 12-02-2016 |
 Today we
had our citizenship ceremony (it was delayed for one day!). It started at
9am. so we had to get out of bed early for it. The ceremony itself was
quickly over as we could do our oath together. There were 28 persons doing
their ceremony. Afterwards we were given the oppertunity to have our photo
with the mayor taken. With this cermony there came an end to the our
emigration precess to New Zealand, a process which took over 7 years!!! But
it was worth it. |
