My life is moving forward at last! We submitted our EOI (Expression of Interest) to NZ Immigration today. This is the first step in applying for Permanent Residency.
"But wait," I hear you saying, "weren't you waiting for the job offer before you could apply?"
We were indeed waiting for it. And waiting. And waiting. So last night Grant emailed his recruitment officer again, to basically ask what was going on and how long we had to wait and could she give him a name at HQ to chase up with. She phoned straight away and said we should go ahead and submit our EOI and that they will come through with the job offer for definite and even if it reached the stage in application that we needed to provide the document they would provide it by then.
So we went ahead and submitted today. The next selection out of the pool is on the 22nd and we'll get a case officer and an ITA (Invitation to Apply) within 10 days.
We then have four months to submit our actual application. All we are waiting on to do that is new South African police clearances (which take two months, Grant is asking his mom to order them this week), our medicals and of course the job offer. So we won't take four months to submit, it will be much sooner.
Once we have submitted our application they are apparently processing applications within three months. So we are looking at definitely within about five months, for sure. (Or as sure as we can be about anything in this department!!!)
It is SO exciting to be moving forward and to have a set timescale!!!
