In the hands of bureacracy

Well, I thought it very fitting for my 100th post to say that we have hit the next stage of our emigration plans; we have dispatched our application for a Skilled Migrant's visa to Immigrate New Zealand...

After a mild panic at the weekend (I've lost my degree certificate, but still have the transcript), and absolutely destroying my eyes on Tuesday scanning all the documents (I wanted to have a complete record of everything we've sent, and most of them, due to photos being stapled in odd places, couldn't be auto scanned, and had to be done page by page), and then spending about an hour printing all of the copies that they needed (every original document needed a photocopy behind it), I finally got my bundle of about twenty trees over to the post office, and didn't have to have too much of an argument with the lady behind the counter about why I wanted to have a pre-paid special delivery envelope inside for the return of my documents (the last time I tried to do that, the post office employee got really upset that I wasn't going to be posting the stuff back to myself then and there!). Then it was whisked out of my hands and into the lap of bureacracy...

What happens now is that we wait...

and wait...

and wait...

The INZ London processing times web page currently reads:

"Once the pre-populated application form is returned to the London branch it should be allocated to a visa officer within four months. As an example, for the week ending 3 April 2009 we are allocating applications submitted up to and including 29 December 2008.

After your application has been allocated to an officer they will generally take between one and three months to make a final decision on your application. Processing times largely depend on whether you have supplied your visa officer with everything they have requested in your Invitation to Apply, or if there are any other issues (such as medical conditions) we need to follow up on."

So basically, we won't get a case officer until the beginning of August. If all goes well, then we should get a result by the beginning of November, but we will need to have an interview as we don't have a job yet, which might delay everything.

But that is a good thing, really, as we've now got a lot of saving to do (I'd like us to have another £4K in the bank as a minimum), and a lot of organisation!

And in other news, I am now the proud owner of an accordion! (and it didn't really bite into the £4K - it was from the Family Centre, and, despite me offering more, she only charged me £25 for it!)