Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Kia Ora New Zealand



We've finally found something more challenging and
difficult than passing all of the physical requirements
to work in Antarctica: Applying for residency in New
Zealand. We're in the process of applying under the
"General Skills" category. We've passed through the
first round of paperwork, which granted us this
invitation but each step gets harder and entails even
more paperwork than the previous stage. To complete
this step, we must provide the following:

College Transcripts
Full Birth Certificate
Marriage Certificate
Police Certificate (to prove we're honest people I guess)
A Medical form filled out by our doctor
Work references from our last 15 years of employment

Geesh! All of this and enough paperwork to bring down
several large forests.

Nevertheless, after all this is completed, you receive
a temporary visa that allows you to come to New Zealand
to find a job. You have to work in this job (usually in
your chosen field - in my case, the hospitality industry)
for usually three to six months. When this is completed,
a permanent visa is usually granted. It's kind of like
the green card system in the U.S. Only it's permanent.
You don't get NZ citizenship, but you do get to reside
and work there as long as you want, unlike the 6 month
maximum a tourist visa grants.

Why go all through all of this you ask?
Because New Zealand is a wonderful country. We would never
give up our American citizenship and thankfully as far as
New Zealand is concerned, we don't have to. We love America
and will always be Americans, but we want to expand our
horizons and have the option to work and live in this
beautiful nation of friendly Kiwis. It's the best of both
worlds. American citizens...living in New Zealand.

2 comments:

Lori Murray said...

Cool! I hope you guys do get residency. Once you do, can you move back & forth between the US and NZ when ever you want?

Tom said...

Yeah. You get to be there as long as you want as opposed to the 6 month limit imposed on a regular tourist visa.