Shipping: Complete.

The shipping is now complete, they have been and gone!

It was pretty much a painless process (apart from all the cleaning)!

Two guys from PSS turned up about 9am (they'd gotten stuck in traffic) in a van, the kind that you'd use for moving house. We had a quick chat and I showed them around the house and pointed out what to take and what not to.

Its worth mentioning here that you need to do a little bit of prep before they turn up (I didn't read the paper work until the night before!). What they suggest is to move anything that you don't want to take, into another room completely. So I had a mad rush removing things that were staying, elsewhere. It wasn't possible/practical to move everything, but I made it clear by separating things out as best I could.

Also (as I think I have mentioned before) anything that has been near the outdoors, like shoes, tents, kids toys etc needs to be thoroughly clean and disinfected. I'd only cleaned the dirty looking shoes, so after reading the paper work I realised I'd better do all of them! So scrubbing shoes at 7 am it was. Fun.

Anything that can be flat packed needs to be done in advance of their arrival. So I had to make sure I was up early to take the bed apart (I wanted to enjoy one last night of sleep in it). We have two coffee tables, which I didn't flat pack at first, because I thought they would just stack things on and through them. So I check with the guys and they agreed that they do, do that. But when I saw them them later they were wrapping the tables up in card board as if they were a big empty box, with nothing in between them. And as the price is based on volume, I wasn't too keen on this. So I queried it, and then flat packed the other table to keep the cost down. So be careful and flat pack everything!

Once I'd shown them what to take, they brought in a load of flat boxes and packing equipment. They took a room each, then made and loaded the boxes as they went, combining two boxes if one wasn't big enough. In the mean time I printed out the Declaration of Cleanliness form that was emailed to me, and filled it out, saying what items I had cleaned and what disinfectant I had used. Which by the way was Trigene as used by vets and tattoo studios apparently.

When done, they had an itemised list which they had filled out as they went along and I signed to confirm it was all correct, as well as a short survey about the service. They seemed very efficient and all in all it took about just over 4 hours. So that left me with the rest of the day to vacuum and clean up the bare rooms!

It takes 8-10 weeks door to door, so hopefully we'll see all of our stuff within a few months, I'll keep you posted!



Oh and just a quick update on other stuff, very last minute, I have agreed to stay on at my work for another three months!!! My work's plans on moving everything to India isn't quite going to plan, so they were keen to keep people on for longer. It wasn't an easy decision, but Sarah and I agreed that it would probably be for the best, so at least we still have one wage coming in, and hopefully she can find work in that time. Unfortunately it means I won't have seen them for 4 months by the time I get out there. At least there is Skype.

If I had kept my flight, I would have arrived there this morning and already have enjoyed their company. Never mind, back to my empty room instead!

Shipping Our Things to NZ

As I write this Sarah and Mia are up in the air and on their first leg of their journey to New Zealand!


Since the last post, we have been flat out organizing things and visiting people, its been a busy time. We have been through all of our stuff; clothes, books, DVDs, CDs, Amelia's things and everything else. Then we either sold them, gave them to friends or charity or bin/recycled them. It was quite hard work, and I still have a bit more to do all on my own.


As you have probably worked out the flights have been booked, we used The Flight Centre and are flying with Singapore Airlines as they had the best price/connections that suited us. We both decided that we wanted to do the flight in one go with no stop overs, and the connection time with Singapore was just over an hour!

Finally we sorted out our shipping. Initially we looked at three companies: PSS, Anglo Pacific, and Seven Seas. PSS and Anglo Pacific both have form that you fill out on line, where you basically list everything that you want to take. They then come to your house on the chosen day and pack everything up for you and take it off to the container.

With Seven Seas they work slightly differently, and you order what they call a move cube, which is basically a small container that they drop off for the day and you fill it up however you want yourself. The move cubes come in Small Medium and Large. Because of this there is no list to complete, you just take your best guess at the size you want, and then they can ship anything that doesn't fit into the move cube as individual boxes.

So our quotes were probably not 100% equal between companies, regardless PSS came out substantially cheaper. We also know someone else who had used them, so we decided to get them to come around to our house and do a more accurate quote. This they do for free, but I did have to talk them around as they say they only do this for big moves and we are only moving part household. The man who came around was very pleasant and helpful, and I just walk around the house with him and pointed out what I wanted to take. He worked out the volumes on the fly, and by the end he informed us that it was 293 cubic feet, which was almost double the volume that we had quoted ourselves online, oops!

Just to make sure we had even quotes I then contacted the other two companies and asked them to quote based on the accurate figure. All of the quotes actually came in around the same cost, so we decide to use PSS as they had done the quote.

The estimated cost is £1446. This figure is not final, it will go up or down depending how much stuff they pack up on the day. So we are reconsidering what we want/need to take to get the cost down as much as possible.

There will also be a customs charge at the other end of around £180, which we pay at the time. We also decided to take out some insurance through PSS for our bed and a few other valuable things, which was relatively inexpensive.

There is also a possibility that NZ customs will charge us for cleaning too! They randomly inspect crates for any items that may pose a risk to their flora or fauna, so anything that has been outside, especially near farmland. And if they do find anything risky, then they take it away and 'treat' it, at our expense! So it will be my job to thoroughly clean and disinfect the risky items such as camping gear, and Amelia's toys that have been outside. What a fun job!

The shipping should take between 8-12 weeks door to door, although I have been lead to expect delays to this.


So I think we have taken care of most of the big stuff, I just have to finish getting rid of the things we don't need and start getting things ready for PSS.

I still have to sell my car though, so if anyone wants an 03 Peugeot 307, give me a shout!

New Zealand Residency Visa

Well I heard back from the NZ embassy... and they have let me in! Whoooo! I am now the proud owner of a NZ residence visa. After posting it in, I think it took about 5 weeks to get it back, and I now have a piece of paper in my passport which allows me to live in New Zealand. We have also applied for Amelia's NZ passport and received that back within 10 days, the cost of that was £40. So that is most of the important things taken care of, we just have the shipping and flight to sort now. It's getting very close now as Sarah could be leaving in 4 weeks!

NZ police report

Another quick update:

Recieved another email from the handler, just advising that they have recieved the pages I sent back in, and that they have requested and are waiting for Sarah's NZ police report (that is something they take care of, we did not need to send it in!).

Lost in transit

A quick update:

I received a friendly email last Friday from  the person handling my application at the NZ embassy. Apparently I had forgotten to include about 6 pages of the application form, and incorrectly filled 1 page out, they very helpfully included a pdf form for me to print and re-fill these bits out.

Now, I know for certain that I did include those pages as I triple checked the application and they were all attached with a paper clip. Interestingly, the pages that were misisng were pages that did not apply to my application so were blank. I can only assume that the form was pre-processed before being passed to the handler, and that person decided to remove these 'blank' pages. Very annoying.

So I reprinted these pages, and made sure I wrote N/A next to every part. I did, as mentioned, fill out one part incorrectly, which was asking me to list how many countries I'd lived in for over a year. I assumed I did not need to put in the UK, but apparently I do!

The forms have now been sent off again, directly to the handler, so hopefully it will all be processed quickly and there will be no more hiccups.

Partner Support Application

OK, this is the biggy, the main application form.

The Partner Support Application form is a massive 28 pages, fortunately there are a few sections that you can skip. Again the form is pretty straight forward, the worst part is the amount of writing and listing all of mine and Sarah’s family’s details. The form requires yet another 2 passport photos of me and 2 of Sarah.

As well as the main form, Sarah also had to complete her own Partner SupportForm, this form is not too long though. However with this form her signature needs to be witnessed by solicitor or Justice of the Peace. We made an appointment with our local solicitor, who did this the next day for a £5 fee. Sarah had to read the declaration out loud and swear on the bible!

With the application we have to send proof of our relationship, the onus is on us to provide enough. So we sent in things like a past rent agreement, utility bills, nursery bills, bank letters, flight bookings (from previous holidays), as well as Amelia’s birth certificate and 2 pages of printed photos. We tried our best to cover all of these over as many years as we could, so hopefully we have done enough.

Additionally we both sent in our passports, full birth certificates, police reports and I included my medical report. The fee for this a whoping £720, for which we included a cheque. We carefully sealed all of this up in a nice padded and envelope and send it recorded delivery to the London office.

The stated process time for this category of application is 1-3 months. It does seem we will be able to check how it’s going on-line, so I’ll have to see how good the on-line service is.

Wish us luck.

UPDATE

We posted the form on Monday and today (Thursday) we have received a confirmation letter and receipt for the cheque.   

Dual Nationality

Instead of applying for my residency straight away, we decided that the first thing to apply for was Amelia’s dual nationality, as it should only take a month. We couldn’t apply for everything at the same time as we needed to use some of the documents for both applications, Sarah’s passport. We also realised that we couldn't travel abroad until we had it back!

The Application for Registration of New Zealand Citizenship by Descent form is pretty straight forward to fill out. It does require 2 passport photos of the person, which can be fun to get if that person is a child, luckily Amelia was really good. We also needed to send in Amelia’s passport, birth certificate as well as Sarah’s NZ passport and birth certificate.

We then posted if off with a cheque for £94 to the London office.

It actually came back quicker than we thought and we had it back within 3 weeks! Amelia is now an official citizen of New Zealand!

So now I need to pull my finger out and fill out the beast that is the main application form.

The Police Report

a quick update... 

A week after my medical, the Doctor called and said I had the all clear, and then posted the results to me. They arrived quickly and were placed in a sealed envelope, which I am not allowed to open, I just have to send them in with my emigration application. All very secretive! As the doctor said, he doesn't make the decision, they do. So hopefully they will agree that its all OK too.

So the next thing to do were the police reports. Even through Sarah is a Kiwi, she needs to have one too as she is ‘supporting’ my application. I think this is to make sure we haven’t been leading lives of crime in the UK!

The form can be found here, it’s fairly simple, its mostly your basic details and your address‘s for the last 10 years. You also have to enclose a passport photo with this, which you have to get endorsed by someone who has known you for over 2 years and who’s vocation appears on their ‘approved’ list. In our case, our good friend Tim who is a manager, endorsed ours. This involved filling out a page of the form and writing some details on the back of the photo. This is then all sent off with a cheque for £35 for each application. We’re not anticipating any issues with this, but lets see what happens...

In the meantime, Kai has also had a second trip to the vets for booster vaccinations and a blood test, costing £85 this time.

The Medical

I had my medical on Friday. And it was absolutely fine!

I had to fast for 12 hours before my appointment, which was at 10am. So I was able to fast over night at least,  not too bad really. No breakfast, and only water to drink, although black tea and coffee was allowed.

The closest approved surgery was 25 miles away, and it was only two years old, so was pretty nice and spacious. I had to take the rest of the paperwork with me, my passport and my glasses (as I was wearing contact lenses).

When I first got there I went to reception and paid my £260 for the exam, the receptionist then pointed me in the direction of the toilets and gave me a small pot to pee in for the urine test.

The whole appointment was 40 mins long and everything was done by the one doctor, a semi-retired gentlemen who was very professional, friendly and reassuring.

He filled out the rest of the medical form, reading out the questions as he went. These were mostly along the lines of if I suffered from any conditions and if I smoke, drink take drugs etc. I was then asked to strip to my boxers, keeping my t-shirt on, he then weighed me, and took my height and waist measurements. Next up I had to hop onto the bed where he took my blood pressure, listened to my heart and checked my ears, mouth and stomach. Whilst I was there, he took about five viles of blood for the many test that they do, like liver, kidneys, syphilis, HIV, hepatitis and cholesterol. The extraction of the blood was fine, just a little sting in the arm and you don't notice anything after that.

Overall it was pretty quick and painless. He said he should have the results in about a week, where he will then call me to advise the outcome. He will also send me a sealed envelope containing the results, which I enclose with the rest of the application.

My fingers are crossed until next week.

And we're off...

OK, so we have started to get the ball rolling properly now.

We are doing everything ourselves instead of using any companies to do it all for us. So we are using the NZ immigration site.

As Sarah is from NZ, we are applying through the Partner Programme.

Kai has had his first rabies jab (even though both NZ and the UK are rabies free!) which cost £55.

I have to have a medical check up for the application, here’s the form, and attach 3 passport photos to it. You have to pay for the tests and use their approved panel doctors.

We booked the medicals last week, which consists of a chest x-ray, physical examination, blood and urine tests. Because of the variety of the tests, I have to have the x-ray at a hospital and the examination at a doctor’s surgery. I managed to get the X-ray booked in for the following Monday and the exam for the Friday of the same week. So I did not have to wait long at all for appointments.

I actually had the first part of my medical yesterday, a chest X-ray at hospital (unfortunately it’s not my nearest one). The cost £92.26 and was pretty quick and simple, my parking charges were just under an hour!

I had to take a few parts of the form with me along with a photocopy of my main passport page, the passport itself and of course a cheque for the fee (yes, they are still in the nineties!).

I had to put a gown on my top half, stand against a X-ray board with my shoulders forward and breath in. The doctor took the X-ray which took only a second and that was that. I signed the application form in front of her and they send the paper work to the doctors for my exam on Friday.

I just have to remember to keep my cholesterol down until Friday, and fast for 12 house before.

I’ll post again about the experience. Hopefully it's not too unpleasant!

Alex

Destination Auckland - moving from the UK to NZ

Hello there,

Well as we are at the beginning of the New Year, and we have started the paper work and organisation in earnest, this seems like a perfect time to start our blog about our emigration from Portsmouth in the United Kingdom to Auckland in New Zealand.

The Background:

My name is Alex, my partner is Sarah and we have a 2 ½ year old called Amelia, and a cat called Kai. I’m from the Portsmouth area and Sarah is a born and bred Kiwi from Auckland. She has been living in the UK for over 5 years, so it’s high time I did like wise in NZ.

We did an brief investigation into emigrating when we returned from a Christmas visit in Jan 2011. Our initial rough estimation for application was as follows:

Alex:

Chest x Ray: £90

Medical Examination: £100

- blood tests: £160

Police cert: £35 each plus £7 delivery (Alex and Sarah)

Application fee:  £665

Migration Levy (once approved) £140

Amelia:

Dual Nationality Fee £94

Passport £40

Total: Alex + Sarah police report: £1232

Total: Amelia: £134

Final Total: £1366

This is without factoring in Kai’s costs, shipping and flights. So this isn’t going to be cheap!

Work:

It seems strange to say this, but fortunately I have been made redundant! They are moving some of our jobs abroad, so I have been asked to stay until the end of June to help in the transition period and get paid an additional bonus for this. We were already planning to leave around this time, but now I don’t have to feel bad for quitting and I leave with some extra cash. Perfect timing.

Sarah has a relatively new job which she loves, so will be at pains to hand in her notice.

Amelia obviously doesn’t work, but she does love her nursery that she goes to a few days a week, so I think she will be very upset to leave her friends.

As far as work in NZ goes, we have nothing lined up at the moment, so we will probably have to find some when we get there. If we are unable to get jobs in our related fields, we may have to take any job we can get at first. I work as a digital artist in the films, games and simulation industries, with a degree in computer animation. This should help with my application, as this is considered an area which NZ wishes to develop. I may use this as an opportunity to go freelance, or I might be able to get a job with a 3D company. We’ll see what happens.

I think that is everything I need to say so far, and we’ll keep the blog updated as things happen.

Alex & Sarah