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