Silver Fern Job Search Visa... Approved!

Note: This is in the series of blog posts I wrote about my preparation to move to New Zealand. The original date stamps will give you an idea of how time-consuming migration takes. The 'New Zealand' tag will bring up all related posts.

[Originally written on 2/8/2010]
9 months of preparation led me to the moment where I handed over all my stuff to the lady behind the glass partition at INZ Singapore. I have prepared all the required documents as such:

Passport: Certified copy
Medical/X-ray INZ 1007: Original (X-ray film not required if no abnormal findings)
• Certificate of Good Conduct: Original
IELTS Test Report Form: Certified copy
NZQA International Qualification Assessment: Certified copy
Evidence of sufficient funds: Certified copy (I printed quarterly statement from Maybank2U and went to a branch to get it certified by bank officer for free)

She checked out that everything is fine and that concluded my application. I asked if they could delay the visa processing so that I would have a longer time to enter NZ but they were fixed on their policy of following... erm... policy.

True enough, a week later (21 July 2010) I received an e-mail stating that my visa has been approved and I have 6 months to enter NZ. I now have a month to send in my passport for the visa sticker to go on.

As my passport will expire in November 2011, I will renew my passport tomorrow and send in the new one instead. It'll be too costly to transfer the visa sticker if I wait till November 2011. In this case, I have to send in both the old and new passports. Also, I need to write a simple authorization letter to allow INZ to charge SGD20 to my credit card for the return courier.

This completes the most bureaucratic step of this journey. The next steps will be harrowing emotional steps:

1. Breaking the news to friends
2. Resigning from my current position (some bridges will undoubtedly be burned here)
3. Finding a job (getting ready to deal with tonnes of rejection)
4. Finding the cheapest air fare (more financial than emotional)

[End of original post]

If you have long hair, please make sure it doesn't obscure your eyes in your passport photos. The photographer didn't warn me about this and I had a few strands of hair covering my eyebrows. When I went to get my queue number at the Immigration Department, I was warned that my photos could be rejected on those grounds. Thankfully it was accepted without problem and I got my new passport a few hours later (the process is really efficient now!)

And this is how the visa sticker looks like on my passport:

Silver Fern Job Search Visa sample