New Zealand Immigration Consultants

Would-be migrants facing two-year wait
By Lincoln Tan
4:00 AM Thursday Nov 26, 2009

About 4000 would-be migrants applying under the family category are being told they must wait for up to two years after paying their application fees to Immigration New Zealand before they can be allocated to a case officer.

Many are elderly parents wanting to live with their New Zealand citizen or resident children, and even after being assigned a case manager, have to wait another year or two before their applications are processed.

Licensed immigration adviser Tika Ram, who has five clients in the queue waiting for officer allocation, says the agency’s practice is "outrageous and unfair".

"Some may not get to live long enough to see their applications approved," he said.

"Immigration New Zealand gets $700 for every application and 4000 applicants means it has received $2.8 million in advance payment for doing absolutely nothing and that’s a breach of trust," said Mr Ram.

More here.

Young and highly-skilled get new pathway to citizenship
By Lincoln Tan
4:00 AM Thursday Nov 26, 2009

Young, highly skilled graduate workers can come to New Zealand under a new visa policy which would eventually lead them on a pathway to becoming permanent residents.

Immigration Minister Jonathan Coleman said the new Silver Fern visa, to be implemented in April next year, aimed to attract the young and highly-skilled.

"In the global competition for skills, we need to encourage young, career-minded people to choose New Zealand as a long term destination.

"It is important to acknowledge that migration is a key economic enabler. It gives New Zealand businesses international connections and provides skills to transform our economic landscape. However, it’s all about attracting the right skills and matching those skills with the employment needs of our economy."

Under the policy, young people with proven potential will be able to come to New Zealand for up to nine months to seek skilled employment.

Once employed, they will then be issued with a further permit to stay another two years while they apply for residence.

More here.

I’m filling out paperwork to try and get my teaching qualifications assessed by NZ, and I’ve come across a strange problem. GPA format is different in the US, and I can’t find a place that tells me how NZ figures it. It is 3.819 out of a possible 4.0 according to the US scale. Can anyone help me?

I’m currently filling out my EOI for NZ Skilled Migrant Programme & I have a doubt regarding answering the question B 12 in the EOI. The section is "Character" and the question is about traffic offence / dangerous driving.

The thing is, I have so far got two speeding tickets while I was in the USA for which I was asked to pay a fine. This was 2 or 3 years ago. My question is am I supposed to answer yes for the question & indicate these details in the EOI?

Any advice will be appreciated in this regard.

Hello,

Right I don’t know if I’m just being a bit of a thicko, but, the family section of the EOI, I need to enter my parents/siblings details even though theyre not applying right?..

So, the confusing thing is the partnership option which you have to fill in, say for my dad, asks me for married, de facto etc. Does this mean his partnership status? I think it must be, but Im not sure.. I dont want to put down that Im married to my dad!

I think that makes sense… ?

Dear MB/All,

This is my first submission to the site so first of all my warm ‘Hi’ to all lovely ppl out here.

Let me tell you my background first so that you can analyze the scenarios correctly

Background
———-

I am a s/w engineer by profession with over 10 years of experience in my own field. I am from India but residing in HK/Macao for over 3 years now. After due deliberation I decided to move to NZ (The deciding factors were relatively relaxed life-style & immigration laws compared to Australia)

Yesterday I submitted the application for qualifications assessment and couriered my docs too. Now while I am waiting for the NZQA assessment report I have few queries in my mind. The range of queries is quite wide but I would appreciate any thought you might have on any query.

Queries
——-

1. While the NZQA assessment is underway, can I go ahead to file EOI? (I know that it isn’t possible as the requirement from NZIS is the ‘completion’ of assessment
, but I just thought of double checking
the same)

2. My impression on English language ability criteria is that it is better to provide IELTS score to NZIS, than to rely on ‘recognised qualification conducted entirely in English’. Is it correct. Any Idea about qualifications from India (I have B.Tech qualification)

3. I do plan to take IELTS exam, but the earliest dates available are in January. Is it alright to file EOI based on ‘recognised qualification conducted entirely in English’ and then provide IELTS Score at ITA time? CAn this factor be a deciding factor for ITA decision by NZIS?

4. My wife is a teacher by profession and her qualification is also related to teaching. I will be seeking points for my wife’s qualification. I understand that IELTS score needs to be provided by her too but do she need to register herself with teacher’s council too? (My understanding is that it is not required at all, but would like to confirm and also check whether or not this registration can have any positive impact on decision by NZIS)

5. As I mentioned that I hold a Indian Passport but currently I am residing in HK/Macau. So which branch is most likely to process my case?

6. I am a valid HK and Macau work permit holder for more about 3 years but my actual stay in HK in these 3 years combined will hardly be few weeks. Do I still need to get a police certificate from HK just because I hold a valid HK permit? (Again my understanding is that NO it is not required but the fact is that there is no proof on how many days I have stayed in HK in my passport as I used digital HK ID to enter/exit from HK. So may be another question can be that How to prove this to NZIS?)

7. Now my this question is very generic and that is about the IT job market in NZ. I do see a couple of job advertisements on job sites but on the same hand I have read many distress stories about not finding job even after several months, so I am knid of curios to know first hand.

8. This is a sily question, but may I ask you experienced fellawas to share your job searching methodologies (specifically in IT field). I believe that now is not the right time to start applying for jobs as the PR seems couple of months away. So around what time shall this be started. (At the time of ITA sumbission???).

9. Now this is not a query but a request to share the details of all job consultants based out of NZ (related to IT field) and your experiences with them.

If for any of the above queries, you think that NZIS (or some other body) can rather provide accurate responses, then please do let me know the contact details if you have it ready. Neverthless any suggestions with or without any pointers are MOST WELCOME! :Cheers:

Regards,
Tanu

Academics against primary standards
By NATHAN BEAUMONT - The Dominion Post
Last updated 05:00 25/11/2009

The Government’s national standards policy for primary schools will lead to children being labelled failures, damage their self-esteem and turn them off learning, leading academics warn.

In a letter to Education Minister Anne Tolley, four university academics – including one credited with inspiring the system – warn that flaws in the standards are likely to lead to "serious" side effects.

"We are very concerned that the intended national standards system wrongly assumes that children are failing if they do not meet the standard for their age," the letter said.

"There are many successful New Zealanders with unexceptional school records who would not have succeeded had they been constantly labelled as failures during their childhood."

But Mrs Tolley has dismissed the letter, saying the standards are coming and the sector better get used to it.

"This has nothing to do with labelling children as failures. We are addressing the fact that almost one in five students are leaving school without the basic literacy and numeracy skills that they need.

"National standards are all about identifying children who need extra help in reading, writing and maths and making sure they get the support they need to make progress."

The group is Professor John Hattie, from Auckland University, Professor Martin Thrupp, from Waikato University, and Otago University’s Professor Terry Crooks and Lester Flockton, a senior research fellow.

Prime Minister John Key has previously credited Professor Hattie with inspiring the system, but now he is among those warning the system could be a disaster.

The group wants the Government to focus on the progress children are making, rather than have them work towards a national standard, and trial the initiative in up to 200 schools. There is also concern that there will be no consistency in the way teachers report to parents.

The group also warned against standards data being turned into publicly available league tables comparing schools.

Hundreds of primary school principals have said they will boycott the policy unless changes are made to limit public access to schools’ performance data.

NEW STANDARDS

* In place from the first day of school next year.

* Pupils from years 1 to 8 will be assessed in numeracy and literacy against national academic standards.

* Parents will be able to follow their child’s progress with a chart that shows strengths and weaknesses, and problems.

* The reports, which will come out at least twice a year, will include teachers’ comments, practical steps parents can take to help their children improve, learning goals and whether children need extra support at school.

From here.

Hi,

I just received Decision Successful :Yahoo!:after applying for EOI on 18th Nov.I would like to get answers to the following questions

a)How long will it take to receive ITA parcel
b)How to prove our relationship evidence.We only have our marriage certificate as proof.We don’t have a rental agreement or joint bank account for further proof.Rather,no other proof at all except some photos taken on our marriage day.
c)My husband is currently doing his Masters.Is it good to provide his semester markesheets so far,he also has some certificates which mark his acheivements.Can i include them in my ITA to prove that he is really worthy?Will it be easier to get PR if we show he is exceptionally good in his field by providing such certificates?

Thanks a lot in advance!
Ramya