Silver Fern 2013

Annual online application for the Silver Fern JS visa 2013 was filled yesterday on Monday 29th in just a few minutes. As always.

My congratulations to everybody who were lucky and got their places. Those, who didn't make it though the payment, don't be sad, it was a pure luck in the end.
I hope you don't give up and find a better way to make your dream come true.

As a matter of fact, it was very annoying to hear that they didn't fix the web site this year AGAIN, and people had to struggle through ridiculous number of errors and misunderstandings. And this was the government site, you know.

I would like to ask people who read this blog and made it through the payment yesterday to share their experience for the sake of next year applications. Could you, please, leave a comment answering the following:

1. Your country of residence.
2. What kind of bank card you used for the payment, credit/debit.
3. What time your payment went through. You can see it in your net bank, for example. It's a very important information to see how fast places were taken this year.
4. What browser you used.
5. Your occupation/diploma name.

Also any relevant information, comments on this year's application are very welcome.

Thank you very much in advance,

Lena

Silver Fern: proof of evidence that you meet the requirements

Once you succeeded to submit your online Silver Fern application, please, accept my warmest congratulation: YOU did it! This step is a way too far away from your first step on the New Zealand land, however, everything that you will have to arrange now are so called pleasant problems and worries.

Your visa place is only theoretically yours, to make it real you have to send a set of papers to the nearest NZ branch. Don't worry, you will receive a detailed e-mail with instructions next day after you pay for your visa, however, I'm going to cover it hear briefly anyways for those who think one step forward.

Papers which you have to collect and send to the nearest branch (address will be included in the e-mail, London in my case) by the set day (3 months after the day of submitting the application):

1. Your passport

NZ visa will be issued in the passport. Make sure your passport is valid for long enough.

2. A Medical and X Ray Certificate (INZ 1007)

See www.immigration.govt.nz/medicalforms to download a copy of the certificate.

Basically, you can get this certificate from any country and city you like, prices vary a lot.List of available government approved doctors you can see here: http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migrant/stream/work/skilledmigrant/LinkAdministration/ToolboxLinks/paneldoctors.htm?level=1

Speaking about prices, in St. Petersburg, Russia, you would pay around 500e, in Helsinki, Finland,- 600e.

I chose an Estonian doctor, Dr Jaak Talli, from Tallinn. The reason was not only the price, I paid around 250e for everything including fary tickets, but also because Tallinn is simply a wonderful city with most beautiful old town, delicious food and they also sell a huge variety of stuff for dogs there :)

Anyways, first I made a booking reservation by phone, after that printed a few copies of the form available from immigration.govt.nz, filled in sections that were marked "fill in by yourself" and made enough pictures. I would also recommend to check the form at home carefully to be certain what questions you will be asked.

The rest was very simple, the clinic is situated in the city center of Tallinn and I found it easily. Staff was very kind and helpful, surprisingly, nobody spoke Russian.

First, I had a meeting with the doctor who filled the rest of the forms, checked my heart and lungs. Finally, I was sent to X ray, blood and urine tests.

Whole time spent in the clinic was 1,5 h maximum. Results arrived in Helsinki one week after by post.

3. Police certificate from the country of your citizenship and any other country where you have lived for more than 5 years.

In Finland it was simple as 2x2, I just filled in a form online and received my certificate something like 10 days after together with a 10e bill.

In Russia, however, I had to go twice. First time to submit an application by filling it by hand (!!) and waiting a few hours in a line. Second time, one month later, to collect it. 

"Wonderful" Russian service was free of charge. Though the certificate was issued in Russian language only, and I had to send it to the translation agency later.

If somebody is interested in more detailed advice about Medicine and Police certificates part in Saint-Petersburg, please, see my online friend's post/ I don't think anybody could put it in a better way!

http://maxedin.blogspot.fi/2012/04/blog-post.html

4. Evidence of the equivalent of NZ$4200 for maintenance - bank statement on your name

5. IELTS of 6.5 or higher/other accepted proof of your language proficiency, for example, university degree, received completely in English language.

 My Finnish degree was not ready yet by the application time, so I had to take an IELTS test in Helsinki. Both Academic and General kinds of test are suitable. General is easier. I took Academic because there were no places any time soon for the other kind.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Do reserve your place before hand, I would recommend around 2 months at least. They run out very fast! 

I won't go into details about the test as there's a lot of info online. Would just note that, in my opinion, the test is easier than TOEFL content wise which I took a few years ago. However, organization in IELTS is quite complicated, I would definitely recommend to make a few sample tests beforehand no matter how good in English you think you are. You can loose a lot of points simply by not knowing how and when to put your answers.

In my case, I planned to prepare well before hand, but it was a short Finnish summer, you know :) in the end i did a couple of sample tests before the exam, that's all. My result was 8 out of 9. 

But mind that I have lived in Finland for quite long, plus I'm generally very good in any kind of tests.

I received my lowest score in writing, by the way :)

It took about 2 weeks to receive results by post.

6. Evidence you meet the qualification requirements, in other words, your diploma.

You should check much before hand that your University is in the list of exceptions, IS recognized in NZ and doesn't need to be examined in NZQA. If not, you have to send it to NZQA which will take all together from 1 month to..

I can't say much about NZQA at the moment, as my Russian diploma was recognized. 

Unfortunately, the Finnish one won't be so lucky, I'll get back to you later about the painful process.

Finally, you need o print out your e-mail with instructions, mark that you send all documents and post it to the given address. 

Progress of your application can be seen constantly from your cabinet on the immigration web page. They also send you an e-mail when any changes take place. medicine get's to be checked first.

It took me all together about 1 month to confirm my place and issue the visa.  Just to mention, my passport and other documents were "lost" a few times by Finnish or UK post. Next time i would rather send my papers by a secure post, not the normal one :)

This is basically all in brief. I'm struggling with my thesis at the moment, so writing DOES hurt almost physically. May be i add more detailed info later. 

Please, feel free to ask questions any time!

Yahoo-ho,

Lena

2.1.2013 Helsinki (still)

Silver Fern Visa

According to my research, New Zealand is one of the countries with the easiest immigration system, meaning that it's rather possible to find YOUR way to move there.

Basically, there are the following options:

1.  If you are coming from a visa-waiver country, for example Finland, you can stay in NZ without a visa for 3 months or more.

http://glossary.immigration.govt.nz/VisaFreeCountries.htm

2. Visitor visa

3. Student visa

4. Investor visa

5. Entrepreneur visa

6. Work visa

"Work visa" is probably the most general term from all above. There's a list of visa categories that belong to "work visa". I'm not well familiar with most of them yet, since my way to receive NZ work visa was a program one of a kind, Silver Fern.

Silver Fern is a visa for young recently graduate professionals who don't have a big working experience yet but would like to search for a job in NZ live, being present in the country. Shall I mention that it's a lot easier to find a job when you can talk to an employer in person and show your skills. 

The visa is given to you for 9 months since the day you enter NZ, half a year is given to activate it. For example, if your visa is issued on August 4th, you must enter NZ anytime before February 4th, and after that you can stay in the country for 9 months. Silver Fern Job Search Visa is the normal work visa and you can do what ever job you like (or get), however, in order to extend it to the next level, Silver Fern Practical Experience Visa, you need to find a skilled work according to your education within these 9 months.

Initial Silver Fern Practical Experience visa is granted for the duration of the job offer. If your offer of employment is extended, or you find skilled employment with a new employer, you can apply for the remainder of the 24 months.However, simple as it is, once you got a job offer in NZ, you can always apply for a visa under the Skilled Migrant category and receive a residence permit, which is another story.

Silver Fern Job search visa costs 135 NZD.

Requirements:

1. be aged between 20 and 35 years of age (inclusive)

2. be outside New Zealand during the application process

3. hold a recognized bachelors degree, higher qualification, or a recognized trade qualification with a minimum of two years of work experience in that trade

4. meet the English language requirements set out for principal applicants under the Skilled Migrant Category (IELTS level 6.5)

5. have a minimum of NZ$4,200 available funds to meet your living costs while you are here

6. not have been previously granted a Silver Fern Job Search visa.

But most of all, you simply must be lucky enough to get a place in the annual quota (300 places) through the online system. 

The quota usually opens in the end of April at 10 a.m. NZ time, however, this year there was a problem with the web site and it opened a week later. You can check the exact day and time here:

http://www.immigration.govt.nz/SilverFern/

It's highly recommended to feel in the application before the day when the quota is open. Even though the application is easy and has simple questions, you will win a lot of time by filling and saving it before hand. Believe me, every second counts!

In order to be able to fill in the application, you need to register at the web site first:

http://www.immigration.govt.nz/

Make sure you remember your password well, because after 3 attempts, if you fill it wrongly, the system will block your profile for a day. 

Once you are logged in your cabinet and filled in the application, you will see on the right of the screen "My application" "?". If you click on "my application", you will be able to edit it, and this is the place from where you submit it once the quota is open.

Your application is considered to be received (meaning you got your place) after the payment has been made. The payment page opens after you press submit button when the application is ready on the day X in April. Again, Silver Fern fee is 135 NZD.

Since Silver Fern is an online application, you have to pay for it online ONLY. After the payment page opens you have to chose your card type, fill in the details and press pay button.If the system tells you that the payment went successfully, congratulations, you got your place!

Note: if you don't get the place, you don't pay the fee.

Well, Silver Fern is truly one of the easiest and cheapest ways to get a chance to find a job in NZ, not a surprise, the competition is huge, it's a lottery indeed! In 2012 all places were taken in 8 minutes!

To maximize your chances, I would recommend to fill in the application before and to make sure you have the right type of a bank card (debit Visa and Mastercard) and enough money on it. Another way to help yourself, is to open more than one Internet browser. From last year experience Google Chrome worked the best. I had 3 browsers open: Mozila, Internet Explorer and Safari. Received my place through Safari!

If you got unlucky and didn't get a place, don't be upset, you can still receive a Silver Fern before next year: a few places appear through out the year (these are places that were called back for some reasons from previous applicants). You never know when and how many of them it's going to appear, it's a matter of luck again!

However, there's just a very tiny possibility that there will appear any more places before April 2013. This year there was a big crush on the web site and 300 extra people managed to pay for their visas, even though the quota was full already. A long story short, NZ decided to proceed all 600 applications, so there will be twice more young people with Silver Fern this year. Bad or nor - you tell me.

If everything went well, and you got your place, NZ will send you an official confirmation by e-mail the following day. In this e-mail you will find a list of all documents to be sent to the nearest branch, in London in my case (the same for Russia). You have 3 months to collect and send all the papers, if you fail so, your place is lost and the money is not returned back.

You can read in detail about the program here: http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migrant/stream/work/silverfern/

Please, see the next post for detailed information about documents that need to be send to the NZ branch.
 http://dont-worry-be-kiwi.blogspot.fi/2013/01/silver-fern-proof-of-evidence-that-you.html

Easy as it is,

Elena

30.7.2012 Helsinki, Finland