It's been a while-2

Hey there!

One month until I arrive in Auckland.
My mood changes pretty much every other day. Today I feel that the world is mine and can't wait to hug all Kiwi birds of New Zealand (usually it happens after watching a few youtube videos about NZ or maori). Tomorrow I want nothing and doubt my decisions (happens after looking at my thesis, booking dogs visits to vet etc)
So I can't really say if I'm excited to go to NZ or not. I haven't realized it yet. Other people seem to be more excited for me in fact :)

Generally the situation is following:

1. Flight booked (see a separate post about it later) on the 29th of January. I arrive in Auckland on January 31st.
2. Dogs flight and quarantine is somehow in progress. Somehow because the Finnish shipping company doesn't allow to book more than 21 days in advance :(
3.Hotel in the center for the first week - booked.
4.Apartment in the city center where they would let me in with a dog for a long period - not found, but it doesn't look too bad. Basically, there's no use to stress now, as apartments are being offered and taken and offered again all the time, and nobody will keep it for you until arrival.
5. Job wise: working on the resume. Still interested in one particular medical company, should let them know about myself shortly. Also found a couple of cool professional volunteer positions. Generally, looks like there's a lot of fish in my narrow plastics field. So far feels quite positive.
6. Bank account opened in BNZ (Bank of New Zealand) by submitting a form online.
7. Started packing! Looks like I will have 2 bags of 30 kgs each plus a 10 kg hand luggage bag. Not so bad.
8. Thesis, courses - still writing and working on, have to submit everything by the 21st of December. My boss started to ask about my progress more often - not good.
9. Started going to the gym again - i hate those NY/Christmas holidays :D

Happy/Sad,

Lena

2.1.2013

Not just another update

*I decided to keep these personal updates in case somebody feels the same later, because what i have read on forums so far was a pure positive thing, and i start thinking that something is actually wrong with me.

Most preparations are done by now. I booked a hotel in the city for one week (see a post later), booked excess luggage service (a post coming as well). Friends will come to pick me up from the airport in Auckland. Everything for the first days in NZ seem organized, BUT.

Finland will be left in 4 days, and i will be in Auckland in less than a week. How does it feel? - everybody asks me again and again. 

It does NOT feel good. Let me explain why.

I don't have a general feeling of missing the country and friends yet. May be it's coming later, but rather it's just me who lost pretty much an ability to miss for real. Too many places changed, too many people gone. Then again my friends seem very interested about NZ and I put my hopes that people will visit me every now and then.

The actual bad feeling i have had for about a week-two now (that is exactly when i realized for the first time that i'm leaving) clearly comes from the stress. Even though I started packing and booking and etc in advance (i can be confident now it's an absolute must), obviously, there are small things popping out constantly when you are less ready. Like a snowball it grows bigger and bigger.

I'm not a kind of person who stresses to much about life, and one of my favourite lines is "everybody's alive, it's the most important", however, the last week has driven me completely crazy.

A good excuse way to over-come the stress, i believe, is to realize that if some things will be unfinished by the time you leave, well, that's life. May be you don't need them too much, or may be you can finish them later?

Sounds simple but we do have exceptions. Yesterday night I found out that one of my dogs, Chiquita, has a small positive titer for one of the blood test. Can you imagine it was the last test we had to do?

Just one night changed a lot and i guess i was not ready for that!

To cut a short story off, the dog will stay at my friend's in Finland for a month and a half and will undergo additional tests. Basically, the whole process of preparing the dog will start from scratch. And I won't be even here. 

Yesterday I cried a lot (a week of sleepless nights and "foodless" days pays back). I was totally destroyed and if not for certain responsibilities I have, I would have returned my flight ticket last night. I swear. For sure.

Mom helped me to get back to life. She knows it's impossible to make me feel better by suggesting good ways and simply saying it will be okay. Instead, she dramatizes the situation like 10 times until I notice that it's actually not that bad like she describes. And it helps a lot, in the end i always come to a conclusion that the problem can be solved.

I don't know, it feels very strange to be excited not. May be it's exactly because everybody around is just much more looking forward than me.

Anyways, never-mind the odd post. It's terribly stupid to complain about life when you are moving from February to July. What ever! Life is beautiful ;)

Blablabla,

Lena

24.01.2013

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)

Moving your dog to New Zealand from Europe part 2 (animal shipment)

When I said that collecting papers they require for a dog to enter NZ would be the most difficult part I was not exactly correct.

It took me recently about a month to find a safe way to ship dogs to Auckland from Helsinki.

As a side fact I have currently "adopted" friends' dog for a while. The animal is a White West Highland terrier, 8 years old cute girl, who is originally from Russia, has lived with me in Finland for more than half a year and has a Finnish passport. She will very soon finally meet her Russian family in Auckland!

So yes, I'm traveling with two dogs.

To cut a VERY long story short I just briefly mention that I pretty much called all airplane companies who fly to NZ from Helsinki and Germany: Finnair, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Korean airlines, Malaysian airlines - were among of them. All these companies do not allow dogs on board or as a checked luggage. They offer only one option which is cargo. When you ask for details they forward you to a third cargo company. 

The only company that seems to transfer animals by themselves is Singaporean airlines. However, they have recently stopped to ship any kind of terriers because dogs of these breeds died too often during the flight..

Stress was approaching my top level when finally I found contacts of two companies that specialize in shipping dogs on long distances: one in Frankfurt (Germany) and one in Helsinki (Finland). They were either advised by people who used their services before or by NZ qarantine facilities.

In fact, the Finnish company was not new for me, I have been in contact with them previously when we were planning to move in August.

Price-wise both companies offered almost the same service, however, the German company would require me to ship dogs to Frankfurt by myself (even though they claim they can do it on their web page)

A sales manager, Mattias Sjöberg, from the Finnish company, Travel Cargo - Pet Express, a division of Airport Travel Cargo Finland Oy, was just so much more friendly and helpful, that i made my mind to ship dogs through them in the end.

The price of service totally depends on the size of dogs and needed containers. In our case it was supposed to be around 3000e for both animals.

Included in the price:

Receiving at Helsinki-Vantaa airport during normal office hours (weekdays 8-17), cargo documents, AVI-fee, cargo to Amsterdam, receiving in Amsterdam, 1 night boarding for 2 dogs,  Kennel sealing and legalisation of certification B, cargo via Hong Kong to Auckland as free arrival uninsured.

General conditions:
1. Receiver pays any additional release/terminal charges in Auckland
2. Shipper is responsible for all needed documents both export and import (vaccinations, import permits, health certificate, suitable transportation boxes ac.cording to IATA regulations)
3. Offer is subject to space and availability, changes in freight charges, and subject to force majeure conditions
4. In Air Cargo 1m3 equals 167 kg and charges are based on either volume or actual weight.
5. Subject to prepayment or as agreed (credit card payments are ok).

But really, nothing, exactly nothing, went easy about shipping and preparing dogs.
The biggest problem was that the flight could not be booked  more than 21 days before the departure. Also I didn't know from the beginning the booking quarantine in NZ and receiving a Permit to Import must be done before booking dogs flight. When I found it out it was already a bit late and i almost all went gray trying to speed up. Succeeded with all papers in time.

BUT then there came another surprise, we couldn't ship the dogs through Amsterdam anymore.
The reason was that the international airport in Amsterdam doesn't have an international bio security room for dogs and they must be transferred from the airport to another facility. This fact somehow made it impossible to go through Amsterdam. However, after we changed the flight already I have finally received an answer from MAF that in fact they don't care and it's up to a government vet in Holland if he signs papers. I still didn't exactly understand if it's okay or not, but fortunately, our shipper has changed the flight already. Actually it was changed twice as there were no places on the first plane anymore. Just to add, the whole new flight thing cost almost 3000 more and the shipper suggested to cover these costs as the change in the regulations regarding Amsterdam was not my mistake. I mean that's what I call human relations and Finnish honest service.

As an important update I have to point now that one of the dogs, Chiquita has been just forbidden to import to NZ due to not ABSOLUTELY perfect blood results of particular kind. You can read more about it in the post about preparing dogs for export. So from now on I talk about shipping one dog, Yuki, Westhighland white terrier. Chiquita, Yorkshire terrier, stays in Finland for a while to undergo additional tests and repeat already made ones (sic). Hopefully she will be in NZ in the middle of March already. I will add her part then.

To be continued

Stressed, very stressed,
Lena

October 2012 Helsinki

It's been a while!

Half a year has passed since I made a first post, and a lot of things happened in Chiquita's and my life since then. There was not much to write though about the actual moving meanwhile, however, by the recent day I have already collected some experience, which will be published shortly.

So, a little update:
1. Was supposed to move to NZ in the end of August, but because of school and work in Finland, decided to postpone the day till the beginning of winter 2013, most prob February. I'm sending my documents to London tomorrow and after the visa is ready I will be able to see BY what day i MUST enter NZ.
2. Got my Silver Fern, Work Visa,  application submitted, yahooo!! See a separate post about my experience with SF and what it was all about.
3. I graduated from my first school, Saint-Petersburg State University of Economics and Finance: 6 years of pure hell are over finally! :)
4. Got two birth marks operated, kind of against my will, got totally freaked out and ready to die from cancer as soon as immediately, but no, alive, young and beautiful - just like always! The only drawback, will have to use very strong sunscreens till the rest of my life, esp. when living in sunnyNZ. No more solariums for me :)
5. Mom was visiting Helsinki in May for almost a month. That was her first time in Finland. She got totally in love with the country and very upset that I'm leaving. Moreover, while being here mom watch short documentary movie about NZ, "Secrets of NZ", where they tell you all the stories about earthquakes and vulcanos - whatever. We had a huge scandal and didn't really come to any conclusion.
6. And just to mention as an interesting fact :D, I've made two tattoos, one big on the back and a small one on my hand, upper part. The third one is so coming soon! Don;t tell mama ;)

Generally, life has been good and fun. I have some personal problems at the moment which make me very demotivated every now and then, however, on the other hand, they only make my decision to leave stronger.

One thing that was bothering me recently a lot, was that after moving to NZ I won't be able to visit Saint-Petersburg any time I want like I do now. Knowing that this wonderful place is MY City (did you you know its second name is Leningrad?), it fits me perfectly, my soul is in peace when I'm there, strangely didn't help me to decide to stay there for ever.
I don't know why, i love it like no other place, but something simply doesn't work between us. Cities are just like people, you know.

No more sad stories for today,
Cheers from summer rainy Helsinki,
Lena

23.7.2012 Helsinki, Finland

Introduction: About me.

Hi! The idea of this blog is to document one immigration to New Zealand and hopefully help others to meet their goals.

They say: If you have a dream, go for it! You can't walk there? Then creep! You can't creep? Lie down in the direction of your dream!

 My name is Lena. I'm 23 female with a Russian citizenship and 11 months old female Yorkshire terrier dog, Chiquita. 

I come from the Republic of Altay in Russia which is on the border with China. After school I moved to Saint-Petersburg (European part of Russia) and lived there for 2 years. Saint-Petersburg is and will always be my favourite City. I belive it has a soul and a history.

Life was not exactly complete in Saint-Petersburg, I followed the insight and moved to Nothern Europe, Finland, Helsinki. Finland changed my life and my vision completely. It became my second home, and I will be always grateful for people I met and lessons I was taught there. 

Last year I was very upset and lost in life disputing between Finland, Germany and Russia until the day I saw a dream me telling somebody that I'm moving to New Zealand. It was in the very beginning of November 2011. I didn't know at that time where NZ was located and what the country was about.

I checked basic information online and started to read a forum for Russian people in New Zealand.

New Zealand

On the 1st of December 2011 I made a decision to move to Auckland, New Zealand in the end of August 2012 and announced it to friends. 

I believe you should tell people about your dream, because your words become your actions, and actions turn into your life.

I'm going to focus on certain common immigration issues in my blog. The ones that I can think straight and going to write about first are:

1. Moving a dog to New Zealand. It comes the first because this process is the most expensive and time consuming.
2. Visa. 
3. IELTS, English language test.
4. Flight to Auckland.
5. Apartment in New Zealand.
6. Job.
7. Driving licence.

 If there comes something important meanwhile, I will add it later, so keep updated.

My basic background:

• Russian citizenship
• Good English
• Specialist degree, so called bachelors of honors (= bachelors + 1 year) in Accounting and Financial Analysis, Saint-Petersburg University of Economics and Finance (FINEK). Ready in June 2012.
• Bachelors degree in Plastics Technology (Engineering), Arcada University of Applied Sciences, Helsinki, Finland. Was supposed to be ready in June 2012, now postponed to December.
• Work experience. See about it later.

I decided to blog in English, but you can ask questions in Russian as well.
Please, if you find any information from the blog useful, let me know by leaving a comment.

Let's agree to meet in New Zealand soon. Wish your dream to come true!

With Love,
Lena

11.01.2012 Helsinki, Finland