Pictures!

Now when my wifi finally works, I can make Alina's dream come true and put a few pictures that were collected since I came to Auckland (almost 20 days ago!)
Unfortunately, my phone got broken last week and, thus, a couple of good moments shall be prevented from uploading, no well..

All my writing energy is dedicated to a resume at the moment, so don't you expect long meaningful description notes :D

p.s. dont get why editing is so poor - blogger simply hates me, i check later.

Here we go and start from around China.

Sadly indeed they didn't have a good choice of movies on board and I ended up watching "Im a legend" a few times. However, on the flight from Italy to China there was a live cam option and you could see what was happening under the plane (not much)

Half way map: Milan-Hong Kong - this is crazy

In Hong Kong facebook would not recognize my location as safe and I had to pass a test, to recognize my fb friends on random pictures. Not possible to mix Jessica with anybody else in her zombie looks))

For those who were always wondering, just like me, how Chinese keyboard looks like!

Too bad i couldnt leave the airport, mountains looked splended!

Botanic garden in Auckland. Same as in Kumpula but 500 times bigger :)

Went to check my future house and the neighborhood for the first time - around Mt Eden

The hill on the back is the actual volcano, and yep, I live in 66. 

The French cafe on the near by street and I love ugly store (love the name), Turkish kebab and an Italian restaurants. I guess I miss Erasmus :)

Muriwai beach with black volcanic sand. Saw Pacific ocean for the first time, yahooo))

I really liked the story on the rock, and you should be hopefully able to read it from the picture. Anyways, the last sentence was: Come with us as we begin to untravel some of its secrets and experience a taste of living on the edge of the wind. This is my pick up line for you, friends from Europe :)

There lives a colony of birds on Muriwai, forgot their name :)

Cruise ship from USA on a windy rainy day in the city center

Chinese market. You divide prices by 1.5 to get euros. Best blueberries, cherries and corn i have ever tried :) so yam-mi!

Orewa beach, swam in the ocean for the first time, whoop whoop

Books in the local library, you know

Surprisingly, Im having tremendous problems here finding a good natural juice. Everything just has too much sugar! And this is what they have in a juice section: egg white!!

They call local rounding system ( 3 cents would be rounded to 5, 1 to 0) - Swedish :)
Self-pay counters never work for me, have to call a shop assistant at least a million of times always.

Couldn't help admiring beautiful send sculptures at Muriwai until Borya suggested they are bird graves

Chinese comrades at the Crazy noodle restaurant

Look, who is there! Yuki the great on her release day :)

I put this house on my to buy list))

Have no idea how it works. but what ever it does - creepy fountain

Olympic house in Parnell

What I really like about NZ that they have local farms where you can buy cheese, honey and fruits. And wine, of course :)

They have tastings at farms as well. Cheese was delicious!

We went to try and buy honey that day as well. I was astonished by tastes and forgot to make pictures))

Met Roger when we lost the way..

I love local landscape: small hills and winery in the far corner

The actual winery. Im about to start liking local red wine.

There is a tradition to name public benches and tables after a person or a couple

Gay pride parade took place in Auckland first time after 12 years. Ive been in a hurry, unfortunately, and we havent seen much

 Olya at the parade

Alina, stolovka style was found in Auckland :)) those pullas tasted exactly like in the childhood!

Im having a hard time doing maths with my 5 yo friend

 Thats her, Amorita the best))

 Just to prove that im alive and should be on the pictures not ;)

Who'd guess it was even more tiring to upload pictures than to write a blog!

Have a good day Europe,
Cheers,

Elena

19.2.2013 Auckland, Mt Eden

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

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