Still waiting....and hoping....

With the last two papers to arrive, I come home each day hoping they have arrived, but of course they haven't.  Our original goal was the end of May, first week in June.  There is still hope, but I'm thinking with my luck they won't arrive for another few weeks.  Deep down I was hoping if I got the papers sent off now, maybe, just maybe we could be                                                                                                                                                     picture from (30/05/2011)
                          http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/mind-my-money/200807/analyticalintuitive-thinking-part-iv-patience    
assigned a CO and get an interview this summer holiday and know our answer.  I go back to work teaching in August here, so would have been very nice knowing going back that I wouldn't have to be there an entire year.  Of course I also need time to ask for a leave of absence which is my first plan so I can hold my benefits while moving.
                                                                         
I should probably add that immigration wrote a letter to the doctor's office explaining they are to release my records to me and that it is Australia that does not allow the records be released to their patients.  The next work day the doctor's office called me and I went and picked up both of our medical records.

NZQA has finally arrived

I received my papers back from NZQA today. They have assessed my bachelor's to a level 7 - outcome: A bachelor degree at level 7 (360 credits). My master's was assessed to a level 8. Outcome. A qualifcation of level 8. (120 credits).

Comments: The Bachelor of Science degree contains core components of a New Zealand Graduate Diploma in Teaching (Primary Education).

Within the papers they typed up (keeping in mind, my original degree from the States is Elementary & Special Education beginning from pre-k -grade 6, respectively pre-k to grade 12), they mentioned that in NZ there is no initial teacher education qualifications in the area of special education. Specialist Education Teachers are, generally required to train first as teachers and then qualify in spcial education. So first they obtain a teaching qualification and then go into special education. So they didn't accept the special education part as being a qualified special ed. teacher as far as I can understand. But they also put "NZQA does, however, recognise that there are many components in your studies that are similiar to those taken in teacher education courses in NZ and has added a comment to your report that states you have core components of a NZ Graduate Diploma of Teaching (Primary Education) within the content of your qualification." I think that is really only confirming they agree my degree is as a primary school teacher? 

Now NZQA also attached a note saying that "from 1 Nov 2010, NZ qualified and registered primary teachers in ECE services can be counted for funding purposes. Overseas-trained teachers who have had their qualifications evaluated by NZQA as comparable to NZ primary qualification and who are then registered by NZTC are deemed to be NZ qualified adn registered primary teachers for the purposes of this initiative."

I am still waiting for my papers from the Teaching Council.

Now I wonder, with my degree now being assessed as a primary school teacher, yet I have applied under Early Childhood for immigration purposes, can immigration now take points away because on my application on question where I marked yes for:

"Are you claiming points for a qualification in one of the areas of absolute skills shortage?"

If that is the case will they still make a decision based on all my other paperwork sent in or can they send my case back to the pool even though I've already been sent an ITA from them and will be sending it back? The first time immigration denied me those points, but I sent a paper back from my school showing it does cover Early Childhood ages as well so it got accepted.

The new law in NZ allows primary school teachers to work in ECE so I am allowed to apply for jobs in ECE.

According to the Ministry of Education homepage they have written the following regarding primary school teachers. I suppose I can use this to help my case if it becomes a problem with immigration?
"The Government is committed to recognising the broad range of skills and knowledge primary qualified teachers can bring to early childhood education (ECE). These changes ensure that these teachers will be recognised through funding to ECE services.

The Government has set aside $19.5 million over four years to cover the additional cost of recognising New Zealand qualified and registered primary teachers in ECE services for funding purposes. From 1 November 2010, New Zealand qualified and registered primary teachers in ECE services can be counted for funding purposes. This means that registered primary teachers can be included in the staff hour count. An ECE service that employs a New Zealand qualified and registered primary teacher may be eligible for higher funding rates."

I know I can sit and wonder and until my ITA gets sent back to immigration, I won't know the definite answer.

__________________
Submitted EOI: 05/04/2011
EOI selected: 06/04/2011
EOI Decision Successful: 28/04/2011
Invitation to apply: arrived in post 29/04/2011
NZQA submitted: 12/04/2011 

NZQA received: 23/05/2011

NZQA/passports/medical

Well my papers are on the way back from New Zealand and I'm expecting them to arrive this week.  I've also written to the Teaching Council since I had received a mail saying they confirmed receiving my application the 10th of May, to see if there's any chance of getting my papers back sooner from them rather than the 4-6 weeks their standard letter says.

I picked up my I passport this past Friday.  Another document that's been out of my hand for weeks since I needed to update my name change on it since getting married so I couldn't wait to get it back.  I still hadn't received the phone call from the embassy when finished work to say it had arrived so I decided to go wait in the embassy until DHL arrived, but turned out when I got off the bus, I got the call from the embassy to say it had arrived!  While there I even made sure to get a certified copy so I can send that off with our ITA application - didn't even need to pay for it!

The medical process itself was easy, painless and quick ..... until I told them I need my papers back to send in with my application.  The doctor's office has refused saying they will post them directly to immigration as they "always" do.  I knew they had no experience with NZ since first they had an address in Germany where they were going to post the medicals and second they kept mentioning Australia.  I tried forwarding an email I got from immigration confirming it was me that was supposed to send back the medicals, but no that didn't seem to work.  I wrote to immigration (in London) to explain the problem I am having getting my medicals back and they have now written a nice letter to the doctor/office explaining it's Australia where the papers are not to be returned to the patients, not NZ.  They requested the doctor to get in touch with me and return my medicals.  So tomorrow I'll see if the doctor's agrees.  It's not a big worry in itself because in worse case senario, I can take my application when it's complete to the doctor's office and let them put the medicals in their and watch them post it.  Still, I'd really like to just get them myself and post them.

I'm so excited and can't wait to get everything back so it can all be posted back and then the real waiting process begins!

Family tree

When we made our decision to apply for the EOI (Expression of Interest) to New Zealand, we told my grandmother (my dad's mom).  She said you have cousins who live there.  I thought no way - she can't be right.  I never heard of anyone in our family being from New Zealand.  She got in touch with my grandfather's sister and true enough I have distant cousins living in New Zealand.  I, of course, got in touch with one of them (JF) and soon enough, one of the others got in touch with me (YF).  I was so excited.  First I love knowing my family heritage especially going so far back and second it is so nice to have some sort of connection to where we want to move to!  Well just like I'd already heard about all New Zealanders they are both so friendly, offering advice, saying anything they can do to help to let them know, etc. They were all open arms and welcoming and now looking forward to meeting us.  So now we have at least two and maybe up to 11 family members to visit there.  There are I believe 9 of them, with children and grandchildren.  I've had contact with two of them so far.  Here I was all worried my story would sound crazy when I made the call to JF the first time.  Of course though when I started dropping names, she knew who I was talking about.

Now let's see if I can get the story written down properly.   My grandfather's great grandparents (W.F. & M.D.) were relations to my cousins now living in New Zealand (JF & YF).

W.F. & M.D. had 4 children, 3 who went to New Zealand (P, M & Mi) and one who stayed in Ireland (J). M was JF & YF's great grandmother and J was my great great grandfather.  Confused yet?  Well, it might not be a direct connection, but what a small world it is and we are connected.

picture from: davidandcarole.info

Feelings of....

First excitement as we got our EOI chosen the day after sending it in.

Disappointment as they told us I calculated the points wrong that I sent in and we would be put back in the pool.  I have a teaching degree Elementary School pre-k to grade 6 and Special Education pre-k to grade 12, but I applied under the Early Childhood Category which is considered 0-5 years of age in NZ.  My degree starts in the middle of that.  I sent in a letter from my university saying my degree was pre-k, etc. to London Branch to the guy who was saying we would be put back in the pool.  OH is studying to be a teacher so no points collected on his part.

Shock/excitement as I received an email saying thank you for the letter (from the university) and they were pleased to send us an ITA (application to apply).

Excitement as all papers were sent off to NZQA - decided to get one of my passports updated with my name after getting married.  Didn't realise it would take a long time (or at least feels that way).

Impatience as the NZQA is really taking the 35 working days they state (shouldn't shock me, but it does).

Scared as I'm finding out many things about Early Childhood and how there's a risk my degree doesn't get approved under that category since it starts in the middle and not from birth.

Worried - what if it doesn't get approved under the Early Childhood Category from NZQA  - what will immigration do?

More impatience as I wonder - as long as immigration doesn't deny us some sort of visa whether it be WTR or even better PR we'll be grateful - we're sure we can make it work.

Yeah! 16/05/2011 - NZQA has completed the evaluation, now I just need to wait for their quality check and for them to sign off and notify me.  Soon we can get the ball rolling for real....

Dates of Importance

Submitted EOI:   5 April 2011
EOI selected on:  6 April 2011
EOI Decision Successful:  28 April 2011
Invitation to apply:  arrived in post 29 April 2011
NZQA submitted: 12 April 2011
NZQA received back: 23 May 2011
Teaching Council submitted: 10 May 2011 (too bad I didn't know to send it away sooner)
Teaching Council received back: ??
Medical completed by principal applicant: 09 May 2011
Medical completed by partner: 17 May 2011
Medicals received back:23 May 2011
ITA submitted: goal end of May, beginning of June 2011
ITA received on INZ's side: 28 June 2011
Medical completed on INZ's side: 14 July 2011
Received email from CO officer: 19 July 2011
Received what was needed to attach to ITA: September 2011
Approved in Principle: October 13, 2011

picture from: http://www.kunskapsbloggen.se/2010/04/09/veckans-datum-i-historien/