As my time in Australia is ticking away, it is high time to search for something new. My search brought me to the immigration website of New Zealand. Since I am on ‘the other side of the world’ anyway, I might as well explore it thoroughly. Plenty of things I’d like to do over there, working another ski season to start with. But first things first: securing a visa.
New Zealand has a working holiday scheme and for most countries you can apply online. Easy enough. I answered a few questions and it was done. But then came the familiar drama. If you happen to be a traveler, chances are that you’ve been to countries that have a higher risk for TB. Since I’ve been in South Africa in the past 5 years, I need to prove once again that I am TB-free.
A chest Xray is required and so I started placing some phone calls. Getting an appointment seemed to be a bit tricky, mainly because the people here in Australia are not very familiar with visa applications to New Zealand (Australians don’t require these visas). Finally I managed to score an appointment and set off to the clinic.
At the clinic things weren’t much better. However friendly, the staff had lots of questions regarding my NZ application. In a discussion between two people I mainly heard things like ‘I don’t know’ and ‘I guess we’ll do it like this’. Very comforting as I am putting my money towards this and am on a time limit. If anything goes wrong…
After the Xray, which was done in a minute, all I received was my Xray photo. The visa papers I needed to send to New Zealand were kept there. When I asked when I would get them, I was told she wasn’t quite sure. She also wasn’t quite sure whether I would get them by post or whether I would get a call to come and pick them up. I’d been meaning to send them off that same day, but I guess that was a bit too proactive of me.
A few days later I place a phone call and found out my papers were ready. I picked them up the same they and sent them off to New Zealand. All I can do is wait now. To be continued…
All the best with your application! Cheers from NZ