Immigration New Zealand: Getting there - slowly...

After the latest problem with my work permit in order to stay in New Zealand I am slowly making progress. I would say I'm about a week from sending my paperwork back to immigration. Since I still have a bit more than 20 days to go (as an email sent by the immigration office reminded me off yesterday) everything should work out fine in the end.

I received my police clearance certificate from Germany yesterday - it only took a week in total to process it :-) Thank you once again Mrs. Schmidt @Bundesjustizamt! YOU WERE AWESOME!!!

Unfortunately once again I was kind of let down by the immigration officers. Because what they hadn't told me was that I also need to have that certificate translated - by a certified translator, of course. I wouldn't have known if I hadn't visited Sandra this past weekend...

Sandra is another German girl that I've only known via Facebook for about half a year now. Just like me she came over here on a Working Holiday Visa, worked as an au pair, fell in love with the country, fell in love with its people - and didn't want to leave anymore. She's been applying for new permits a few times now and is currently going for her permanent residency. I got her contact details a while ago from a mutual friend, we talked on Facebook a few times but never actually got to meet each other.

When I ended up having a long weekend a few days ago I thought it's about time to change that. So Dan and I packed our things and drove up to Kohukohu where Sandra and her boyfriend live. We had a short but fun time together and what amazed me most - Sandra has been living up there for almost three years now and she doesn't sound German at all anymore. Nope - she sounds like a Maori!!! Unbelievable how strong her accent has become in those few years.



Anyway... Sandra told me about having to have the police certificate translated. Of course there is no certified translator in Whangarei but I found the website of the Department of Internal Affairs in Wellington. They are translating heaps of different papers from or into heaps of different languages. They are fast (2 to 3 work days) and rather cheap (I pay 55 dollars including returning my papers via courier) - and friendly!

I called them yesterday to tell them I have an urgent request. They told me to send my document in via email attachment so they can get started on the translation. I still had to send in the original but just to get it certified. Did that via courier today, cost me another 5 dollars and a bit but it will be in Wellington tomorrow and hopefully everything returns to me early next week...

Here is all the information about the Department of Internal Affairs...

Comments

  1. Mara, es bleibt spannend! Aber ich denke, dass Du diese letzte kleine Hürde auch noch bravourös nehmen wirst!

    Noch Eurer Horror-Spinne habe ich schon eine Weile gesucht, aber nichts finden können. Ist sie wieder weg? Ich könnte so ein Vieh ja nicht anrühren...

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