Emigrate vs. Immigrate

Let's start with some definitions just to clarify. 

em·i·grate/ˈemiˌgrāt/

 Verb: Leave one's own country in order to settle permanently in another.

im·mi·grate/ˈimiˌgrāt/

 Verb: Come to live permanently in a foreign country.


When you leave your home country, you emigrate. When you arrive in your new country, you immigrate. 


Now, that we have that all cleared up, let's talk about HOW we immigrated to New Zealand. 


NOTE: There are currently laws in place preventing me from offering any immigration advice because I am not licensed in that area.  Please do not construe my retelling of my own personal experiences as advice. I don't give advice anyway (I generally just tell people what to do Ha!)

Argentina

We carefully researched all the countries in the world before we decided to leave the USA.  I first made a list of all the English speaking countries, researched like mad and, in every regard, New Zealand was the winner. Next, just to be thorough, I went through all the non-English speaking countries.  We considered weird places like Russia, Cuba, Venezuela.  Not that those places are weird, just that it is weird for an American to consider moving there. 


If we had decided to go with a Central or South American locale, we would have picked Argentina. But alas, it was not to be. And I am so glad that we moved to NZ, it is beautiful, friendly, wonderful.  Moving to NZ for an American, is akin to moving to a different state---though much further away.  The similarities with the US are striking and it is hard to suffer from too serious a case of culture shock when you can run down to McDonald's or Burger King or Subway and they take your order in English. 


The immigration process for us was easy. The first step is to find out if your skill is on the "list"---the list of Essential Skills in Demand, if this sounds like a bureaucratic name for the list, it is because it is!!!  We were applying under the SKilled Migratn Category
Here is a direct link to the NZ Immigration Service page about the Essential Skills. There is a Long Term Skills Shortage list, an Immediate Skills Shortage list and now, a Canterbury Skills Shortage list for rebuilding after the earthquake. These lists are reviewed and modified periodically.  We were already living here in the country on a 1 year work permit that was expiring and waiting for our Permanent Residency permit, when my husband's skill was removed from the list. It was a scary time---we could not renew our work permits.  I also know of people who have gone back to school to acquire one of the skills on the list---only to find that the list is modified before they can emigrate.  These lists change!!   (There are ways to emigrate to NZ without being on a "list" but that is not the focus of this post. )


Once we found my husband's skill on the list, we checked our total points on the Points Indicator.   You need a minimum of 100 points to be invited to apply. 140 points will ensure that you will be invited. 


OK, it seems I need to back up a bit.  When we first applied to immigrate to NZ, we filled out a form called an Expression of Interest (EOI).   The NZIS offers a guide to filling out the form and it was easy for us to do on our own without hiring any help.  We filled out the online version and submitted that--which was easy to figure out once we set up an account on the NZIS site. We saved some money doing it this way.  We paid about NZ$440 to file out EOI.  Current fees can be found here. 


Once we filed our EOI, our application went into a pool of applicants.  Since we claimed more than 140 points (see points indicator link above), our application was pulled in the first drawing.  If we had not been selected in that drawing, we would have stayed in the pool for six months. 


EOIs are selected by points:

• Total points of 140 or more are automatically selected
• Less than 140 points but include points for jobs or job offers are selected in a specific amount of numbers to meet New Zealand Residence requirements
• Additional EOI might be selected to meet New Zealand Residence Programme requirements set out by the Minister of Immigration.

Obviously, one of the easiest ways to immigrate here is to find a job first--and maybe even get them to pay all your moving expenses.  This happens but not for people in my husband's field. 

After our EOI got pulled from the pool, NZIS checked it over to make sure that we filled out the form correctly and then sent us an Invitation to Apply (ITA).  This is just a print out of your EOI and you must check it over and add supporting documentation for all the claims you made and points you claimed.  For example, I claimed points for an university degree so I had to provide official transcripts for that degree.  Birth certificates, marriage licenses, etc. ---all official copies, of course.  It is a really good idea to begin gathering paperwork as soon as you are thinking of moving because it was a laborious task. 

Also, we had to provide an FBI criminal history check which was easy to get--just send a form, fingerprints and $22 to the FBI and wait a few weeks.  NZ won't let criminals immigrate which means I had some serious explaining to do over some youthful indiscretions.  A long letter of culpability got me into the country in the end because I only had some minor conflagrations on my record. Serious offenses (felonies or jail time) will likely result in a "No, Thank You!" from NZIS. 

Additionally, we had to submit a full medical workup, including blood work and a chest x-ray (looking for TB scars).  Medical issues are very important to NZ because we have a socialized medicine system and we don't want to bring in unhealthy people who will drain the system.  Our height/weight had to be within a healthy range as well as blood testing. 

Once all of this paperwork was gathered together, it was all submitted to NZIS along with another NZ$ 1500 (for a family of 4).  After a few months of white knuckled anticipation, we were approved.  Next, we paid ANOTHER fee, a Migrant Levy of around NZ$ 1500.  Then they put blue stickers in our passport, which is the NZ version of "green cards."   The entire process took about 8 months for us though I know people who did it faster and some who have taken much longer. Current fees for the process are found here. 

All in all, it was very inexpensive, straight forward and easy to do. The waiting is the hardest part. Oh, and gathering up all the paperwork wasn't too fun either. 

available after 5 years

As Permanent Residents, we have all the rights and responsibilities of NZ citizens--except we can't move to Australia (without applying for permits).  Once we become NZ citizens after 5 years, we CAN move to Australia. Too many people were using NZ as a backdoor to Australia since NZ has a more lenient immigration policy so citizenship was moved from 3 years to 5 years. 

Once we had our Permanent Residency(PR), we could have taken up to 2 years to move here. Of course, we were already living here on a 1 year work permit when ours was approved. 

After living here with PR for 2 years, NZ issued us an indefinite visa--meaning we are entitled to live here unconditionally. We can move away for a while and still return. 

And after 5 years, we are entitled to NZ citizenship and a new passport, which we can use to enter any country in the world, except the US which would still expect us to maintain a US passport to enter. 

The immigration process here is EASY and CHEAP!!! Especially compared to just about every other country!!!