Sent

Got everything sorted out and finally I've prepared a special delivery pack to lodge the application to the immigration office in London.

Things have gone bad to worse over these days but at least the application is finally made.

Medicals....done

Medical documents are done and the courier has arrived from Birmingham.
I gotta get some documents certified and finally we can submit the application soon.

今のうちに

ただいま不本意ながら、以前とは比較にならないくらい暇（＝ったく、専業主婦でっせ）。

ラッキー！

・・・とは中々思えない、常に現状に文句があるワタシ。

しかし今しかないのだ。今なら自分の能力改善に手をつけられるでないの。


①英語
1-1　語彙アップ（新聞を読もう・・・）
1-2　会話の手法（スピーチ講座でやるような自身があって安心して聞ける話方など。声のトーンや視線の持っていき方など技術的なこと）
1-3　面接の会話
1-4　電話での会話

②時事問題
特に業界関係のアップデート。

③Self-confidence
I have confidence that spring will come again～♪と歌っていてもどうにもならぬ。Self-confidenceをアップさせる方法を模索してみる。


今のところは、こんなところか。今まで流れるにまかせて、力を入れてこなかった分野がいっぱい。暇暇暇で死んじゃう～・・・と言いつつ、やらねばならぬことって実はたくさんあるね。

Hep B result

Hep B blood test was negative. The copy of the result was sent to Birmingham. Waiting for the medical papers to arrive - and that's it.

New Aussie police cert

My husband's new Australian police cert has arrived this morning, with the correct spelling. At last.

London again

Travelled to London again to pick up our Japanese police certs, but this time only me and our daughter.

Had to bring our passports to receive the certificates.

My husband went to our local GP to do his Hep B blood test. Of course our pathetic doctor said he couldn't do despite the confirmation we made the day before with the clinic reception. He had to wait to see another doctor to have this stupid business done. He concluded that the Great British empire is as bad as Russia in terms of services.

The blood test will be ready in 10 days. Gosh, we really needed the extension.

Extension

We've contacted the Immigration NZ office in London to consult our trouble. We're given a 2-month extension. Thank God.

Blood test

Trouble goes on.

I think it was last Tuesday when I received a phone call from the clinic in Birmingham where we had our medical exams. Now, they want my husband to have another go on the blood test - for unknown reason (which we later found out that the stupid clinic had lost my husband's blood sample.  Very professional). We live so far from the clinic and we spent so much time and money already on the bloody blood exam. We're still negotiating how we can possibly solve the problem.

They'd promised to have all our paperwork to be done within 12 days after the examination, but obviously it's not happening. Pathetic people.

Recovery

I rang the QLD police headquarters as soon as it got 9am in Brisbane (meaning 23 o'clock in the UK), and got the assurance that they'll make a new certificate straight away. Hope it arrives well before the deadline.

Spelling mistake

This morning, I found two letters stuck under the door - they were the Australian police certs. However, my husband's family name was misspelt....... as usual.

We've included the photocopies of our passports as well as the driving licenses, and yet! such an official document as a police certificate was made with a wrong spelling.

I rang Australia straight away, but unfortunately, 9am here means 7pm there. No one picked up the phone. I also sent an email to the very nice officer who was helping me a lot, but instantaneously I received an auto-reply saying that he's away from his office until the mid November. Damn it!

The submission deadline is approaching. I'm gonna make them send a new one as soon as possible.

British police certs arrived

The British police certificates arrived one by one. My husband's yesterday, and mine today. Things are getting ready, and I'm nervous everyday.

Russian police cert

Surprise, surprise!

The Russian police cert has arrived to my husband's office today.
We were so worried that it will never happen, and keeping all the receipts and stuff as an evidence of application.
Well done, Russia.

Japanese police cert

While we were waiting for our medical exam, I've got a ring from the Japanese Embassy in London that our Japanese police certificates are ready for picking up.

We nominated each other for collecting the document, hence this time we don't have to go all of us.

I hope I'll be the one to go pick up the document - so that I can enjoy a bit of London just by myself!

Medical & X-Ray

Rearranged the appointment, and we went to Birmingham for the medical and x-ray certificate.

Radiologists and doctors are usually in different clinics in this country, but if you search on the panel doctor list, you can find some clinics where they have both radiologists and doctors.

Adult = ￡305 x 2
Child = ￡50 x 2
+17.5% VAT
Total = ￡875.23

Children didn't have to do the blood test and x-ray, and the little one (3yo) didn't have to do the urine test.

Our certificates will be dispatched within 12 days. Hope everything works fine.

UK police cert

Sent off the applications for the UK police certificate. Hope everything works out ok.

Radiologist

We were to go to the radiologist in Cardiff this morning but had a major argument with my husband on the way and we cancelled the trip. I've re-arranged the whole thing and decided to go to Birmingham instead. There, they'll take care of x-ray and medical exam on the same day in the same facility. It is so inconvenient that doctors and radiologists are usually in different clinics (meaning we needed to make 2 trips).

Australian police cert

The bank draft arrived on Friday, so I sent off the application form together with the draft to Australia.

Paid extra £3.50 on top of £1.20 international postage so that the letter will have priority to reach the destination. I got the track number so I can check how it's doing on the way to arrive to the QLD police.

Now I'm getting to worry about how I can pay for the application fee. I need to check the limit of my credit card.

police cert and bank draft

I was getting to worry that our police certificates wouldn't make it before the deadline to lodge the application of residence visa. I've contacted the Immigration NZ office in London - we might receive an extension. All those small details make me feel so nervous.

Today I finally made an appointment for the medical examinations. More than ￡900 is to be paid just for this procedure, and we will have to make 2 trips to Cardiff. It takes 2.5 hrs to get there. Thinking about the petrol price nowadays, we should have made it with the hospital in Wrexham where the medical and x-ray are done in the same facility on the same day, but my husband can't make it on the day the medical is available in Wrexham.

Because now I know that extension is possible (hopefully), I started preparing the international bank draft to pay for the police certificate from Australia. Surprise, surprise. The bank charges me ￡18 but they can only send me the draft to me by post after 5 business days. I guess the 21st century hasn't arrived in Britain yet. All businesses here are unbelievably slow.

EXP08 @ Leeds

Drove 3.5 hours/way from Wales to attend a job fair in Leeds.
It was a 2-day event therefore we were planning to stay overnight to attend both days - and then realised that 1 day could be enough.

Indeed, it was enough to stay for a couple of hours. I spoke with 2 potential employers but after attending their seminars and talking to them personally, I drew a conclusion that this event was mostly meant for THEM to promote what they want to sell.

We spent ￡15 per person for the Expo ticket - just to let them promote. I suspect exhibitors might be serious about finding some particular professionals (mostly doctors and nurses etc), but other professions like ours were not meant to be their serious target.

I am disappointed with the event, but the good thing was that I got to speak with some people from the Immigration NZ. They've answered some small queries in my mind. Otherwise, it was not worth visiting spending petrol and time.

Trip to the embassies in London

We went to London mainly in order to apply for the police certificates from both Japan and Russia. For the certificates, you need to show up to the embassies in person.
It was easy peasy to have it arranged in the Japanese embassy, but for the Russian one...we spent the whole afternoon queuing to speak with the embassy staff. When we left the Russian embassy, it was already 18 o'clock.

ロンドンの日露大使館へ、警察証明の申請へ行ってきた。日露の警察証明は、本人申請でしか受け付けていない。日本側の手続きは簡単。しかし、ロシア大使館では14時から18時まで大使館内で待たされた。15年振りのロンドンなのに、ほとんど何も見られなかった（ロシア大使館から日本大使館までハイドパークを通っていったので、それだけが唯一楽しかった）。

Photo: Rose Garden @ Hyde Park

Fingerprints 2

I really don't even want to think about it anymore but there it goes - something rang the bell inside me and I phoned the Japanese embassy to check if it was OK to have the fingerprints done with ... some mistakes.

Of course, NO. I asked the lady on the phone to send me another set of fingerprint forms so that we can re-do it again at our local police station without any extra fee.

She was quick and the forms arrived just one day after the phone call, and we went to the same police station.

This time, the officer (different bloke) was very quick but rather accurate - at least with my fingerprints and made no mistake. With my husband, he put too little ink on one of the fingers and the print didn't come out too clear.........and my husband actually DID ask the officer to put more ink on the finger. Gee, please. We really don't wanna be rejected in London.

Now, I had to get the forms stamped at the reception. The reception lady checked the date on the stamp and even tried it on a different sheet of paper, and she was sure the date was amended. But when I saw that sheet of paper, the date was printed as "30 Sep 2008". "Excuse me, but today is the 3rd of September...not the 30th". I can't believe we've paid ￡180 (almost 40,000JPY) to those people. I'll always have to point out their mistakes.


指紋採取の左右を間違えたものの、「このまま申請しよう」と思っていた。しかし、昨日になって急に「そんないい加減なことでは日本の警察はダメと言うに違いない」と気付き、日本大使館に電話をしたら案の定「機械で読み取るものなので、間違いがあると受け付けられないんです」と言われてしまった。電話に出た方を拝み倒して、再度用紙を送ってもらう手続きを取る（本来なら再度こちらから住所氏名を書いて切手を貼った封筒を先方に送らなければいけない）。来週のロンドン行きまでに間に合うかな～と心配だったが、新しい用紙は今朝届いた。ロンドンの大使館嬢さま、ありがとうございました。

さて、とっとと済ませておこうということで、早速警察署に出向く。事情を説明すると、申し訳なさそうに再度採取してくれるという回答。今度のおまわりさんは、仕事が速い。しかも正確（少なくとも私の分は）。しかし、夫が取ってもらった指紋を見ると、一つだけ少し薄い。・・・これは薄すぎるのでは・・・と心配するも、もう用紙はない。見方によっては「ちょっと薄い」程度なので、もうこれで申請するしかない。もしこれで警察証明の申請を拒否されたら、ここの警察署には180ポンド返してもらおうと思う。

さて、採取が済んだら最後に受付で警察署のハンコを押してもらう。「じゃ、日付を直しましょうかね」とカリカリとハンコの日付を直し、別の紙に試し押しまでした「さ！できた」と言うので試し押ししたものを見たら「9月30日」になっていた！あわてて「すいません、今日は3日です。30日じゃありません！」と訴える。「あら、ごめんなさいね」とすぐ直してくれたが、危ないところだった・・・。

これで180ポンド（約4万円）なんて信じられない！私に払って下さい。

Getting our passports certified

Because we didn't want to give up our passports for long time, we've decided to make "certified copies" of them. For that, you need to go visit a solicitor or a notary public. Well, solicitors are easier to reach and less costly. Besides, there is only 1 notary public in this town and he's away until the mid September - but solicitors are found everywhere even in such a small town.

Some of them need to have an appointment, but I rang up a few different offices and found a solicitor who could see us right away without an appointment.

We brought 4 passports and 2 sets of photocopies - 8 photocopies all together and the solicitor stamped and signed the each copy. I thought it was ￡5 per copy but the lady there charged me only ￡5 for all 8 copies. Not bad - and it's done.


長期間パスポートを手放すのは嫌だったので、パスポートの「認証つきコピー（Certified copy）」を提出することにした。認証には、Notary public（公証人）かSolicitor（事務弁護士）のサインが必要。我が町には公証人が一人しかおらず、しかも9月半ばまで休暇中とのこと（・・・）。しかし、事務弁護士事務所は山盛りあり、連絡をしまくったら「予約なしでいつ来てもいいよ」という事務所が一軒あったので、そこに行った。

4人分のパスポートと、それぞれ2枚のコピーを取ったものを持参。事務弁護士が1枚づつスタンプを押し、サインしてくれる。1枚￡5かと思ったら、4人分×2枚づつ＝8枚全部で￡5でいいという。安く済んでよかったのだが、事務弁護士女史はパスポートのオリジナルに触りもしなかった。これで「Certified copy」と言うのだから恐れ入った。

ちなみに別の事務所数軒では、「あなたうちのお客さん？違うの？2年知り合いじゃないとCertifyできないのよ」と言われた。イギリスに来て1年未満の我が家はこの国でCertified copyを作ることができないなんて馬鹿なことあるかいな、NZ査証の申請に必要なのだが、そんなことどこにも書いてない・・・と言ったら、あっさり折れてたけれど。

Fingerprints

I've got all the documents from the Japanese Embassy in London - it was quite quick. I sent the requested documents last Friday so it took only 1 week to have everything ready and delivered. I was asking for birth certificates, a marriage certificate, a drivers license translation certificate, and 2 fingerprint forms for police certificate. I had to prepare a special delivery envelope which ensures the sender the next day delivery. I paid something around ￡5 for the postage.

Since we got the fingerprint forms, we went to the local police station straight away.

No booking was required as long as there's someone at the custody office to take fingerprints. Kids are asked to wait outside with my husband while I went into the custody office for fingerprinting. The officer said that the area is not "child-friendly".

We had to do 2 sets of fingerprints - for Japan and Australia. Because the Japanese form looked quite different from the British or Australian fingerprint forms, the officer made a mistake and put my right fingerprints on the left fingerprint section. Well, a small mistake but I'm paying a huge money (￡90 for 2 sets) and moreover I didn't want to waste my time. Anyway, he re-wrote the L and R in the form and put his signature on my request. Hope it'll do.


今朝、ロンドンの日本大使館から依頼していた証明書類が届いた。中々素早い。送ったのは先週の金曜日だから、ちょうど一週間で返信されてきた。頼んでいたのは出生証明、婚姻証明、運転免許証抜粋証明、それと警察証明のための指紋原紙。依頼の際はSpecial delivery（翌日）用の封筒を用意。郵便局でそれ専用の封筒がもらえるので、それに自分の名と住所を書き、切手を貼ったものを同封した。送料は￡5ちょっと。

さて、指紋原紙をもらったので、さっそく町の警察署へ出向いて指紋を取ってもらうことに（ちなみに我が町にはPolice stationは1軒しかあらず・・）。

予約は不要。Custodyの係員さえいればすぐ指紋を取ってくれる。家族全員で出頭したものの、拘留所内に入らないといけないので「お子さんは外で待っていて下さいと言われ、私が指紋を取っている間は夫に外で子供を見てもらった。「Child-friendlyな場所ではないですからね」と気の良さそうなお巡りさんが言っていた。指紋採取用の部屋には拘留された人の写真や指紋を取る機械が。拘留された人ならデジタルな指紋を取るそうなのだけど、我々は犯罪を犯した訳じゃないのでアナログ版の指紋採取。指にインクをつけて、指を用紙の上で"rolling"（回転）させながら取る。なるほど、指紋のことを「Rolling」と言うのは、こういうことだったんですね。

さて、オーストラリア用と日本用に2セット取ってもらったのだけど、このお巡りさん、日本の用紙で左用って書いてある箇所に右手の指紋を取っちゃった。「大丈夫大丈夫。後でL（左）とR（右）を書き換えておくから」・・って、2セットで￡90払ってる上、日本の用紙はまたロンドンからお金払って取り寄せないといけないんだから気をつけて欲しい。LとRを書き換えた後、「一筆書いて欲しい」とお願いしたら、「じゃあ」ということで訂正箇所に小さくサインを入れてくれた。頼むよ、お巡りさん・・・。これでうまく受理してくれるといいんだけれど。

Police certificate

One of the documents we need to prepare in order to apply for the residence is police certificate. It proves your character - and the Immigration NZ will be satisfied if you have no criminal record.

It can take a lot of time...you are required to submit police certificates from all the countries you have lived for more than a year in the past 10 years, including the country of your citizenship. In our case, we need the certificate from Japan and Australia. In addition, Игры needs to get one from Russia too. Small kids don't need this document.

For Japan, we had to ask the Japanese Embassy in London to send us the fingerprint forms. We need to bring those forms to the local police station to get our fingerprints taken. Together with the fingerprints, we need to apply for the police certificate in person at the Japanese Embassy in London (5 hrs drive from where we live). It'll cost us nothing but they'll take few months to have it done. We need to show up to London again to receive the certificates when it's done.

The Australian Embassy has got nothing to do with obtaining the Australian police certificate. Instead, we needed to directly contact the police service in Australia. I rang the Queensland Police Headquarters office, and they sent me everything we needed to know by e-mail. Fingerprints are again required for the nation-wide criminal history check. It'll cost AU$153.70 per certificate, and they will process within 7-10 working days.

Now, fingerprints can be taken at the local police station in either of the case. I went to the biggest police station in town and asked about the fingerprints. It'll cost us ￡60 for the 1st document, and ￡30 each for the following ones (meaning they'll give you a discount for doing many fingerprints at the same time).

Thankfully, for the Russian police certificate, fingerprints are not required (at least that's how we understand). You just need to show up to the Russian Embassy in London and have the forms filled in by the applicant (processing time and fee is unknown).

I'm glad that we don't have to travel to those countries to obtain the police certificate, but London is still quite far from here. The place where we live is one of Britain's most peripheral areas.

See how peripheral it is? (see photo)



本申請で必要な書類に「警察証明」がある。過去に犯罪歴がないかどうかを調べるためらしい。

これは取得までにかなり時間がかかることがあるので、本申請の招待状をもらったらすぐに取りかかるべきだと思う（・・・我が家は1ヶ月も放置してしまった←本申請招待状が来てから4ヶ月以内に申請しないといけないのです）。警察証明は、母国及び過去10年間に1年以上住んだ国全てから取得しなければならない。我が家の場合は日本とオーストラリア。イギリスはまだ1年未満だからいらないか。夫はロシアからも取得しなくてはならない。子供たちは不要。

まず日本。国外に住んでいる私たちの窓口は、ロンドンの日本大使館。警察証明には指紋の採取が必要なので、まずは指紋用紙を取り寄せる。指紋はローカルの警察署で取ってもらい、それを持って申請者が直接大使館まで出頭申請しなくてはならない（ここからロンドンまで車で5時間ぐらい）。費用は無料だが、取得まで2～3ヶ月かかるらしい。

オーストラリアの場合、大使館は警察証明の面倒を見てくれません。オーストラリアの警察に直接連絡しろと言われ、住んでいたクィーンズランド州の警察本部へ電話したところ、メールアドレスを聞かれ、その場ですぐ必要事項を記載したメールを送ってくれた。こちらも指紋採取が必要。全国版の指紋付警察証明書は一人153.70豪ドル。高い！！けど、7～10営業日で作成して返送してくれるそう。

指紋採取はローカルの警察署で。我が町の警察本部と思しき場所で聞いたところ、指紋採取は￡60。2枚目は￡30（←割引　笑）。

ありがたいことに、ロシアの警察証明には指紋採取はしなくてよいらしい（と解釈してる）。ただし、やはり申請者がロンドンのロシア大使館まで出頭申請・出頭受取しないといけないらしい。期間と料金は忘れました。

ロンドンへ行かなくてはならないのが大変。何しろここはイギリスの僻地だから。

写真を見れば、どれだけ田舎かわかるでしょ？

Invitation to Apply for Residence

25 July, 2008
A huge envelope had arrived to my husband's office. It was the Invitation to Apply for Residence, from the Immigration New Zealand office in London. After being selected from the EOI pool, each case is distributed to a case officer who belongs to an Immigration NZ office closest to where you currently live. Receiving the invitation means the main applicant's qualifications and experiences are regarded good enough to apply for the Skilled Migrant residence visa. Hooray! In our case, I'm the main applicant and my profession is not usually regarded good enough for a "skilled migrant", but because I'm experienced for quite a long time (more than 8yrs) in the industry, and also I've recently got a masters degree in the related field, they've decided I could be qualified as a "skilled migrant".
A lot of paper work to be done before we can submit the application, but there we go - we're again one more step closer to be NZ residents.

2008年7月25日
夫の研究室にロンドンのNZ移民局から分厚い封筒が届いた。永住権本申請の招待状だった。EOIから選出された後は、各地のケースオフィサーに回され、そこで本申請招待状を出すべきものか再度ふるいにかけられる。本申請招待状が来たということは、主たる申請者の資格や経験が「Skilled migrant（技術移民）」として充分だと判断されたということ。やった！

我が家の場合、私が主たる申請者なのだが、私の職業は通常Skilled migrantとは見なされない。しかし8年間の職歴と、離職後に職歴に基づいて取得した修士号が効いたらしい。よかった・・・

本申請を提出するのに、準備しなければいけない書類が山ほどある。でもとりあえずまた一歩前に進めた（しかもかなり重要な一歩）のでホッとした。

Selected from the EOI pool

04 June, 2008
Every 2nd Wednesday, the EOI selection is being done from the pool, and we've made it! We're selected finally, and I don't have to worry about $400 I spent from my credit card anymore (you'll be out of the pool if you're not selected within 6 months). We've had only 125 points with no job offer. If you have less than 120 points with no job offer, you're very unlikely to be selected from the pool - but 125 points is not so much better than that. I'm surprised that my husband's educational qualification didn't contribute much to add the points - he's got a ph.D but his dull IELTS score (7.0) was more critical than his ph.D!  He was late for the IELTS exam that morning and had to give up the 1st half of the listening comprehension test.



2008年6月4日

2週間に1回あるEOI選考の日。とうとう選抜された！万歳！これで400ドルを払った甲斐があるというもの。6ヶ月の間に選抜されなければ、EOIプールから外されるのだから。

我が家は125点しかなかった。しかもJob offer（就職内定）なし。120点以下は考慮もされないらしいが、125点もそうかわらない。

おかしいのは、夫の学歴（最終学歴は博士号）が大して点数アップに貢献しなかったこと。IELTS7.0という冴えないスコア（←試験に遅刻しリスニングの半分は白紙のままだったらしい）の方がよっぽど点数を稼いだ。

何はともあれ、予選突破。一安心。

Submitting the EOI

14 April, 2008
We've completed the Expression of Interest (EOI) online, and submitted it. When I was submitting it, I realised that we needed to pay for the submission. Surprise, surprise! NZ$400!
It's always good to have some savings. My untouchable savings account exists for this purpose.

2008年4月18日
長時間かけて家族4人分のEOIを完成。オンラインでやっと提出。最後の最後になって、EOIの提出にNZ$400が必要なことが判明。いつもは絶対手をつけない口座のお金だけど、こういう時のためにあるのだ。