this might take awhile

I finally got the ink for my printer yesterday. We had a dump of snow over the weekend and I didn't want to go out in it. Now that I've printed the forms, I see it will take a few days before I have them completed. The primary reason? Despite the fact that I am the only one on the application (husband and daughters all being New Zealand citizens) I have to write out every member of my partner's immediate family. With their birthdates. Aidan is the youngest of nine kids, and he's not quite sure on all their birthdates! He knows all the days and months, it's the years that he's a bit unsure of.

I'm assuming the reason they want this information is to see who could potentially in the future want to try to gain entry based on my residency (assuming I get it). But it's silly, really, because all of them are New Zealanders. I guess in this sort of case it could be to see where we have the most ties, so it's a positive thing, having so much of our family in New Zealand. I don't know, but it's frustrating all the same. We'll have to contact his mother to get all the dates.

healthy as a horse

Whew! So glad that's done. I had my medical exam and lab work and chest x-ray needed for my New Zealand residency application. Time spent at the medical clinic totaled two and a half hours. Then two days later I went back in to pick it all up. I had been quite nervous about it, apparently unnecessarily so. My doctor was very nice about it and agreed to do all the paperwork herself, rather than sending it to Medical Records (as I was told must be done at the front desk) which would have taken weeks to get back. The chest x-ray was done at my clinic, but had to be sent to a radiologist off-site, and though I worried about it, the form for the radiologist went off with the x-ray, and came back correctly filled in. Once I got it all back, I celebrated in the classic Kiwi way, with beans on toast.



So now I've pretty much collected everything I need to submit my application. Last thing is for Aidan to get a couple of passport photos. I've gotten mine already. I needed three for my medical forms, so I got the extra 2 for the application at the same time. Oh, but I need to go to Staples tomorrow to get some more ink for my printer. I'm running out, and need to print up the application (24 pages), and the sponsorship form (12 pages). A few weeks ago I had called the NZ Embassy in Washington, DC to get them to send me copies of the form (wanting the nice, official versions), but they didn't have any to send! Told me I had to print off the web. So I will.

required reading

I'm reading these books to help me prepare for moving to New Zealand.



Seriously.

must wait

I've been quite nervous thinking about the medical exam and tests that need to be done for this residency application. Not because I think I'll have anything wrong with me, but because I'm not sure how the process will go. The form is LONG. 16 pages LONG. And the directions state that half of it has to be filled out in the presence of the doctor, and the other half has to be filled out by the doctor. And that midway through you must go get a check x-ray, blood work and a urinalysis done, and then come back to your doctor to finish the form filling outing.

I don't know about you, but I've barely ever met my PCP (primary care provider, often called GPs in other parts of the world) of the past 5 years. She's usually all booked up, so even if I'm sick, I end up seeing a nurse practitioner. And when I do go in, I'm usually rushed in and out as quick as possible. So the concepts of this medical immigration form and my doctor's office just don't go together at all.

But now that I have all the background check stuff done, the next step is the medical. So I called my doctor's office, and spoke to the receptionist. I explained that I had this long-ass form I needed filled out, with lots of accompanying testing, and she said "It sounds like you just need a physical. Your doctor is booking in February for physicals right now." Now, I don't think I just need a physical, unless they're willing to do this whole form as an add-on to a physical, but I'll go along with that. But FEBRUARY!? I wanted this done soooooon. Oh well, better stop whining. She had a cancellation and was able to get me in on January 22. I think I'll go in a few days before that, bring a copy of the form with me and leave it for them to look over, so there won't be any surprises on the day.

it came

See, that's how easy it can be. Just two weeks after I sent it off, and my husband's FBI background check is back, with no arrest history of course. It's a busy time of year, but I'll try to get my medical done in the next few weeks, so I can hopefully mail the whole application off before the new year! Almost done. Whew!

sent

Kiwi hubby went to the police station on Tuesday to get his prints for his FBI record request. They looked to me like they've got the necessary feature vectors. We'll see I guess. We mailed it off to the FBI 2 days ago.

really????

So apparently, the people at my local police station were wrong. It's not that after three tries the FBI just goes ahead and accepts fingerprints with a low quality characteristics. It's actually that after making me submit my bad-ass fingerprints three times they go ahead and reject my attempts to get my police record. This past Saturday I received back in the mail all 5 sets of the fingerprints I submitted (1 the first time, 2 each the second and third times) with a nice note. The note reads:

It appears the quality of your fingerprints will not improve. Unfortunately, they do no possess the "feature vectors" which must be present to complete a fingerprint search of the FBI Fingerprint Identification Record System. Should a fingerprint search be required for the purpose of licensing, employment or immigration, you should contact the agency requiring the fingerprinting to determine alternate procedures.

My fingerprints don't possess the "feature vectors". I feel so dirty.

So following the note's instructions, I emailed the New Zealand Embassy in Washington. First, actually, I checked Immigration New Zealand's web site to see if they had "alternate procedures" listed. And it seemed like I had found the "alternate procedures" right here in the first paragraph. It says I need a statutory declaration and corroborating information attesting to my good character. That's what I ultimately emailed the NZ Embassy about, because what the heck is a statutory declaration, and what kind of corroborating information do I need?

The response I received was not so helpful. They told me to call the FBI to find out what to do to get my fingerprints accepted. Even though I made completely clear in my email why the FBI wasn't going to provide me with a police certificate, they wanted me to check again. So I did. It was a quick call. The very nice woman at the FBI CJIS Division told me I need to go back to Immigration New Zealand and ask what to do since the FBI will NOT give me my record. Sounds like a lot of back and forth, eh?

All that, to get the final response from the NZ Embassy saying I just need a statutory declaration stating all the above. Great. Thanks for the help.

Before writing back again to this kind soul in the NZ Embassy, I found out that just last week the requirements for attaining residency through a NZ partner have changed. The forms are all different now and everything. Yikes. Good thing I saw that on the Expats in New Zealand Yahoo Group, or I wouldn't have known that now, my husband needs to get his FBI record as well! Let's hope his fingers have feature vectors.

I'm not going to bother writing back to the NZ Embassy, because perusing the new application forms I found out that a "statutory declaration" is just a letter that's been notarized.

bad bad fingers

Well, the Red Sox didn't sweep the Indians, but did end up winning the series in 7 games. They just wanted to make it more interesting, I'm sure. As I write they're up 3 games to none against the Rockies in the World Series and winning in Game 4. Maybe this time they'll sweep.

Anyways, my fingerprints were rejected by the FBI again. Blah. It was kinda expected given what the fingerprint technician told me last time, I was just hoping I wouldn't have to go in. Again. But I went back to my local police station, and this time a different technician was on. He agreed that my fingerprints were naturally really bad. He said he does 3 - 5 sets of prints a day, and mine were some of the worst he'd ever seen. Great. But he confirmed that the FBI will just go with what they've got (primarily my Social Security number) after this submission, even if the fingerprints get rejected again.

So I didn't have to pay for the prints at the police state again, since it was a redo, but the FBI made me pay a second fee of $18. I don't know why they let you resubmit once without paying more, but make you resubmit twice before they give up. Whatever. The most annoying part of paying again was that this time they required a money order or certified check. The first time I was able to pay with a credit card. I should have gotten a money order at the post office, but I was at the bank, so had them print out a certified check. Unfortunately they charged an $8 fee. Oh well.

Besides the extra time and the extra $26, there's no worry really about all this. I got a response from the New Zealand Embassy in Washington DC about the processing time for a residency application. 3 - 6 months. And then I'll have to move there within 12 months. So so far I'm still on track for an October 2008 move. Yay!

let's talk about sports

While I'm waiting for my FBI background check to be processed I've got some time on my hands. I'm using a lot of the time to stress that I won't get residency in time to move to New Zealand in October of 2008 like we're planning. I know it's a year away, but remember, we had to wait over two and a half years for Aidan's US citizenship (the USCIS website says it should take about 7 months). The Immigration New Zealand FAQ says "Once you know which branch will be processing your application, you can access their processing times on our website, which is published in their individual branch pages, under the heading 'Processing Times'." Being in the US, I'll be submitting my application to the Washington branch. Their page doesn't have the 'Processing Times' heading. :( Guess I'll have to call them on Monday so I can stop stressing (or start stressing more).

Until then, let's talk about sports. In New Zealand, the biggest sport is rugby, and they've recently had a devastating result in the Rugby World Cup. They were eliminated by France in the quarterfinals. Oops. They were expected to win the Cup. As they are every time. And as the rarely do. They're good at choking I guess.

Over here, the biggest sport is baseball. And my local team, the Boston Red Sox, last week made it past the equivalent of a quarterfinal round, by beating the Los Angeles Angels in the American League Division Series (ALDS). Now we're in the American League Championship Series (ALCS) against the Cleveland Indians, playing for a spot in the World Series. Last night we won the first of the seven game series. Yay! 4 minutes to the first pitch of Game 2. Here's hoping for a sweep!

bad fingers

So I was all proactive and went back to the police station yesterday for reprinting. Turns out it wasn't a problem with the set of prints, it's a problem with my actual fingers. They don't print well. And so when the FBI says that the "quality of characteristics is too low to be used" they mean that my fingerprints are kinda boring and uncharacteristic without nice deep groves and nice defined whorls and such. So reprinting doesn't usually actually help. But they make you do it anyways. Great.

The lady in the detectives' office was nice and redid the prints, twice actually, since the FBI had sent me 2 extra print cards and we figured we might as well send them both. She said that the FBI used to have the rule that they'd make you send in 3 sets of prints before they finally just accepted them. She said she believed the new rule is just 2 sets. Here's hoping.