Category: visa

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My *New Job,* Along With a Brief (“Brief”) Rundown of New Zealand’s Workers’ Rights, How Taxes Work Here, and How a Stranger Saved Me From a Lifelong Financial Nightmare

Yep, that’s right; I got a job! I actually got a job like…..less than a minute after I was granted my work visa. You may remember from my previous post that I was at my volunteer nursery gig when I got the punctuationally-deadpan but nevertheless thrilling email from Immigration saying that I had been granted a one-year work visa. I happened to be working alongside the co-owner of the nursery/landscape company, who offered me a job on the spot (and then–which I found very sweet–she immediately added that I should take some time to think about it, since I’d literally *just* gotten my visa, and that they’d be open to full- or part-time employment; whatever worked best for me, and that we could chat about it once the news had settled in). I’ve gotten to know the couple who own the company and some of their employees during my volunteer time, and I really like all of them. So a few days later I sat down with them and voilà: I’m employed! I’ll be doing a bit of nursery work and a bit of landscape work.

I spent the past four years working for a landscaping company on Cape Cod, so in a lot of ways this will feel familiar to me. But the one glaring difference between my job back home and my job here–aside from the wildly different flora and the fact that the guys I work with speak English (well; if Kiwi English counts 🤣)–is the fact that I am legally entitled to a whole bunch of what I can’t help but think of as “job perks,” even thought they are in fact national laws designed to help Kiwis maintain a healthy work/life balance. What a novel concept, eh?

The landscaping company has hired me as a “casual employee” for my first 6-8 weeks there, both because they will only have part-time work available until one of their full-time employees leaves in August, and also as a way to make sure I’m a good fit for them (and vice versa) before we move into my being a “permanent employee”. “Casual employee” is a term used to refer to an employment situation where the employee has no guaranteed hours of work, no regular pattern of work, and no ongoing expectation of employment. As defined by the Employment division of the New Zealand government website, “Each time a casual employee accepts the offer to work it’s considered a new period of employment. If an employer decides to stop offering work, this doesn’t count as a dismissal because the employer has no responsibility to provide work”. The employer doesn’t have to offer work to the employee, and the employee doesn’t have to accept work if it’s offered. Casual employees are entitled to the same rights as contract employees, but the way in which annual holidays, sick leave, and bereavement leave are applied can vary for these employees. I’ll explain that further down.

Disclaimer: before I launch into everything I’ve been learning about employment in New Zealand, I want to state unequivocally that although I try my best to research and fact-check the hell out of everything I post on this blog, citing official government websites as much as possible, there is always the possibility that what I write may not be entirely accurate, either factually or in a lived day-to-day NZ experience. This whole “living in a new country” thing is a learning process for me as much as for everyone reading this. If I find that I need to go back and amend or clarify anything, I will always mark it as “Edited” so everyone knows that I was actually talking out my tuchus.

A picture of me with one of the nursery’s farm dogs, just to break up the monotony.

There are several different categories of employees in NZ:

A permanent employee–be it full or part-time–have the full set of rights I’m about to list for you. New Zealand has no law specifying the number of hours which differentiate full-time and part-time work, though 35-40 hours is generally considered to be full-time.
A casual employee is an employment situation where the employee has no guaranteed hours of work, no regular pattern of work, and no ongoing expectation of employment.
A fixed term (or “contract”) employee is someone hired for a specific amount of time; their employment has an end date (think someone hired to cover someone’s maternity leave).
A seasonal employee is exactly what it sounds like. There’s a ton of seasonal work in NZ thanks to the thriving fruit, vegetable, fish, and meat industries.
A contractor, or independent contractor, is essentially the same thing as being self-employed. Contractors earn income by invoicing the principal for their services. A contractor pays their own tax and isn’t covered by most employment-related laws, which means they don’t get things like annual leave or sick leave.
Triangular employment situations. This is where someone is employed by one employer (the agency), but is working under another business or organisation that directs or controls their day-to-day work (controlling third party). An employee is employed by a recruitment or employment agency, and is sent on work assignments to another organisation. In other words, temping.

Here is a quick summary of the rights which Permanent Employees (full or part-time) are entitled to, taken directly from the employment.govt.nz website:

Vacation Time:
Employees get a minimum of 20 days annual paid leave. Annual leave is accrued every full year with the company rather than the calendar year, and employees can only take their paid leave after completing a full year with the company unless agreed upon otherwise.

Holidays:
There are ten national public holidays, plus one regional anniversary day. Employees are given the day off, but are paid for, public holidays that fall on a regular working day. Employees who work during a public holiday are entitled to 1.5 times their regular pay plus an alternative day off.

Sick Time:
Sick leave entitlement is 10 days per year after six months of continuous employment and can be accumulated to 20 days. Employees can use sick leave when they themselves are sick, or when a child, spouse, or someone else in their care is sick.  

Maternity Leave:
Maternity leave in NZ is more commonly known as “primary carer leave” or “parental leave” and is available to someone who is pregnant, a new mother or their partner, an adoptive parent, a Home for Life parent, Whāngai (Whāngai is the Māori tradition of children being raised by someone other than their birth parents — usually a relative), a grandparent with full-time care, or a permanent guardian.
The length of leave is as follows:
* Six months before the due date: 26 weeks (half a year) of paid primary carer leave, and a further 4 weeks of unpaid extended parental leave 
* Twelve months before due date: 26 weeks  (half a year) of paid primary carer leave, and a further 26 weeks of unpaid extended parental leave

Miscarriage Leave:
Three days of paid leave for miscarriage or stillbirth at any point during the pregnancy.

Domestic Violence Leave:
Domestic violence victims can claim up to 10 days of paid domestic violence leave in every 12 months.

Because I am starting out as a casual (part time, non-consistent) employee, I’m not eligible for the legally mandated paid vacation and holiday times. However, rather than just getting screwed over, my employer–by law–has to pay me at least minimum wage (which, as of April 1, 2024, is $23.15/hour) plus at least an additional 8% “casual loading fee” per hour. Casual employees are also entitled to sick leave and bereavement leave after 6 months of starting work if, during that time, they have worked an average of at least 10 hours a week, and at least one hour a week or 40 hours a month.

Filling out the paperwork for my new job was a trip, since of course I’ve never had the pleasure of filling out new-job-paperwork in another country. It was refreshingly brief and straightforward: I had to write my name, IRD number, and tax code. You need an IRD (Internal Revenue Department) number in order to have a job in New Zealand; I applied for mine online as soon as I got my visa and it was automatically generated and emailed to me within an hour. The “tax code declaration” was made easy thanks to the helpful flowchart that came with it:

Lastly, I had to sign a special form declaring that I was opting the hell out of something called KiwiSaver.

KiwiSaver. Oh, my dear, sweet, complicated KiwiSaver. Where do I even begin with you.

KiwiSaver is a voluntary savings scheme set up by the government to help New Zealanders easily and affordably save for their retirement. As an employee, you can choose to contribute 3%, 4%, 6%, 8% or 10% of your gross wage or salary to your KiwiSaver account, and employers are required to contribute close to 3% of your gross salary (unless they are already contributing to another superannuation fund for them). Additionally, as long as you’re eligible, for every $1 you invest into your KiwiSaver account, the government may contribute 50 cents, up to a maximum amount of $521.43 every year until you’re 65 (to get your full KiwiSaver government contribution, you need to contribute $1,042.86 to your KiwiSaver account, which works out to just over $20 a week. This $20/week can be through your wages/salary deductions and any voluntary contributions you may decide to make. Any contributions from your employer do not count). Your KiwiSaver savings are invested on your behalf by the KiwiSaver provider of your choice. If you don’t choose a provider, Inland Revenue will assign you to a default KiwiSaver fund. 

It sounds pretty great, right? [Insert annoying buzzer sound].

I cannot throw enough gratitude towards an American woman named Melissa who has been living in NZ for ten years. I first made her acquaintance on the Americans Coming to Aotearoa/New Zealand Facebook group last year when she posted a link to a book she’d just self-published called So You Want to Move to New Zealand. I fully admit that after a decade of running an independent bookstore, I will forever be a bit dubious about self-publishing. It’s come a long way since I left the bookstore in 2012, but back then anyone who shelled out a bunch of money could have a book published. They tended to have terrible cover art, were rife with cringey typos, and more often than not came with pushy authors who demanded front and center displays in the store. However, all of Melissa’s posts in the FB group were eloquent and informative, and I decided that shelling out a mere $5.97 for a copy of her ebook couldn’t hurt. It turned out to be fabulous. She is indeed a terrific writer and her book has been a massive financial lifesaver for me (disclaimer that I know she’d want me to put: she is not a financial adviser or CPA and nothing that she’s written should be taken as legal advice. She’s just done her homework and knows her s**t). Despite my many many many hours of diligent research about moving to NZ, I had never come across this whole KiwiSaver thing. And it sounds great, so I absolutely would have signed up for it and then royally screwed myself over…for life.

Here’s the deal: Most of my (non-self-employed) Kiwi friends agree that KiwiSaver is awesome and has allowed them to save up a nice chunk of change. I mean, it sounds awesome, right? And I’m sure it is awesome, if you’re a Kiwi. I, however, am–and always will be–a United States citizen, and it is most decidedly not awesome for me. Although I first learned about all of this KiwiSaver stuff from Melissa’s book, it’s been verified over and over again on a tax-centered FB group for American expats living in NZ.

The United States Internal Revenue Service has this thing they call Passive Foreign Investment Companies (PFIC). They define PFICs as something where at least 75% of a corporation’s gross income is passive and at least 50% of the company’s assets are investments which produce income in the form of earned investment, dividends, and capital gains. PFICs came out of a tax reform law passed in 1986 to close a loophole which some U.S. taxpayers were using to shelter offshore investments from taxation, as well as  to discourage Americans from seeking tax advantages in foreign mutual funds. PFICs are subject to strict and extremely complicated tax guidelines by the Internal Revenue Service.

Funds and investments with KiwiSaver are seen as passive foreign income by the IRS. And PFICs are taxed up to 50% annually on realized gains (realized gains are when an asset is sold for a higher price than it was originally purchased for; a gain is the difference between the purchase and sale price) and up to a cute little ONE HUNDRED PERCENT when you withdraw funds. And once you open a KiwiSaver account, the only two ways you can ever close it are if you 1. Die or 2. Permanently leave New Zealand, neither of which I plan on doing. Melissa’s “Avoiding Banking Blind Spots” chapter saved me, literally and figuratively. One of the biggest topics of conversation in the aforementioned tax-centered Facebook group for American expats living in New Zealand is the whole KiwiSaver thing. Most posts are by people who unwittingly signed up for it and were desperately begging for information about how to get out of it. It’s heartbreaking. They are never given good news. You either have to leave NZ or die.

Needless to say, there wasn’t an ice cube’s chance in hell that I was opening a KiwiSaver account, and I could not have signed that op out form any faster if I’d tried. Because I opted out of KiwiSaver, the only thing coming out of my paychecks (thus far) is something called PAYE: Pay As You Earn. PAYE is a New Zealand system where the employer deducts a certain amount from every employee’s paycheck, which goes towards income tax and Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC). The employer is responsible for paying this to the IRD.

For 2024 and 2025, the PAYE tax rates are as follows:

$0 – $14,00010.5%
$14,001 – $48,00017.5%
$48,001 – $70,00030%
$70,001 – $180,00033%
$180,001 +39%

So there you have it! I am gainfully employed, starting to understand employment laws and the tax system here, and, thanks to an internet stranger, do not need to get myself deported or throw myself off Shakespeare’s Cliff to get out of having opened a KiwiSaver account. I have no idea if anyone back home aside from my CPA and New Zealand-loving friend Hazel had any desire to know any of this, but hopefully this deluge of information can help someone down the road.

I hope all of you back home are doing well! As we are now in the early stages of a mildly chilly, somewhat overcast, damp winter, I’m loving seeing all the photos from people’s gardens (especially my mom’s). Keep ’em coming!

Lotsa love from the Antipodes,

H.


PS: In a future post I’m going to get into the fact that I still have to pay taxes to the US government, though because I’ll be making under a certain amount of money I may be exempt from this. 🤯

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So, now what?



I want to include photos in all of my blog posts, so although this is a complete non sequitur, please enjoy this picture I took a few weeks ago of the Southern Lights (Aurora Australis). It was unreal.


Back to our regularly scheduled blog post.

A few people have asked me what happens next with my visa, so I thought I’d lay it all out for everyone here.

My Work Visa is valid until May 21, 2025 (one year from the date of issue). Partner of a New Zealander Work Visas are good for 1-2 years depending on how long you and your partner have been living together. If you’ve been living together for fewer than twelve months (as is our case), the visa is good for one year.

Sometime around February/March 2025, I will apply for a Partner of a New Zealander Resident Visa (processing time: 80% within 9 months, 20% within 12 months), since we will have at that point been living together for more than 12 months (January 2024-January 2025). At that time I will also resubmit my Work Visa, as I need to maintain that until the Resident one is approved. During the 9-12 months that I’m waiting for my Resident Visa to come through, I cannot leave the country or else I have to restart that whole process. This 9-12 months will be the longest time frame during which I’m not allowed to come home.

Once granted the Resident Visa, it is valid for two years, during which I can continue to work (and study) here, as well as come and go from the country as I wish.

Towards the end of those two years, I can apply for a Permanent Resident Visa. Processing time: 80% within 3 weeks. You must have held your Resident Visa for at least 2 years when you apply. The difference between the Resident and Permanent Resident visas is that Resident Visas have travel conditions that only allow you to re-enter New Zealand as a resident for those two years, whereas a Permanent Resident Visa allows indefinite re-entry to New Zealand. If I am granted a Permanent Resident Visa it will, as the name suggests, allow me to live and work in NZ, coming and going whenever I wan to, forever, which is my goal.

After five years of being in NZ on the Permanent Resident Visa–so long as I have spent 240 days of each of those five years living in NZ–I am eligible, if I so choose, to apply for Citizenship, which would give me a New Zealand passport. The U.S. allows dual citizenship, so I will still legally be American and won’t have to surrender my passport.


Approximate timeline breakdown:

February/March 2025, apply for Resident Visa
November 2025-March 2026, Resident Visa should come through 🤞🏼
October 2027-February 2028, apply for Permanent Resident Visa
November 2027-March 2028, Permanent Resident Visa should come through 🤞🏼
November 2032-March 2033, if all goes as planned, I will be eligible for New Zealand Citizenship.

Oh, I also wanted to mention that Immigration did indeed require me to get a psychiatric exam because of the medications I’m on. I had anticipated this happening, so I went ahead and booked an appointment. And I’m glad I did, because they were booked out two months and my entire visa was waiting on that exam. I drove to Auckland (5 hours round trip) and met with a psychiatrist for 90 minutes to the tune of $600 NZD ($370 USD). He was very friendly and kind and told me to just call him “Dr. Karim,” which I thought was super nice of him until I later found out that his name is Dr. Karim Abdelrahaman Nabil Mohamed Aly Salem (yes, really). As irritated as I was when I first found out about the unexpected expense and hassle of a psych exam, I also found out that the only way for me to have my local clinic refill my medications here is for me to meet with a psychiatrist, so I would have had to do it anyway. Dr. Karim wrote a letter to Immigration on my behalf, and less than a month later, my visa came through. 😊

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GUESS WHAT I GOT??? (Visa Update #6)


Two things of significance happened today.

1. I learned that I am not the sort of person who can call two of my closest friends out of the blue and go “GUESS WHAT I GOT???”, because apparently I’m enough of a wild card that even my sister and my significant other were so utterly perplexed that they ventured tentative speculations ranging from “a pet?” to “a tattoo?” to “a kitten or a puppy?” to “a kitten and a puppy?”. I assumed it would have been obvious what I’d just gotten that I was so damned excited about, but to be fair, I did almost pick up a cat on the side of the road last week and bring it home to live with us, so it’s entirely within the scope of possibility that I could be calling my sister and/or significant other to tell them that I’d just kidnapped someone’s cat and gotten its likeness tattooed on my arm.
In actuality, I was calling to tell them that…

2. I got my Partner of a New Zealander Work Visa!!!!

Yep! I am now allowed to legally work and live in New Zealand for one year. ☺️

I was pulling weeds out of hundreds of potted plants this afternoon–one of the assortment of volunteer jobs that have kept me busy while I’ve been treading the water of the visa waiting game–when an email came through my phone from “[email protected],” which I almost ignored because what the hell is that. But the subject line caught my eye: “Your Communication with Immigration New Zealand.”

Immigration. OMG. Could it be…?? I mean; the turnaround time was supposed to be 11 weeks and it’s been 9 weeks, so….

The body of the email just stated my name, date of birth, client number, and application type, casually adding “Attached to this message is a letter about your application with Immigration New Zealand.”

OMGOMGOMG…..

I had to read it several times to make sure I had, in fact, been granted the visa. I was honestly confused by the lack of exclamation points. Despite this being a piece of formal, legal correspondence on Immigration letterhead, I strongly felt that there should have been at least seven exclamation points scattered throughout the document. But it definitely said the words “approval” and “approved,” the former in bold, which I took as Immigration’s way of giving me a secret little thumbs up.

The very first person I told is the extremely funny Australian woman who works at the nursery, who happened to be weeding next to me when the email came in. After responding with enthusiasm and a bunch of s**t yeah!!s and f**k yeah!!s followed by a good on you!!, she asked if I was allowed to work any job in New Zealand. I told her I’m not allowed to work as a prostitute and she said “Awwww. All that hard work and you can’t even follow your dreams”. 🤣

(That’s actually true. Sex work is legal here in NZ, but it specifically states in the fine print of my visa that I am not allowed to engage in prostitution).

What happens next, you ask? Well; I find a job. What kind of job do I want, you ask? That’s an excellent question, and I’ll let you know when I figure that out. For now, the world is my (non-sex-work) oyster. I am utterly delighted and immensely relieved. It has been a celebratory night in our house, a night filled with flowers and chocolate and lots and lots of exclamations of joy when one or the other of us are hit by the realization all over again that I actually got my visa!!

I’d like to extend a massive thank you to all of our friends who wrote letters on our behalf–really beautiful, heartfelt letters–and to my family and friends back home for having always encouraged me to live in my own wild, weird way, to the point where a phone call out of the blue asking “Guess what I got??” leaves you with absolutely not a single goddamned clue. ☺️

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Visa Update #5: Interim Visa Granted!

Keep those champagne bottles corked; this isn’t THE visa that I just applied for. This just means that my case has been assigned to an Immigration Officer who has determined that yes, I provided them with all of the documents they need and that yes, I can now remain in New Zealand for six months until they make a decision. It doesn’t mean they won’t be contacting me with questions or asking me for more information once they actually begin reviewing my application in depth, but it’s still a relief knowing that I’m rubber-stamped to stay here in the meantime. And it feels especially good because a year ago today, I was weeping into my suitcase as I packed to fly home to the States 24 hours later, not to return to NZ for ten whole months. There shall be no suitcase-packing today! (Also hopefully no crying 😆).

The basic parameters of my Interim Visa are that I do not work (duh) and that I don’t leave the country or else the visa is nullified and I have to start all over again.

Current processing time for the Partner of a New Zealander Work Visa is 11 weeks. Stay tuned. 😊

For those of you keeping track: I submitted my visa application at 5:30 PM on Friday, March 22 and this email from Immigration was in my inbox when I woke up on Wednesday, March 27.

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Visa Update #4: My First Visa Application Has Been *Submitted*!

As I mentioned on my New Zealand Chronicles companion Instagram account last night, I was really hoping for some sort of autogenerated, celebratory, emoji-filled email to land in my inbox so that I could screen shot it and post it. Alas, the fanfare was minimal; once you submit your application, it merely moves it from “Unsubmitted” to “Submitted.” So this underwhelming screen shot will have to suffice.

But yes: Visa #1 has been submitted! And I submitted it four years to the day that Stewart and I met, which–considering that the entire application is based upon the strength of our partnership–felt like perfect timing.

I called Immigration yesterday to confirm what the last person had told me, which is that at some point in the next week, an advisor will be assigned to me. They will look over my application to make sure that all the required documents are there, and then, if they decide the application is ready to proceed, I will be issued an Interim Visa. This allows me to stay in NZ for six months until they make a decision on my visa. According to the Immigration NZ website, the turnaround time for this particular visa is currently 11 weeks, so I should theoretically have a decision around mid-June (if for some reason they haven’t made a decision on your visa by the time your Interim Visa is set to expire, you can apply to extend the Interim Visa). If I haven’t been notified about the Interim Visa by mid-week, I’ll call Immigration to check in, since my 90-day Visitor Visa expires on April 1st. The Partner of a New Zealander Work Visa cost $860 NZD (about $515 USD). This is non-refundable, even if your visa is denied (yikes).

Despite having put in countless hours preparing the application, I still ended up spending a full eight hours on it yesterday. Most of the day was spent putting the final touches on the Relationship Timeline (which I discussed in depth in an earlier post) and organizing a massive chronological PDF of photos. I sent the Relationship Timeline to my friend Dan, who is the world’s best, funniest, and most brutally honest editor. Thankfully, the majority of his edits were simple grammatical ones (complete with mini lectures on the subtle but important difference between the em dash and en dash), though he did raise a few very valid points, such as pointing out that 2021 was pretty sparse. He suggested I could use that space to reiterate/remind whomever was reading it that New Zealand’s borders remained closed due to the pandemic.

Once I finished, reread, edited, reread, edited, and reread the timeline, I uploaded it to my application, along with the PDF photo album and our entire four years’ worth of WhatsApp chat history, which was such a massive file that I had to pay $1.99 to compress it down enough to be able to upload it. I cannot describe to you the feeling of relief and accomplishment I felt as I scrolled down the final page of the application and saw how much was uploaded. Headshot: check. Police background check: check. Picture of Social Security Card: check. Picture of my passport: check. Picture of Stu’s passport: check. Form INZ 1146 that Stu filled out: check. Contact information for three people in the country who can be contacted in the event that I flee: check check check. Letters of support from friends: check check check. Letter from our landlord stating that we live together: check. And then I uploaded stuff they didn’t actually ask me for, such as my birth certificate and NZ driver’s license, but since they let you add as many “supporting documents” as you want, I figured why the heck not. Then I went back (for the 87th time) and checked that every part of the application was correct and complete, and then I held my breath and clicked “Submit Application.” And then waited for the fireworks-emoji-laden email from Immigration which never happened, but who cares because it’s DONE. 😍 🍾 🎇

I will, of course, keep you all updated on what happens next.

But wait, I have more exciting news!

I now have a NZ bank account AND a NZ driver’s license! It feels like I’m levelling up in the Immigration video game…

Although both the driver’s license and bank account were satisfying accomplishments to cross off my list, getting a bank account was a much bigger deal. My Partner Visa application will be significantly stronger now that Stu and I have a bank account together, whereas I technically don’t need a NZ driver’s license until December, since you can drive in NZ for one year on a valid foreign license. But since I have time on my hands, I figured it couldn’t hurt to upload a photo of my NZ driver’s license (with my NZ address on it) to my visa application.

I’ll start with the bank account. It was a real headache–and therefore a real sense of accomplishment–to get it done.

There are three banks here in the little town where I live. Each bank is only open ten to twelve hours a week. I’m not kidding. BNZ is open Tues and Thurs from 10-3, WestPac is open Wed and Fri from 9:30-2, and KiwiBank is open Tues, Wed, and Fri from 10-2.

KiwiBank and BNZ both told me that I couldn’t open a bank account, let alone a joint bank account, without having a visa (even though it makes your visa case a lot stronger if you have a bank account when you apply, so clearly there is a way to achieve this). WestPac said they’d look into it for me, and when they emailed me a few hours later, they explained that Stewart and I would have to come in and meet with them for an hour to an hour and a half….during business hours, which is smack in the middle of his work day. He is the librarian for a regional school with something like 1,100 students; stepping out for an hour and a half in the middle of the day is impossible. So although I got the furthest with WestPac, who at least told me that yes, it was possible to open a joint account even though I don’t have a visa, we kept running into walls since 1. their business hours are so scant and 2. due to the fact that their business hours are so scant, they were booked out about 5-6 weeks for appointments. And we needed to get this done ASAP.

Luckily, I’d had the soundness of mind to email BNZ off of their website and double-check that what the bank teller had told me was in fact correct, because it turns out that it wasn’t. Charlotte, god bless her, emailed back and apologized for the confusion and said that it was definitely possible to open a joint account—and we could do it together over the phone any time between 9-5–!!! I had to open my own personal account first, which I was able to do online in less than five minutes. After preliminarily approving my application, I got an automated email with a reference code and instructed me to go into my nearest BNZ branch with my passport and the reference number to complete the process. I showed up with both of those things, plus my social security card, birth certificate, MA driver’s license, dental records, FBI background check…I just brought my entire file folder of documents with me, along with a bunch of NZ currency which I’d converted back home when the exchange rate was really good (it turns out that I did indeed only need my passport and the reference number; at no point did she mention needing my dental records). It took about 20 minutes to finalize the process and voila, I had a bank account number. I could have cried with relief. The only thing I wasn’t able to accomplish that day was to deposit the NZ currency I’d brought over with me; she explained that I had to wait a week or so to get my debit card and then I could deposit my money at the ATM right outside the bank. I glanced over my shoulder at the two bank tellers who were both waiting on customers at the counter. As much as I wanted to ask what exactly BNZ tellers *did* do, I didn’t want to sound rude, so I just thanked her profusely, shoved my cash back into my bag, and went on my merry way. When my card arrived in the mail a week later, I raced down to the ATM and deposited all of my cash, which was really fun since the ATM is right there on the main street of town and I had to do it in several different transactions.

In order for us to get a joint account, Stu had to open his own BNZ checking account online (without ever having to go into the bank, since he’s a NZ citizen). And then we set up a phone call with our banking angel Charlotte, and after a few easy questions, such as what we were planning to use the account for, we had a joint bank account. The account almost immediately appeared on the BNZ banking app and it even gave me the option to download a PDF on BNZ letterhead stating very succinctly that (full name of person #1) and (full name of person #2) who live together at (street address) have a joint account with Bank of New Zealand. I’m guessing that this is a common request for Immigration purposes, and man did they make it easy. Huge thanks to BNZ, and especially to Charlotte!

Now, on to the driver’s license.

License photo rating: 5.5 out of 10. Not the worst photo of me, but it does look like a borderline-transparent picture of my floating severed head. It reminds me of that time on Arrested Development when Gob had to photoshop Lucille’s driver’s license to make her look younger.

The MA DMV form that ended up being the key to everything.



As I reported on in an earlier post, I tried—unsuccessfully—to get my New Zealand driver’s license last month, but was turned away because my Massachusetts driver’s license was reissued in September 2022. In order to convert an overseas license you need to have held a valid driver’s license for two years, and they required proof that I had been driving for more than 18 months. After much frustrated Googling, this form from the MA RMV ended up being the answer. I had to fill out the form (“license inquiry”), email it to my Dad, have my Dad print it off and mail it to the RMV along with a $5 check (for which I Venmoe’d my Mom), and then had him watch the mailbox for a letter from the RMV, which arrived last weekend and contained exactly what I needed: proof that I’d held a valid driver’s license for more than two years. My Dad scanned it and emailed it to me, Stu printed it off for me, and then I took it, along with a completed overseas license conversion form, my passport, my MA driver’s license, and full-color copies of my passport and license, per the form, and drove 5 hours round trip to the city of Hamilton, where I visited one of the few AA Centres that deal with overseas license conversion.

There was, remarkably, only one other customer in the lobby. I was summoned to the next available person and the entire thing took about 20 minutes. And I had misjudged the cost of the license conversion by $120—in my favor/favour! It only cost $26.40 (plus $1, because she had to photocopy the back of my MA driver’s license, which I had failed to do). I’d misread it online and thought it was going to be $144.60. Woohoo! The fact that I didn’t have to take a driver’s test, even a written one, is still bananas to me. The U.S. is on the “exempt country” list, meaning that no road test is required. Some of the other countries on that list make sense: Australia, Ireland, the UK, and Japan all drive on the left like they do here, so it makes sense that they’d just pay a small fee to get a NZ license. But I’m from the States, where we drive on the right, and I’m from Massachusetts, where drivers are so notoriously aggressive and impatient that we are (unaffectionately) referred to as “Massholes” by everyone else. But nope, it’s true: no written exam, no driving test. Just $26.40 and a bit of a drive to get there. I walked out of the AA Centre with a flimsy paper license which the woman had filled in by hand, and a week later my license arrived in the mail.

So yeah: it’s been a busy but massively productive few weeks. Lots of boxes checked, lots of documents uploaded, lots of items crossed off the to-do list. Now I just wait.


PS: If any of you need an eagle-eyed editor, I can put you in touch with my friend Dan!

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Visa Update #3: Telling Your Beautiful, Intimate, and Private Love Story to a Complete Stranger Is Just As Complex And Icky As It Sounds


Lemme start out by filling you guys in on where I am with the visa application.

As I detailed in my brief, calm, and not at all insane visa update last week, I have now completed all of the required medical exams.

I’ve made three calls to Immigration thus far to clarify a number of questions I’ve had. The biggest question, which I asked all three people, was “How late can I submit my application?”. I want to submit it as late as possible, since that gives me a chance to collect even more proof of our partnership, i.e. bills we have both been paying. I asked each of the three different people at Immigration and received three very different answers, which is both infuriating and baffling.

My Visitor Visa, the 90-day visa I was automatically granted the day I arrived here, expires April 1st. The first person I spoke with said that I could submit my application “right before my current visa is set to expire.” The second person I spoke with said Oh god no, early March at the latest!! The third person I spoke with said that it takes about a week for Immigration to look over my application and decide whether it’s completed to their satisfaction, in which case they issue me an Interim Visa which allows me to stay until they’ve made a ruling on my case.

The third guy sounded the most confident, and his answer made the most sense, so I’ll be submitting my application the weekend of March 23/24.

Here is what I have left to do before I submit it:

  • Fill in the names/addresses/phone numbers/DOB for three (it doesn’t specify the number, but three is the general consensus) people I know who live in New Zealand. From what I understand, these people will not be contacted unless I flee into the hills of Aotearoa and go into hiding. In other words, it’s just a safety net so that Immigration has a starting point if they need to track down someone who violates the terms of their visa (by overstaying, I imagine).
  • Stewart has to complete Form INZ 1146, “Partners Supporting Partnership-Based Temporary Entry Applications.” Despite the lengthy form name and the fact that it’s six dense pages long, it will take less than ten minutes to complete. It’s a lot of basic information—full name, DOB, city or town of birth, passport number, etc—and then there are entire pages he can skip since they pertain specifically to culturally-arranged marriages or people who are eligible to support a partnership-based application but are themselves not New Zealand citizens.
  • I need to upload documents proving that we live together in a “genuine and stable partnership,” such as a joint tenancy agreement, screenshots of our joint bank account, photos of mail we have both received at our address…stuff like that. That will be the very last part of the application I’ll do, since I want to collect as much of this proof as possible. (A Kiwi friend of mine, who has gone through the partner visa thing with her American parter, informed me the other day that you can go back in and keep adding stuff to your visa application once you’ve submitted it, which is amaaaaazing because that means I can continue to send them proof that we continue to live together in a “genuine and stable partnership”).
  • We need to ask ___ number of people who know us as a couple to write letters on our behalf testifying to our love for and commitment to one another. Technically this is not a requirement for the application; in fact, it’s not even listen on there. But I’ve done a great deal of research into this and it’s really, really good to have people testify on your behalf. Some websites recommend getting letters from “prominent members of your community, such as a priest or rabbi.” Guess we gotta get real religious in the next 4.5 weeks….

  • And lastly, I have to write the “Relationship Timeline.”

    Oh, the Relationship Timeline. The deceptively simple-sounding assignment which is in fact an absolute beast of a task, upon which Immigration will base a good portion of my case.

    From my research, it seems that Immigration purposely keeps the required “Relationship Timeline” vague in terms of what they’re looking for so that people who are trying to cheat the system don’t just go down and tick off all the boxes. Okay, fair enough, but like…..what do they want???

    I have spent so many hours of my life Googling this mysterious Relationship Timeline to find out what exactly they want to see.

    I have searched for posts from complete strangers on the internet who wrote Relationship Timelines that satisfied Immigration, and then picked through their posts/comment threads with a fine-toothed comb looking for any tips sprinkled in there.

    I have foraged around the websites of licensed immigration officers to see what they had to say about it.

    I have found subreddits where people in my shoes have asked what the hell Immigration wants to see, and then eagerly read through successful applicants’ responses while jotting down notes.

    Here is the general consensus: the “Relationship Timeline” is where you get to tell the story of your relationship in your own words. There’s no recommended length for this document, but absolutely everyone says the more you tell them, the better. Tell them everything. Send them everything. Do not make them have to contact you for more proof.

    I’ve screenshot the most thorough description of the Relationship Timeline I’ve found, which is from a licensed immigration website. You can click on the photos to enlarge them (those of you reading this on your phones may have to just zoom in; apologies). Grab a seat for this doozy of a read:

Yeaaaaaaaaaah. That’s A LOT.

Thanks to my years of partner-based NZ visa research, I’ve known about the existence of this “Relationship Timeline” for a while. And I knew it would be laborious putting it all together. But what I did not expect was that it would feel so emotional and…..well, if we’re being honest, so violating. Everyone (“everyone”) says to include screen shots of significant moments in your relationship, such as when you first told one another that you loved each other, and when you decided to become a committed couple. Show them how you got each other through tough times. Include lots and lots of photos of you and your partner on trips, out with friends, having fun. If your partner has kids, include photos of you/you and your partner with the kids. Etc etc etc etc etc.
“Just give them everything.“

About 85% of our relationship has been long-distance, meaning that we have nearly every one of our “significant milestones” in writing, which–I hate to say this–is convenient in terms of having to provide evidence. But going back through our four years of beautiful, private conversations for the sole purpose of cherry picking “the good stuff” for my application feels awful. I don’t want to send someone a screen shot of the first time we said “I love you.” I don’t want to send someone a cute picture of us on our first date. It feels like in order to prove the genuine depth of this immense love we have, I have to cheapen our story down to a bunch of juicy sound bites. I am not a particularly private person, but those moments belong to us.

Let me emphasize again that the visa application *does not* state that it requires any of this information. It simply says they want a “Relationship Timeline.” I could therefore just send them a simple list of dates and events. But I know that won’t be sufficient, and there’s just so damned much at stake here that I feel like I have no choice but to use these intimate, significant moments of our love story as a means to a end.

But that’s exactly how I have to think of it: a means to an end. The more you send them, the stronger your case, says the entirety of the internet. And I’d rather send them too much proof than not enough. And in this case, the “end” part of “a means to an end” is the first step in my getting to live here.

So rather than allowing this monumental assignment to make me feel like my privacy is being invaded, I’m choosing to look at it this way: if there’s one thing I’m good at—in all modesty—it’s telling a story, and we have a damned good story to tell. If they (allegedly) want everything, I’ll give them everything.

The first page of our Relationship Timeline is going to be the most bare-bones list of significant events and their corresponding dates, in case my application lands on the desk of someone with a short attention span who happens to be in a foul mood that day. As for the rest of it? I want it to be the best damned Relationship Timeline that person has ever read. I want them to be riveted, I want them to be moved to tears, I want them to laugh out loud (years ago I came across this obscure quote–attributed to a court jester–which I’ve never forgotten: “Make them laugh; they’ll have a harder time shooting you.”). I want them to forward it to their colleagues. I want them to tell their spouse about it over dinner that night. I want them to be rooting for us.

If they want a good story, they’ll get one.

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Visa Update #2: Navigating the New Zealand Immigration Medical Jungle, plus A History of the United States Land Transport Network and A Woman named ‘Thank You’.

As I mentioned in my previous post, last week was both awesome and kind of shitty. If you haven’t already, go back and read the fun one first because it has pictures of ponies and is way more entertaining to read. I’m not even including pictures in this post.

So last week, in addition to hanging out with friends and frolicking with farm animals, I decided to rip off the bandaid (or “plaster,” as they say here) and tackle medical stuff, driver’s license stuff, and bank account stuff.

Medical Stuff:

One of the requirements for Immigration NZ is that I–most people–have to get a “general medical exam” and a chest x-ray. I’ve been researching this for a few years now, so I knew, and had budgeted for, these exams. But it was way more complicated and expensive than I was expecting. Hopefully sharing my experience will help someone down the line so that they’re better prepared than I was.

I quickly figured out that there is no set price for the exams required by Immigration, which….come on, guys, that’s absurd. The immigration process is difficult and stressful and time-consuming enough that I shouldn’t have to spend an entire day doctor-shopping for the best bargain price. But that’s exactly what I did: I spent hours going down the list of Immigration NZ-approved physicians and radiology places (the closest of which were in Hamilton or Auckland, each 2.5 hours away) and emailed or called all of them to ask how much they charge. The price varied by a lot, but everything is so spread out that to drive one place and save $75 would mean spending $75 in gas to get to the other place. I had pages of scribbled notes in front of me and my phone in my hand, plugging various locations into my maps app to calculate the distance.

I finally found an Immigration-approved doctor and x-ray practice in the same area–Manukau City, a suburb of Auckland–and despite my lack of confidence about city driving, I went ahead and contacted the doctor’s office. We had so many emails flying back and forth that I lost count. It didn’t help that the woman I was writing back and forth with used excessive punctuation, which I found incredibly stressful.
They needed a copy of my passport, of course, and then had me fill out paperwork pertaining to which sort of visa I’m applying for. But they didn’t have the actual, official visa names; they had things like “Work Visa with a Job Offer,” “Work Visa Without a Job Offer,” etc. I checked the second one and send the form in.
The woman emailed back “But what do you do for work???” (<—see what I mean about the excessive punctuation??? The entire time I thought she hated me).
I politely explained that I don’t work….because I….can’t work? Because I don’t have a work visa? Which is why I am applying for a work visa?
“But did you not work in the United States???”.
For the love of god, lady. Yes, of course I worked in the States. Is that what you meant? Cuz that’s super unclear on your form. I told her I was a gardener for four years, if that’s what she wanted to know. She replied “That is all that we needed to know!!!!”. (OKAY LADY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!).
I should mention that she was quite nice, and non-aggressive, in person.

Funny aside: the woman signed each email “Ngā Mihi.” I assumed that was her name, right? But then I received an email from a woman at a completely different place that was also signed “Ngā Mihi.” I’m no detective, but it seems…..unlikely…..that I’d somehow managed, in the span of an hour, to contact two people with the exact same unusual name. Thankfully I googled it, because “Ngā Mihi” means “Thank You” in te reo Māori, so I was *this close* to walking into the doctor’s office and going “Hey, you must be Thank You! Thank you for all of your help setting this up.” I’ve definitely heard “Ngā Mihi” spoken out loud, but I guess I pictured it being one word. The number of things that are new about living in a new country are really astounding.

Finally I appeased the !!!!!overly aggressive but actually very nice in person office manager lady!!!!—-whose name is not Ngā Mihi—and was able to book an appointment for last Monday. I was……surprised……to find that the doctor’s office was located on the upper level of a shopping mall. And they also only took cash for the $150 Immigration exam. I was filled with skepticism, but while I spent time in their waiting room I listened to them field a number of phone calls about immigration medical exams, which was reassuring.

I met with an NP first, who examined my passport, took my blood pressure, put one of those devices on my fingertip to measured the saturation of oxygen in my red blood cells (thank you, Google), gave me a very basic eye exam, took my height and weight, asked if I was pregnant, took down my medication information (I brought the actual bottles with me), and finally had me give them a urine sample, which does not entail peeing into the little plastic cup but in fact involves an awkward little square-shaped plastic container that you pee into and then have to tip into a very tiny vial. Again, the number of new things you encounter in a new country…

The NP was very sweet, and when I told her how stressful I was finding this whole visa process is, she said “My friend, it’s a lot to go through but you’ll get there.” Bless her. Ngā Mihi!

Then I met with the doctor himself. I was prepared for an intense physical, and had even come armed with a PDF of the last 8 years of my medical records, but it was shockingly brief. He listened to my heart, checked my ears, gave me a breast exam, asked if I had any allergies, and asked if I’ve had any surgeries. Easy peasy. The hard part was when we got to my medications.

I’m gonna lay it out for you guys because when I started this blog I promised as much transparency as possible, and also because I’m a big proponent for destigmatizing the social taboos surrounding mental health issues: I take three medications, one of which is an antidepressant and one of which is an anti-anxiety. I knew the latter would likely be tricky, as benzodiazepines are highly controlled in the States, but it did not occur to me that the fact that I was on these medications in the first place would give him such pause. He asked me a number of questions about my mental health history, including voluntary or involuntary hospitalizations (no to both), how long have I felt stable, have I every seen a therapist, etc. He asked if I’ve seen a psychiatrist in the last six months, which I have not, so he said that Immigration may contact me after I’ve submitted my visa and require me to meet with one (UPDATE from April 2024: yep, they did require me to get a psych eval). More appointments, more long drives, more money shelled out. Ugh. And then there was the bloodwork (unrelated to the fact that I take medications) that I apparently also needed to have done, which was something that had not come up in my visa research. He said I had to go to a walk-in lab, and recommended one across town. Yet another unexpected expense. But what choice do I have? And I have to think long term: I’m doing all of this so that I can live here in this extraordinary country with my extraordinary partner. Suck it up, buttercup.

The next day was Waitangi Day, a national holiday which I will discuss in a future post, so I had to wait until the day after to get the chest x-ray ($170 NZD) and bloodwork ($207 NZD). Adding the $150 NZD for the general medical exam and we have a grand total of $527 NZD–about $326 USD–for all of the required medical exams. Plus the cost of the gas to get there and back, which was 215 miles round trip and honestly I don’t feel like calculating that cost but it ain’t cheap. Again, I knew roughly what I’d be spending for the medical exam and x-ray, but the extra charge for the bloodwork was a surprise. And I’m really not psyched about having to wait and see if they flag my application and make me shell out the time, travel, and money for a psych eval. 😔

A few days later, I received an automatic email from the doctor’s office saying that they’d submitted all of my medical files to Immigration (the x-ray and bloodwork place both sent my records to the doctor), and provided me with my New Zealand eMedical Reference number and my Immigration New Zealand Health Case Reference number. I immediately went online typed those numbers onto my visa application, which felt good. Now I can (hopefully) cross off all Immigration-related medical expenses and appointments.

Once I got home from Manukau City, I decided I may as well continue to psychologically and financially torment myself and deal with how I was going to go about getting my pesky prescriptions filled when I run out in about 6 weeks. I’d emailed the local medical center last year, explaining that I would be here on a visitor’s visa for 6-7 months until I could procure a work visa, and asked how I could go about getting my medications refilled. They told me to just come in (it’s a walk-in center) and shell out the Non-NZ Resident fee of $175 NZD (which turned out to be $185 NZD, or $114 USD; they must have raised their prices) to meet with a doctor, and they’d take care of having the prescriptions filled for me for a cost of $3-$5 each. Easy peasy, right? Of course not.

I waited for a while and met with a very nice doctor who explained to me that two of the three medications I take cannot be filled–even by her—before I’ve gone in for a psych evaluation, which is something I have to do every two years. She emphasized that this rule (law?) applies to everyone, Kiwi or Non-Kiwi, who take these two (and probably many other) medications. I knew the anti-anxiety medication would be a bitch to get filled, but I was really thrown for a loop that I couldn’t have my very common antidepressant, which I have been on for twelve years and have the medical records to prove it, filled without seeing someone first. I mean, I feel like people who take antidepressants are ubiquitous, at least in America (which should surprise no one because just read the news and you yourself will need an antidepressant–and a benzodiazepine. I kinda feel like Americans trying to move to New Zealand right now should be given a pass on their mood stabilizing medications). Kidding.
But in all honesty, I do respect the fact that New Zealand doesn’t just throw medications around like confetti. Having to routinely meet with a psychiatrist if you’re on a prescription drug for mental health issues does make sense. I was just throwing a small internal tantrum over having to do it because I knew it meant spending even more money that hadn’t been on my super-thorough list of anticipated visa-related expenses……
Also, now that I’ve had a few days to digest all of this, of course New Zealand would want to send someone on antidepressants for a psych evaluation to make sure they won’t routinely wind up in the hospital, burdening their healthcare system. I just hadn’t thought about that. Now I know–and now everyone reading this knows.

The doctor recommended this practice in Auckland whom she’s worked with a lot; she said they’re understanding and generally just really great. She said she’d send them a referral and a letter saying that I needed a psychiatric evaluation but that in her opinion, I was smart (😊) capable ( 😃) and mentally sound (🤔). She left for a few minutes and when she came back she handed me a copy of a specialist reference letter she’d just sent them.
I called them as soon as I got home, only to find that their next appointment isn’t until mid-April (my medication will run out several weeks before that) and that the hour and a half long evaluation would cost me $560 NZD ($344 USD). What the—?! I said I had to call them back and hung up the phone. I can pay for it, lest anyone feel like they need to wire me money; it was just a shocking price tag. That’s more than all of the medical exams combined, even with the fee for the unexpected bloodwork.
I spoke to a Kiwi friend that night, telling her the story in a “Can you believe that?!” kind of way, and she just sighed and said “Yeah.” She’s heard this before. And in fact I contacted a number of other places who charge more–some up to $1,100. Jesus H.
I’m going to see if at least some of my prescriptions can be filled back home and have one of my parents pick them up and mail them to me (my parents have been doing a bunch of favors/favours for me–thank you both!). But I may have to “suck it up, buttercup” again and pay the fee (and petrol) to go to Auckland if that plan doesn’t work. Plus there’s a chance Immigration may make me get a psych eval anyway, so…….ugh. Like I said, it was a long week. But wait, there’s more! Because now we have the…….

Driver’s License Stuff:

While I was in Manukau City, I figured I’d drop in to the AA Centre (NZ’s DMV) to convert my overseas driver’s license (which just means getting a NZ license; I still keep my Massachusetts one). You can drive on an overseas license for a year here, so technically I don’t need my NZ license until January 2025. But since I’m trying to collect as much solid evidence as possible that I am established in this country, and since I currently have a lot of free time on my hands, and since it was just a 20 minute drive from where I was, I figured I may as well get it done now. (By the way, America is on a list of countries whose drivers do not need to take a road test in order to get a NZ driver’s license, which is odd to me since we don’t even drive on the same side of the road but whatever/yay!).

I’d come prepared with the necessary documents, which is a simple two-page form and a full color copy of my passport and my MA driver’s license. I waited for about half an hour. Oh, the way they wait at the DMV here—or at least at the one in Manukau City–was both baffling and adorable. There’s no machine where you get assigned a ticket number, but there are three rows of plastic chairs, and when you arrive you sit in the one closest to the door, and every time someone is called up, everyone gets up and shifts over. It’s like DMV musical chairs. My seatmates and I giggled about it. Anyway, my turn came around and I skipped up there, all proud of myself for being so organized and getting this out of the way so quickly, but after examining my license the woman handed it back to me and said that I needed to have held a valid driver’s license for at least two years. Which I have, of course; I’ve been driving legally and uninterrupted-ly for nearly 30 years. The problem, however, was that I switched over to a REAL ID* in September 2022, so all that they can see is that I have held a valid driver’s license for 17 months. Shit. This never even occurred to me, but of course she was correct. And my damned license even says it was “issued in” September 2022, not “REissued in.” The woman apologetically told me that I needed to contact the United States Land Transport to procure a certified history of every time my license has been renewed. I sighed, thanked her, and left. Luckily it hadn’t wasted much of my time, since all I had to do was drive across the city and wait for a little while. Still, it would have been really reassuring to cross this off my list.

When I got home I looked over my hastily scribbled notes. The United States……Land Transport? Is that what that says? Okay, so I googled “United States Land Transport” and the first hit was a website about heavy freight transport quotes. Then bulk equipment quotes. The third hit gave me a history of the US transport network, which is a “45,000 mile interstate system known and the Dwight D……”. Yeah, no. So I called NZTA (NZ Transport Agency), waited on hold for a very long time, finally got a very pleasant woman on the phone, explained my situation, and she went “A United States what? I have no idea what that woman was talking about. No, here’s what you need…….” and proceeded to tell me something different.

I just want to take a moment to make this very long post even longer and ask this: is everyone not looking at the same screen? Two people at NZTA told me two different things. Three people at Immigration have told me three different things. Back home I used to have this problem all the time with MassHealth, Verizon, you name it. Why does the answer to your question vary depending on who answers the phone? I mean, I ran an independent bookstore for ten years and no matter which one of us you spoke to about our return policy/ordering turnaround time/what have you, you got the same answer to your question, and we most certainly did not have a manual to refer to. And we were dealing with books; this is immigration, driver’s licenses, healthcare…..get your act together, you guys. (Sorry; I’m just frustrated).

The very nice NZTA woman on the phone explained that I needed something that they here in NZ call a “list of particulars” but she had no idea what it was called in….which state was I from? She’d be happy to try and figure it out with me. Bless her. We never found an actual name for this document, but it boiled down to the fact that yes, that other woman was correct about one thing: I needed a certified history of every time my license has been renewed. She advised me to contact the Mass DMV and wished me luck.

I scoured the MA DMV website, even going so far as to email them despite figuring I’d get a form response in like 12 weeks if I was lucky. I Googled until my fingers bled. I tried every combination and synonym of the words “Drivers” “License” “History” “Renewal” “Rundown” that I could come up with. Nada. And then, wonder upon wonders, the MA DMV emailed me back (mea culpa, Mass DMV, you are much more efficient than I gave you credit for) and sent me this link to something which they said “may or may not” be what I needed but it was the closest thing they could find. So I downloaded the PDF, filled it out (thanks to this nifty free PDF tool I found on Reddit), and emailed it to my Dad along with a copy of my license, asking him to mail it all off with a $5 check, and then look for a piece of mail in about two weeks which he then has to open, scan, and email to me, and it “may or may not” be what I need. 🤞🏼 If it isn’t, I have the option to schedule, pay for, and take a driver’s test to get my NZ license, but if it comes to that I’ll just wait until September.

*For my non-American friends: by May of 2025, every US citizen is required to have a REAL ID in order to fly domestically. It seems like it’s just a souped-up version of a regular driver’s license that has added security measures and a little star in the corner. Originally everyone had to have one by (I think it was) 2020 or 2021, but they kept pushing it back because of Covid. I can’t honestly remember if I needed to convert to a REAL ID in September of 2022 or whether I was just being proactive, but either way: urggggggh.

Bank Account Stuff:

I’ve changed my mind about this part of the post; I can’t even get into the bank stuff right now. Everyone I’ve dealt with at the town’s three banks has been exceedingly nice, but each bank is open (I’m not kidding) ten hours a week, and two people from the same bank gave me extremely conflicting information (Yes I can open an account with them, of course I can, they would welcome me as a new customer!/No, I cannot open a bank account with them because I need to get a visa, even though I can’t get a visa without a bank account*). Again with the question about “is everyone not looking at the same screen…….”.

*Technically yes, I can get a visa without a bank account, but having a bank account goes a long way.

I do want to add, despite this very long and frustrated rant, that every single person I interacted with in this post was either perfectly pleasant or exceedingly nice, even if they ultimately couldn’t help me. I feel that it’s important for me to point this out.

I really appreciate any of you who actually made it through this monster of a post. Man, this whole immigrating-to-another-country thing is NOT easy, but I couldn’t do it without you guys. I mean it.

Ngā mihi. 🥰

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When You’re Rapid-Cycling Through Michael Scott Emotions

Me realizing I’ve already been here a month, which means I only have two months left:

Me remembering that I’m submitting a visa application in 6 weeks, which automatically grants me an interim visa to stay here until the first visa is approved:

Me remembering that I’m submitting a visa application in 6 weeks:

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Visa Update #1: The Very First Step

My makeshift office on the dining room table.

Okay; as thrilling and informative as that mayonnaise post was, I am now going to post about something slightly more important: today I started my Partner of a New Zealander Work Visa application (for anyone who needs a refresher, here is my visa timeline).

I have no major or exciting news to report about it; I just spent a long time entering a lot of basic information and uploaded a few documents (including my passport and the “police check,” aka FBI rap sheet). But because one of the reasons I started this blog was to document my entire visa journey, I’m going to document my entire visa journey. Who knows; maybe someday someone who is on a similar path will stumble across my blog and find it helpful.

I was relieved to discover that Immigration New Zealand has the sort of applications that you can tackle in bits and pieces and save as you go, rather than having to complete them in one fell swoop. You have to create a RealMe account (RealMe is a government authentication and identity verification service), which I did a while back so I honestly can’t remember what that entailed but I don’t think it was anything harrowing or I would remember it. Anyway, once you create your account, you just choose which visa you’re applying for and you’re off.

I tend to get a bit anxious when I have to fill out important forms, so you can imagine how stressed out I am about this one, considering how much hangs in the balance. I am honestly going to need hours upon hours to check my work before I submit it. I can’t tell you the number of times already that I’ve made sure that I spelled my name with one L and not two…..H-I-L-A-R-Y. H i l a r y. *squints at screen, puts on reading glasses* OK, one L. Phew. Wait….is that a second L?? The anxiety is real. 😰

The application is 10 pages in total (well; 9 pages and then you sign the 10th page). There’s a lot packed into those 9 pages, and I already have a number of questions, so I just used my fancy c. 1992 burner phone I bought (more on that in a future post) to call Immigration NZ for clarification. FYI, if you are in New Zealand and need to contact Immigration about your not-yet-submitted visa application, it’s a little confusing to find the correct, working phone number. The correct phone number to call is 09-914-4100. Choose option 3 and then option 2. It will ask you to enter your client ID; if you don’t have one yet, just stay on the line. Heads up: their hold music is abysmal.

After about five minutes of being on hold, an absolutely lovely woman from Immigration came on the line and could not have been kinder and more good-natured about my questions. She didn’t know the exact answers offhand to several of them and asked to place me on a brief pause while she double checked. I said she could take her time and she said “Oh, I shan’t be doing that, our hold music is quite awful and I don’t want you to have to stay on the line more than is necessary.” 😂

Here are the questions I had, with her responses in bold:

When it asks for my employment history, how far back are we talking? Past three years? Five? Ten? As far back as you can remember.

When it asks how long I plan to stay in NZ total, it gives me the options of 6 months or less, 6-12 months, 12-24 months, or 24+ months. My goal is to be able to stay forever, but I’m currently here on a visitor visa which expires April 1st. Which option should I put? 24+ months.

I think I am required to get a general medical exam and a chest x-ray but I want to double check that. Because I plan to stay more than 12 months, I am required to have both done. However, if I can’t get appointments before I need to submit my visa application, I can upload proof that I have appointments booked. Once I’ve been to the appointments and have the results, I call Immigration and they will walk me through how to link them to my application. UPDATE (March 2024): You are also required to have bloodwork done.

Under the section where I am asked to upload all of my documents, what do they mean by an “identification card”? Would that be my MA driver’s license? This is not one of the required fields, so I can choose to leave it blank, or I can upload some form of ID (it sounds like they may possibly be interested in seeing my Social Security Number, so I’ll upload that).

I also wanted to know how many people I can/should put down when the form asks me to put “Names and address of any friends, relatives, or contacts you have in New Zealand.” I posted this question to two different Facebook groups I’m in, Americans Coming to Aotearoa and Moving to New Zealand: Immigration Support; the general consensus was to put down three different contacts. They apparently ask for this information in the event that you go off grid and need to be tracked down. Otherwise, the friends/family you put down shouldn’t be contacted by Immigration.

I am going to submit my application in mid-March, once Stewart and I have established a paper trail of proof of our partnership…my name added to the lease, one of the utilities in my name, joint bank account. I’m glad I’m starting early.

Just for extra measure, I am also going to apply for my New Zealand driver’s license in the next few weeks. I can legally drive on my U.S. license for one year here, but there’s nothing saying I can’t get it now, and the more solid evidence I have that I live here, the better. I have to go to one of the VTNZ (“Vehicle Testing New Zealand”) locations that provides the overseas license conversion service, the nearest of which is 2.5 hours away in Hamilton (there are a number of locations in Auckland, which is also 2.5 hours away, but I’m not ready to drive myself around NZ’s largest city). Because I have had a full U.S. driver’s licence for more than two years, I can apply for and convert to a New Zealand licence without any written or road test. I just have to fill out a simple two-page form and bring in some supporting documents. It will cost me $144.60 NZD (roughly $88 USD) to convert my license, and yes, I’ll be able to keep my U.S. license. And yes, I promise I will post about my car soon!

I am celebrating the conclusion of my first day of working on my work visa (work visa work?) with a glass of my favorite (so far) NZ wine. Highly, highly recommended if you folks back home can find it!

Thanks for coming along with me on this journey.

H-I-L-A-R-Y ❤️

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Anyone Who Is Even Remotely Considering Moving to New Zealand Needs to Buy This Book.

Best $5.97 you’ll ever spend. Seriously. She covers everything from immigration to healthcare to banking and finances to dealing with homesickness to the cost of living to whether or not you can and should bring your pets with you…..you name it. And she’s a terrific writer, so it’s entertaining as well as informative.

I’ll likely be sprinkling in references to this book as I chronicle my visa journey on this blog. Cheers, Melissa, for penning such a comprehensive and highly enjoyable resource!

(As the author states throughout the book, she is not a licensed immigration or financial or what-have-you advisor. She’s just an American woman who moved to NZ ten years ago and took really, really good notes).

You can (and should) purchase her book here.