Biometric! Crackdown! on Illegal! Immigrants!
Filed under: Getting to New Zealand, Hubby's Views, NZIS & Immigration issues
In a headline that would bring pleasure to the ears of many Daily Mail or Daily Express readers, encapsulating many of the papers favourite subjects, NZ is to crack down in illegal immigrants, and share the information with the UK.
So what is behind the headlines?
Many (economic) refugee’s arriving in UK/Europe have in the past ‘lost’ their passports while on the flight over. Thereby making it very difficult for immigration authorities to prove who they are, or whether they are genuine refugees. Net result, they spend a protracted time in Europe while their refugee case is investigated and they can’t be returned to the country they flew in from. Since they don’t have a passport and their actual country of citizenship can’t be proven one way or the other. You can’t put someone on a plane and send then ‘home’ without a passport unless you can prove that the country you are sending them to is ‘home’.
One way to avoid this problem is by finger printing all non-resident arrivals. So when someone shows up without passport, you can potentially prove who they are, without their co-operation. The Americans have been doing this for a while, whether you need a visa before you fly or not.
(Which is why we refuse to fly through the US on the way back to the UK, and apparently we aren’t the only ones, because AirNZ started Flying Via Hong Kong a few years back to cater to people who refused to fly via Los Angeles).
What the NZ sharing of information means here is that if someone turns up in Australia on one passport, and whether they seek refugee status or not, then try and enter NZ on another passport (or ‘lose’ their passport on the plane to NZ) – the NZ authorities will be able to check their fingerprints with Australia when the person first entered. By return, the Australian authorities can then check NZ records. Net result, fewer ‘undesirable’ people are let into either country. Undesirable here is anyone who isn’t traveling on a genuine passport that belongs to them and correctly identifies them.
This helps with the bigger issue of criminal gangs establishing what appears to be genuine travel records on a fake passport. Using a patsy means that when the real criminal wants to enter a country, the passport looks used and genuine. Unless of course finger prints are taken each time. In which case Immigration authorities can determine that you’re using a fake passport. And you suddenly become ‘undesirable’.
The scope is being widened, to include Canada, the UK & the USA. Which casts a much wider net.
Why you may ask, is NZ part of this? Surely there aren’t that many criminals trying to sneak into the US via NZ? or the other way around?
Well, NZ has often been seen as a bit of a soft target for criminals looking to enter other friendly countries, or for obtaining fake passports. And NZ, for all it’s anti-nuclear stance, is still part of the friendly intelligence community. So the net result is that NZ passports are considered friendly, and less suspicious. NZ sharing finger print info is more likely to be of benefit to the other countries when checking on people arriving there, than of benefit to NZ for people arriving here.
So, NZ cracking down in illegal immigrants is more about stopping people using fake passports and keeping them out of any friendly country. Rather than turning a tide of economic refugee’s, which to be honest we really don’t have here.
But the headline was good!
Everything you need to know about elections in Australia
I was browsing through some articles on the Australian election, and found this amusing picture on Sky news website. It’s sunny, it’s a beach, best not let mandatory voting get in the way of enjoying the day.
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Wairarapa weekend – attempt 3
Avalon wrote the other week about our inaugural attempt at the Wairarapa weekend.
Last weekend we did a bit better, skipping the breakfast out I went all the way to Moore Wilson’s to get supplies. We hopped in the car and made our way home. Got there by about midday in the end.
This weekend we tried again.
It was all planned, I had no afternoon meetings, we could head away by 4pm, home by 6pm for dinner. Sweet, as they say.
Except it didn’t quite go like that.
By Thursday afternoon I was feeling so ill with a cold I needed Avalon to come collect me from across town. I wasn’t in a fit state to work the next day. So I figured, we’d head back lazily during the day Friday. Only Avalon then had a late lunch organised.
So Friday came, we’re both feeling tired & unwell, & don’t get up til 11am. Avalon heads off for lunch an hour later, leaving me to pack. By 3:30 I’m ready – it was really slow work packing. And by 4:30 we’re away.
About the time we’d have left if I’d been at work.
Ho hum.
But we’re home just after 6pm, and settled in. Ready to leap to our feet Saturday morning and make the most of being home when we wake up.
Which was 11:50am Saturday morning. Well at least we made the morning.
Next weekend we may try the train, which as it leaves Wellington approx 8:30 am means we’ll have to be up and awake to get out for the weekend.
Wellington life; the three minute commute
When we first emigrated to Wellington, the new apartment with a new job were pretty close. Two sets of lifts, two sets of pedestrian traffic lights and six minutes later I’m in the office.
A far cry from the typical 2 hours drive each way, which in some cases took me more than six minutes to walk from one end of the car park into the office. And lets just ignore the 4+ hours it took to get into central London using a car, train, underground & my feet.
Contracting means I’m floating around town a lot now, a different office different months. Right at the moment I’m in an office on Tory St. While we live in an apartment on…
Tory St. 
I’m timed the commute, from leaving my desk, getting into the lift, walking across the road, back into a lift and getting in the apartment door it takes 3 minutes.
Which is kinda nice.
It means I can pop home for a coffee break, some decent lunch or when I’ve forgotten something.
Or when Avalon is about to throw the Laptop out of the window. 
So it’s not far off working from home, I don’t get to wander around in jeans & t-shirt though.
Avalon and Hubby: Making the most of city living!
Only in New Zealand: Fish & donuts (??)
I was passing through Auckland airport the other week and happened to glance at the Dunkin Donuts stand. {as you do, on the way through.. Apart from the batter & sugar a donut is great for a low carb, high protein diet}
Anyhow, I spotted they had a special new donut.
With a chocolate fish on it.
The only irritating thing was that I forgot to take a photo. I wasn’t about to buy a tray and gob them all myself on the next flight otherwise I could have flown there without a plane on the sugar high. And I may have remembered to take a photo.
So I had a quick look at their NZ Website, to try and find you a photo.
Without luck
I did however find two gems;
Yes, read it again. You’re never far from a DD’s, unless you’re anywhere outside of Auckland. Ho hum. In fact it is not unknown for some folks from Auckland flying down to Wellington for the day, to buy a couple of insulated cartons. Holding about four boxes of two dozen donuts each. What a way to win friends & influence people in the capital, with 16 dozen donuts!
On the plus side, the DD international website does provide some redemption for us.
You’re never far from a DD’s in Australia, as long as you’re nowhere outside of Auckland.
The Aussies may have Ikea, but at least NZ Auckland has DD’s.
Taking IBM to Employment Court
We’ve written previously about IBM redundancies and how they completely ignored what should be done in NZ.
‘cos it’s just business.
And also about how they refused to attend mediation
Since they’re a really big company and they were just doing business.
After a lot of dragging of feet on IBM’s part, and refusal to acknowledge anything was up
It’s all just business don’t I know?
We’re off to the Mediation (finally) this week.
You see, the ERA (Employment relations Authority) has the power to force parties to attend mediation. While this can’t of course ensure that a mutually satisfactory agreement is reached, it’s the first step in formal court proceedings. If we can’t agree on anything, then it’s off to court we go and everything suddenly becomes a matter of public record.
My job can sometimes be a little strange. Investigating what has happened to the IT systems of a company, spending weeks justifying why we need to invest some small amount of money on something to stop some people doing something we don’t want them too. [sorry for the very non-specifics, just best I don't use an example]
Until you find the right person in the organisation, whose job it is is to keep the Minister/General Manager/CEO ‘s name off the front page of the DomPost for anything other than good reasons.
This is often the acid test. Will what I’m doing keep the organisation off the radar of a bored journalist with nothing other than sifting through boxes of credit card receipts to occupy their time? [although I applaud the UK & NZ newspapers that have kept at this particular story, irrespective of debates about the journalists motivations. They are holding our elected representatives to account when those representatives seemed to feel they were beyond account. And after all, it's just business for the newspapers.]
And so with IBM, the mediation isn’t about right or wrong, it’s an acid test.
We have a strong case. Plus a very good lawyer, who spends a lot of time arguing for the Employer’s side so he knows what it’ll look like from the other end.
It’s the first major step in holding IBM to account for how it’s messed about with people’s lives.
Apparently dealing with the occasional employment relations matter is just a cost of doing business for IBM NZ.
As a current customer, a former employee, an existing shareholder – I personally believe there is a better way of doing business. I’m a bit funny like that sometimes.
[Added by Avalon: The budgeting has come in handy - we have managed OK this far on our savings. But although Hubby has plenty of work, there are long delays in getting paid for it, on top of having expenses in setting up a new consulting business. This is not an easy process to go through, and i personally have nothing but contempt for IBM in refusing twice to go to mediation, costing us lawyers fees and making the stress a whole lot worse. They are acting like bullies - which is par for the course in the NZ / Aus company. They have tried to force us to back down, and we have refused to be bullied. I hope one day theres a new management in New Zealand who actually run the company properly, not based on their silly personal insecurities over staff who get paid more than them.
If we settle on Wednesday, it is unlikely that we will be able to tell you how much for im afraid, but we should be able to tell you whether we settled or will be going to court. Court will cost us a fair bit of money, and theres no guarantee we would win, even with a strong case. But we will do that if IBM continue ride roughshod over us and the law. There have been a few recent cases in the papers with similar issues to Hubby's that won, so we have case law behind us.]
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What if economists ran the world?
With all this talk of politicians fiddling their expenses and paying for all sorts of entertainment with taxpayer funded credit cards, there’s some question about whether other people could run the place better.
I was listening to a Freakeconomics radio podcast (From the 24th March, you’ll find it on iTunes) the other day about how great the world would be if we ditched politicians and let economists run the world.
humpfh
Anyway, it went something along these lines;
Economists, mostly ignored.
[A small affectation normally reserved for great things like The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy.]
Milton Freedman – a great man, with high intellect and amazing theories about how to run the optimum capitalist economy.
Which the then new president of Estonia adopted whole heartedly.
And then discovered that Freedman never had any experience of putting any of these economic ideas into practice.
So undeterred by this lack of practical experience to look at, those young crazy Estonians went ahead with the reforms.
Like privitisation, abolition of import duties/taxes, and a flat tax rate for all sources of income.
Sound familiar? Like NZ’s free trade deal with China, negotiations for similar with India, and the fervent dream of a free trade deal with the USA.
And Nationals’ changes to taxation which are bringing company, trust & personal tax rates into alignment. So perhaps we’re already living in an economists dream society?
Moving on. What would an exhaulted US economist do if he got the keys to the White House?
Abolish the Education department
Abolish the minimum wage
Legalise all drugs
ohhh interesting – now you might think this is a cunning plan to then tax the sale of drugs – just like cigarettes & alcohol. But no, alas it’s only on the theory that the Govt. spends a lot of money trying to control illegal drugs, so lets legalise them and we can stop spending all that money. So scrap the DEA also.
At least we could sell tickets to wrestling matches of Economists vs Teachers.
& legalisation of prostitution
Hmm – taxation here too perhaps?
Nope – apparently it’s all about supply & demand.
Prostitutes cost a lot of money, well apparently the one’s economists visit do anyway, so if you legalise prostitution (removing the barriers to trade!) then more ‘girls’ will enter the industry, there by bringing prices down.
Next.
Change the Federal Reserve, so it only has one thing to look after. Inflation.
No dabbling in Wall St, and all the other stuff they interfere in.
Although really you don’t need the Fed to do anything, just let the free markets run things.
[that'll be the free markets that have screwed the world economy so badly in the last few years then?]
Okay, so what does Milton Freedman’s grandson think?
Well, he is off setting up island nations so that people have a free choice about which nation they want to live in. These nations would be run by business people who would hire economists [really?!], to help them setup societies that are attractive for people to live. Unlike the countries run by our current world Govts.
Hiring economists with big brains and lots of great ideas – is that really a good plan?
Well, the interview continues with this economist who decided to take charge of toilet training their young child. Applying economic theory of effort & reward, every time the child went to the toilet, they got some M&M’s.
It worked. For two days.
This 3 year old child had rapidly figured out how to get the maximum quantity of M&M’s for minimum effort.
hmm – perhaps we need three year olds running the country so they can figure out how to work all the systems we have in place to optimum effect? You sure don’t want a brainy economist in charge who can be outwitted by a three year old.
So what would happen to the world if economists were in charge?
The worlds supply of chocolate would rapidly end up in the hands of children, while the adults sat there befuddled wondering what the heck had happened.
The Great Internet Firewall of Australia
A couple of months ago we decided to buy a NZ Vodafone mobile broadband USB Stick (aka Vodem), so we didn’t spend loads of cash on hotel internet connections. Now I’m contracting, it’s a valuable tool most days of the week, as I can’t always connect my laptop to a clients’ network. It was easy, we went into the shop, paid money, got the stick. Installed it, and it worked. Simple. We were free to roam the internet where ever & when ever we wanted.
So arriving in Australia, we figured the same thing would be a good idea. Rather than pay the hideous data roaming charges from VF-NZ while in Australia, or the hotel internet charges, we decided to buy get an Australian SIM card to use in the Vodem. It should have been simple.
So how hard can it be?
Despite being the same company and exactly the same hardware, an NZ Vodem wont work with an Australian SIM card without the Vodem being ‘unlocked’.
So instead you can buy an Aussie Vodem.
Only it wont work with the NZ Vodem software either, so you have to uninstall that, and reinstall the (same) software that comes with the (same) make of Vodem only it’s Australian. Annoying, yet workable.
Only when you actually buy a pre-pay Vodem in Australia, you have to provide identification. Drivers license, passport, that sort of thing. All in the name of anti-terrorism.
What the hell?
And you have to sign this form which says that if you fib to the Govt about any of the details you’ve given you will be fined $5,000. Well, I’m sure that the prospect of a $5,000 fine will stop anyone planning a terrorist attack from fibbing about their name, address, email address etc.
Anyhow.
So the shop takes all these details, and then when you’ve got the Vodem working on your computer, before you can access the internet you have to ‘activate’ your pre-paid Vodem.
What the hell??
Did the free trade agreement with China just make Australia it’s latest colony?
Yep – having provided all the information once to the shop, you have to provide it all again on the Vodafone website to ‘activate’ your Vodem. Of course, none of the information you provide on the website is actually validated against the info you submitted in the store. So you could change it all. The only thing it validates is that your street address is legitimate. Which is easily done, as it wont let you put in an address it doesn’t know about. Which is a little pants really if Vodafone don’t know about your address.
So being an honest sort, I tried putting in my NZ Vodafone mobile number as the ‘contact number’. Since if there’s a problem with any of this info, I figure they will want to get hold of me. So the website accepts this foreign mobile phone number and I’m set to go.
Except I’m not.
After waiting the obligatory 15 minutes, unplugged the Vodem, restarted the computer etc., the Vodem still wont work. And I still can’t get off the ‘activiation’ page.
Can I get to the Vodafone ‘help’ page? – Nope.
Can I get to the Vodafone ‘store finder’ page? – Nope.
Can I get to the Vodafone ‘contact us’ page? – Nope.
I’m buggered.
It doesn’t work, and I can’t get any useful information.
Anti-terrorism is preventing me from getting help from Vodafone to figure out why my new Vodem isn’t working.
What the hell???
So after many hours, some swearing, wine, more swearing, and trying it on another computer I’m still buggered.
So the next day, when I should be sunning myself on the beach, off I trog down to the Vodafone store to get some help. The first problem, my computer is too new (WTH????) So we have to uninstall the ‘old’ software that comes preloaded on the Vodem and install the latest version of the software. Tum de dum de dum.
Then we try getting the Vodem working again. Yep, it still wont get off the ‘activation’ page.
After some head scratching the nice person in the Vodafone store rings her colleague in the mobile broadband team for help. And low, my ‘activation’ is pending, since I’ve put in an invalid phone number. And shock horror, I’ve not put in a valid home phone number either. I committed the sin of using the Vodem number as my mobile, and my NZ mobile as my home number. Both of which seemed sensible at the time. But ho hum, easily identified and fixed. Only that’s not good enough. There’s still a problem.
What else could possibly be wrong you ask?
Well, no one knows. It’s just stuck. The Vodem can’t be activated for some unknown reason. After the best part of an hour and a half in the store, I’m advised to give the mobile broadband team 24 hours to have a look at it. They’ll ring me, so can I stay in the hotel for 24 hours? Since they will only ring the valid Australian phone number (we used the hotel switchboard number) in my customer record, and wont make a call to an NZ Vodafone mobile. (WTH?????!)
You just couldn’t make this up.
To be fair, the lass in the Vodafone store was really good. She identified the problems pretty quickly, and worked patiently with me while we fixed those. Then she worked patiently with her colleague on the phone trying to fix the customer record.
Waiting 24 hours, in the hotel for a call which may or may not come in that time, so Vodafone can get my new Vodem activated didn’t sound like the best use of my time in Surfers Paradise.
So I said, “no thank you”, I’ll just have my money back and I’ll go down to Optus (another telecoms company here in Aus) and get one of their mobile broadband thingy’s.
Again, credit where it’s due, the folks in the store didn’t want to lose a customer. So they gave me a new Vodem SIM for free. Registered it. Got it activated. And we were away with internet access. Inside of 10 minutes, after registering my details against a different mobile phone number.
Wehey!!
If only it could have been that simple in the first place.
If only it could be as simple as it is in NZ.
This is one of those times where I’m grateful for living in NZ. It may have a supposedly lower standard of living compared to Aus, higher unemployment and all that stuff. But at least if I want to access the internet I don’t have to register my details with the Govt.
Just don’t get me started in how pointless the whole ‘activation’ process is. No validation and confirmation that registration details match? I wonder how many $5,000 fines are on their way to Mickey Mouse?
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The Economic Impact of Immigration
Some months ago we blogged about news coverage of an academic report on the economic impact of immigration. Well, finally, I got round to reading the report that the news articles were based on;
Economic Impacts of Immigration: Scenarios using a computable general equilibrium model of the New Zealand economy.
<WAKE UP!>
Only that was six weeks ago when I started reading it, and it’s taken me this long to finish reading it. The catchy title may give away some of the reason why. For once I’d recommend sticking with the newspaper articles.
The report is really dull, uninteresting, and full of academic waffle. And lots of assumptions, which is quite fitting really since it’s been documented that the collective noun for a bunch of economists is an assumption.
Reading tables of INZ statistics was more interesting. And more useful. Which is saying something quite sad really.
Anyhow, this report talks about what might happen in 11 years time to the NZ economy based on different levels of immigration. Plus thousands of assumptions, equations and economic theories about how money works. {which as we’ve said before, completely ignores that money doesn’t exist in a vacuum and while money doesn’t have emotions, people do!}
Which is all about as useful and reliable as predicting what the weather will be like at 4pm on the afternoon of April 15th 2011, and what this means for ice cream sales across the country.
Indeed if you look at the ‘general findings’ within the executive summary, they could just as well apply to giving everyone an ice cream on Friday after lunch and the rest of the afternoon off.
So as you may have already deduced, I have a number of concerns about this research;
- Someone somewhere is going to use the information as a solid prediction and make decisions that impact the whole country. That’s a really scary thought.
- The report makes a point in time prediction 11 years ahead, with no information about what happens in the interim. i.e. we can’t at any point in the next 11 years track whether the prediction is on target to happen.
- There’s no evidence to demonstrate that the model they are using, when supplied with historical information from years ago can, within a margin of error, predict where we are now.
About as reliable as reading tea leafs then. 
In the interests of balanced reporting, here are the interesting things I found from reading the report.
- Increased immigration results in a larger economy[Really? I'd never have guessed]
- We actually need a wide variety of emigrants to grow the economy, not just highly skilled Dr’s, Teachers or IT folks [Fair enough, useful insight]
- Irrespective of how many new people come to NZ, the economic impact of immigration only really shows when there’s a productivity increase for everyone. [Ah, so it makes bugger all difference unless we all up our game, which would be a good thing to do in the first place]
- This is only a model, based on economic theory of market performance. If prices go up, demand goes down. [Which is simply supply & demand, but ignores elasticity i.e. if the price of milk & bread goes up demand doesn't change in proportion as they are basic commodities most people buy]
- The model is interlinked, so increases in wages in one sector flow through to increased costs for consumers, less demand from those consumers etc. [So that's all good]
- The model assumes supply=demand, companies maximise profits (i.e. zero inefficiency), and consumers spent their last cent maximising enjoyment from whatever they buy [well, at least the last assumption is mostly sound]
- The capacity to meet housing demand in 2016, even with high immigration, is sufficient – with the following assumptions;
-
- As long as the type of accommodation they build changes from what is built today
- That more people want to rent rather than buy
- That people choose to live in flats/apartments rather than houses
- [in other words, there is enough capacity to build high density housing, which isn't currently in demand and isn't built, thus isn't in high supply, and people will just have to accept they can't buy a house, or an apartment, they should really rent]. So that’s a useful prediction, the residential building market is fine!
- The more things we build, the lower the price, therefore the higher our exports. Since the production price is lower. [err, since when has a company producing twice as many widgets, halved the price of those widgets? And exchange rates have a much greater influence on export pricing than the actual production cost. But ho hum, I'm not a learned academic economist, what would I know?]
- The supply of people in the market is fully demand driven, and supply=demand at all times [i.e. there's always a cancer specialist available when you need one, you have the minimum time off work as a result of your treatment, and there's always a community nurse & physiotherapist available to get you back to work. At which point your employer gets rid of the temporary person who has been doing your job at exactly the same level of skill and productivity. And as soon as the Cancer specialist gets you better, the next person who needs them with get cancer at just the right time.]
- Zero immigration for the next 11 years drops the NZ population from 4.5million to 4.1 million. While net immigration of 20k a year would instead grow the population to 4.8million.
- Zero immigration results in an economy 11% smaller (national GDP & per person GDP), while 20k a year net immigration gives us an economy 7.6% bigger [i.e. there is a disproportionate negative effect on population levels and the economy as a whole to not having immigration, than a positive benefit]
- There is a correlation between high immigration and high productivity growth, although there is no established causality. [translated as we've spent a lot of time trying to find a direct link, and there isn't one, we just find that as one goes up, so does the other]
- Immigrants from a particular country increase imports from that country by 1.9%, and increase exports by 0.6%.
Then you have thirty pages of appendices and tables, which are actually more interesting than the report itself. So we have;
- 53 different types of businesses
- 8 different spending categories for all household consumption [try budgeting to those!]
- 25 types of exports
- 40 types of occupation
Anyone still with me out there? No? I’m not surprised.
Still it’s good to know that the economic future of the country is in the good hands of a whole load of assumptions.
When are you too old to emigrate?
Filed under: Getting to New Zealand, Hubby's Views, Life in New Zealand
I’ve had a number of conversations with people over the last few months about whether they are too old to emigrate to NZ.
For those after the executive summary;
The answer is never
- What are you waiting for?
- Do you have your passport handy?
- Mines an Earl Gray tea, decaf Americano for Avalon – thank you
- The projected 3rd quarter benefit of taking on this challenge more than outweighs the possible opportunity cost, or indeed the potential to maximise productivity enhancements with your current strategy.
- There are tax advantages
- You can use a cool AirNZ iPhone application
While of course there are age limits if you want to come in on the skilled migrant stream (56 at the moment), you can still apply under the ‘investor’ category if you’ve got enough cash, or an adult child living in NZ.
So how old is too old?
There was quite a bit of coverage the other year when Eric King-Turner (102 at the time), emigrated from the UK to NZ, with his Kiwi wife (87). His rationale is quoted as being;
“What’s important is that, when I’m 105, I don’t want to be thinking `I wish I had moved to the other side of the world when I was 102’”
Of course in this case he had the advantage of a Kiwi wife, and I’ve no doubt the very bad publicity NZ & INZ would have got if they refused him. So on the face of it, you’re only as old as the man (or woman) you feel.
For us, that sentiment of regret was something we had heard from a number of people while we were still in the UK looking at our options. It served as a good motivator. Of course, you can always look back and regret not visiting NZ five years before, or regret not just jacking everything in and taking a risk. Any course of action that you didn’t take when you had the opportunity can be a source of regret. I believe it’s better to look at the time since then as a source of learning.
For some people they may not be at a stage in their own lives to emigrate. At least investigating it and considering the options is taking action and getting yourself on the way to moving. Or not, as the case may be. There are certainly a few people we know of who came to NZ, only to really dislike it, head back to the UK and find that they loved it again.
Moving away to find that you were really at home where you were may seem like an expensive circular journey. Or possibly a triathlon – going round in a very big circle, being exhausted and 20 pounds lighter at the end of it. It’s much better than living with the possible regret if you’d not taken that circular journey though. (For the record those people, sometimes known as ‘ping pong poms’ are in the minority.) Most people we know who have moved out of the UK and then returned for a holiday/business trip have hated the UK to varying degrees, and been really grateful to return to their new home.
Personally I found that was simply perspective. I’m used to less traffic, less people, empty beaches, friendly people and so on. The prospect of spending the day at a 500+ shop indoor shopping mega complex with 50,000 other people just turns my brain to jelly now.
From the backlog of parent applications with INZ, again there’s plenty of people mid-life who are looking to up sticks and move to NZ. It’ll take time with the expected two year wait, again that time can be used productively. So you feel at least two years younger when you then get on the first stage of the Immigration hoop jumping exercise. (Did I say triathlon? it’s more like a decathlon with mandatory gymnastics disciplines too)
So as with Eric, I think it’s better to get organised and take action than worry about what you might have done previously. Or indeed how old you may be today. Emigrating is more about open minds than any perceived ability to do a triathlon.
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