martybabe

Hi guys.

We are having some major immigration woes at the moment. As I write this my wife sits in tears due to the frustration of it all.

I won't bore you with all the details but in brief : as our temporary residency was coming to an end, we applied for permanent residency. We applied in time, passed all the relevant police checks and medicals, and my wife qualifies under the essential workers list so as far as we were concerned it was just a case of waiting to hear from immigration before the dead line of January 10th.

Since then it's been an absolute nightmare, we have had nothing but wrong advice, incompetence and shear bloody mindedness. I can only give you my word that we have followed procedure at each and every turn but despite our best efforts we are now in a position where, technically, my daughter cannot attend school, I cannot work and we cannot even get a date from immigration as to when we will hear if we are allowed to stay here.

As a (worst case scenario) precaution we have had to sell our lovely house and one of our cars in case we are uplifted at any moment. Their advice? we can do nothing but wait and their position on the predicament we find our selves in due to their incompetence? tough luck it's not our problem.

The question then kind people is, is there anything at all we can do, does anyone know where we can get help to fight against the appalling treatment we have received at the hands of the untouchable Immigration department. We are desperate to resolve this as we so want to stay and we have done nothing wrong and we qualify on all counts, frankly we are at a loss as to what to do short of hurling abuse down the phone and I'm darn sure that wouldn't help our cause.

Please help in anyway you can with advice, running up a blind alley and banging your head against a brick wall roughly equates to where we are at.

Thanks in anticipation, Martybabe and family.

Numptyhead

Hi Martybabes and family

I am sorry to read of your troubles today. There are people on here that are very knowledgeable (more so than I ). Anyway, I would guess that in order to be able to offer good advice or direction, they would need to know "the boring bits", so that the reason for being declined PR can be evaluated.

Sorry not able to offer better advice at this stage

martybabe

Thanks for the reply NH, even that has helped a bit, It's a bit like that quote from aliens the movie round here "in NZ no one can hear you scream"

As for the details it really is too long winded and monotonous but essentially ; we applied for permanent residency when we should have, we have passed all the criteria (they told us) but they have dragged their feet so much we have sailed past the date our visas ran out. 10 weeks or so later and they still won't tell us why we haven't heard, they have made us apply for temporary permits because of the visa expiration at a cost of some $700 but because we don't have current visas, thanks to their incompetence, we've been put in the over-stayers pile and will be dealt with when they can be bothered and that's just the tip of the iceberg, it goes on and on.

It's not so much the issues, whatever they are, it's the fact that they are completely un-touchable, they will not give us any answers or advice as to what we could or should be doing, we have done everything they told us to do but because they simply refuse to deal with our case in anything like the time span they allot for such doings, we are left facing homelessness and poverty with absolutely no redress that we can find, hence the plea for help. is there anything we can we do or anyone we can appeal to to make these people give us an answer. It's beginning to get to the stage where the decision is less important than actually getting one, they have put my whole family's lives on hold and we are totally powerless to do anything about it.

Sorry to rant but we are desperate. Cheers

Sarah1999

Hi there

I strongly suggest you contact the labour department and tell them what has happened. We did that when we had problems and they were much helpful than INZ. Don't bother contacting INZ contact centre because they give crap advice. There are also places that give free immigration advise (the citizens advice bereau should be able to tell you where these centres are).

You are not alone in the plight. Hope it all gets sorted.

martybabe

Thank you Sarah, I got so bogged down with it all I never even thought of Citizens advice, I'm on it, nothing to lose. Bless ya.

george toni

hi

can I ask (and sorry if this sounds stupid) but why didnt you apply for PR 12 months before now?

This totaly sucks and TBH it does sound strange if as you say you meet all the criteria for PR as to why it is they have declined you especialy as you have proven your dedication to the country by working and living here.

This should go as a warning to all those who come here without PR in the hope of getting it later as it proves rules changer as do attitudes.

I really hope this turns out well for you and wish you all the best

george

Lee Lee

Sorry I can't offer you advise but I just wanted to say I'm really sorry to hear of the horrible situation your in and I have all my fingers crossed that everything works out well for you and your family. Best of luck, keep us posted

martybabe

Thanks George, this is a perfect example of the misinformation/bad advice we have had all along, We did actually try to apply for PR way earlier than this and were told categorically by two different advisers that this could not be done, worse still we were told by one woman that we could not even apply until the present visa had completely run out.

As regards the working here, INZ have in their possession an impromptu letter from my wife's employers, stating that My wife is invaluable and totally irreplaceable in her role as a Nurse manager, we have bought a house, pay taxes,work and study hard and do everything decent citizens do yet we are treated with abject indifference, rudeness, arrogance and fed a different and often conflicting piece of information every time we contact them.

I was even asked during the course of one telephone conversation if I could prove I could speak English, "but surely" I said " surely you can tell that I can speak English, have we not just had a fifteen minute conversation in English? I went to school in England, I worked for thirty years in England, I am in fact English and I don't speak anything else"

"That is not sufficient proof, you will have to provide a letter verifying that you can speak English from an Education department or something similar"

I kid you not!.

martybabe

Thanks Lee Lee, I see by your information thingy that you intend to come here. Please don't be put off by my situation, it's a great country with great people, it just so happens I'm having a few issues with immigration here, no reason to believe you will have the same problems and despite the poor treatment by INZ, it's still worth enduring all the crap if it means my Family get to stay here. I think what I'm saying is, I regard this Country so highly that it's worth the fight Otherwise I would have told them by now to stick it where the sun don't shine.

Come down Mate, you won't regret it.

127luton

Hi Martybabe! God what an nightmare, we had problems with all sorts of 'jobs worth attitude' and delays and ill advise from immigration consultant ! so my heart goes out to you all.... it sounds ridiculous.. my and my OH are also senior nurses .. and the frustration etc.. must be unbearable, I think you need to definitely get some independent help (maybe specialist immi lawyer ? ) i TRUELY HOPE IT WORKS OUT FOR YOU ALL!
Berni

Lee Lee

Thanks for the invitation... we accept! Just got to hope they let us in now

We hope to come over this year. Havent seen a lot of NZ but what we did see, we loved. I'm sure its worth all the effort. Lets hope so because this whole process seems like hard work

Lee Lee

Sorry this is nothing to do with martybabes problem but numptyhead I've just got to say that what you've written on your signature line is just the best thing I've heard

george toni

hi

cheers for the reply.

I would say (and it means not alot I know) hang in there as I reckon it will all come good in the end.

Easy for me to say I guess but as a nurse your wife along with all the relevant passes in the other aspects you have done should mean it will all come good.

Im no expert but from waht you say you seem caught in a very big wheel of policy and rules and as slow as that wheel is turning I reall hope it gets there soon.

keep us informed (if you dont mind) as I wont be the only one with fingers crossed for you and your family.

All the best

george

ibex

Hopefully all goes well for you Martybabe. I cannot imagine putting my family in such stress, it must be terrible. I feel you.

Why weren't you able to secure an extension work permit for your wife (and all others)? At least for the time your PR is processed. I am afraid there is up to 1 year waiting for PR (NZIS branch pending), with job you should get higher priority but still - I hope you hadn't been waiting up to January 10th to submit it?

Although one says don't kill the messenger, I think you should give your advisers some hard time

I truly hope all is well for you at the end although you may look few years older

mudblood21

This seems wrong, I thought i had to provide evidence that i can speak English - but on my ITA there was a note that we didn't need the evidence after all, because we were born and lived in the UK, that it wasn't needed. It must be such agony for you. sorry I can't help - but I want to send you all my very best wishes - I hope and pray you are sorted out really soon !