Kija

Help!! We've been invited for an interview!!



After all this time! I had lost all hope of ever getting there!

Any advice? Any help would be much appreciated!!!

florabundi

Don't panic! Oh yeah & do a search of the forum for "interview questions" We have ours next week too

FriendForEver

This might be useful for both of you

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=716454

Good Luck

Kija

Good luck florabundi!!! Let us know how it goes!

Thanks for the link FriendforEver, it's very helpful. I was actually looking forward to the interview phase until I read our case officer's email it sounded so scary and that our life (or lack thereof) in NZ counted on how we were going to answer

But it seems the person in the thread you sent had the same case officer (Andrew) so hopefully he'll be gentle with us

It's all so unreal after all this time, exciting times!

Persephone

Hi Kija, good to see you're back

Congratulations with getting an interview date. There are lots of threads on the questions that tend to get asked so prepare some answers and you should be fine.
Lots and lots of luck
P x

BEVS

Great news Kija. the interview isn't too scary at all really.

We didn't have to go through an interview but we knew absolutely no-one before arriving here so I think it must be more about your being sure you will settle . We even had to use my husbands works as a contact address for our cats.



I'm sure it will go well.

Good luck

Lejamez

Thought I'd repost what happened to us - Hope you find it useful

interview was spilt into 2 parts and only lasted about 30mins over the phone.

Job prospects -
OH was asked about his first - whether he thought it would be difficult to find work, what would he do if he didn't get work, how did work prospects in NZ differ from UK,
I was asked what I would do (as I planned on helping kids settle till after Xmas hols I said that and then just said I would either get something in admin or do whatever as I was flexible)

Settling in NZ - (This was done via speaker so we could both chip in)
Why were we leaving UK
Had we looked at housing/rental and what were our plans
Had we looked at schooling and how did we feel the kids would cope and what would we do to help
Did we have any family/friends over in NZ (mentioned that I had contacts via FB and Twitter and of course on this site )
How did we plan on making friends

Basically that was it - most of the questions seemed to be related to what we had answered previously. It seemed very informal and Andrew (Case Worker) made us feel very relaxed. We asked at end when we'd hear and he said he would make the decision that afternoon but by the time it was signed off by a second person we probably wouldn't hear till either end this week more likely early next.


As an aside it wasn't a problem that neither of us had visited NZ before.

Good luck and keep us posted.
Laura

Lejamez

just realised you pointed to my post hehe I really must learn how to do that, I feel such a muppet. Maybe I should also read all posts before coming up with my 2pence worth

Laura

Kija

Persephone & Bevs

Thanks for the good wishes it's all so unreal, never thought this day would come. It's official, our interview is on the 24th

Laura thanks for the info our case officer is also called Andrew, perhaps he's the same one you had. I hope he's in a good mood on the 24th our lives are in his hands!

Wow I read my join date and it's 2009, has it been *that* long?!!

Kija

Tomorrow is the big day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :fingerscrosse d:

Can't believe we're at this point! Never thought we'd get here! :

Hope we get a favourable result! So nervous hope we don't muck it up!!

florabundi

Kija ~ don't worry. We had our interview yesterday and it went well (I think!) No surprising questions. Our case officer did say they won't be able to make a decision for us yet, as they are still waiting on a document from us. She did however say that we definitely won't be declined and will either get PR or the other visa (which I don't understand) under the SMC. Good luck, Flora

Lejamez

Kija,

Good luck I'm keeping my fingers crossed
Laura

Kija

it goes well for you Flora! I see Persephone has explained the WTR bit, it's quite confusing isn't it! It's nice of your CO to let you know that you won't be declined, I hope ours reassures us too!

When do you intend to go when all this is hopefully done and dusted?

Kija

Thanks Laura!

florabundi

Hi Kija, we are hoping to go to the Nelson area in the countryside, what about you?