claire hopkins

Hi Guys,

Had a nice email from the job agency who has been working on behalf of Hubby's new job in NZ today, saying very sorry but A & G Price have withdrawn their offer of employment.

Hubby was offered the job in September (actually received written offer on 19th). The problem is our son has a medical condition that has totally flummoxed NZIS as they have no history of anyone trying to emigrate with it or with a child who has it, we supplied loads of backup reports, X-rays and a detailed summary from us explaining how it effects us as a family etc, these were all passed on to Medical Assessor in UK, who then asked for another report from Jordan's consultant, which we supplied, they then came back and said they needed more info on costs and facilities in NZ (they had already said they were finding these out when we applied for second report from Consultant), this was then passed on to CO manager who has a contact in NZ who was to get this info, Alas they couldn't find it out neither so has now been passed on to another Medical Assessor in NZ who has had all the info for nearly 3 weeks. We haver continually kept the Agency informed of our progress (if any), I email our case officer every Monday for updates and any response gets forwarded on to the job agency. We don't feel that 2 months is an age, but A & G Price obviously do (they are also an accredited company with NZIS). You can imagine a bit pissed off today!!

Cheers Hopkins Clan

mazi

Are they ALLOWED to withdraw a job offer? Maybe they are I don't know but did they tell you your husband had to start by a certain date or anything?

Sorry to hear your son has a medical condition, I hope it doesn't affect you as a family too much. What is it? Don't answer if that is too personal a question!

danny.f

Claire,
sorry to hear this. You must all be very frustrated and upset. Keep your chin up.
Donna

dreamfish

Oh dear Claire - sorry to hear this, not what you need eh.

claire hopkins

Hi Mazi,

We don't know if they are allowed, but from the beginning they only gave Paul something like 3 weeks to start date, then held back from sending written job offer for 2 weeks (so application not able to be processed until the offer letter). It just comes down to their prerogative I suppose, just pissed because our CO told us they had to give us a realistic three months.

With regards to Jordan he has Cystic Fibrosis, it is a life limiting disease, but on the up side he keeps fantastically healthy he is no different than any other 13 year old except he has medication to keep him well. (We have never treated him as being ill, and feel this has had a very positive effect). On the down side of this NZ only has 300 CF sufferers, so we think their medical assessors has very limited information about this. We always knew it would be a hurdle but we refuse to give up on our dream, we will push it until no more can be done.

Thanks for your support.

Hopkins Clan

Goldberry

To me that sounds like NZIS are afraid that the medical condition of your child could financially strain the health system. :scared:
If that is true, then it's pretty scary to see how interwoven NZ employers and NZIS are. If I were you, I would make an issue out of this heard-hearted behaviour. Just shows how this New Age monetarism has squeezed out SOCIAL democracy all over the world. Not that it would benefit people.

I'm so sorry for you and your family, Claire! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that something will work out for you.

Could a visit to the NZ embassy help at all? Talking one on one might make a difference.

mazi

A friend of mine has CF (in UK not NZ)- he's about to turn 30 and I'm sure that's a lot to do with his positive attitude too. He does the same thing - doesn't think of himself as being ill, in fact he recently climbed a mountain!

I hope you find what you're looking for and that you get the right answers. Lots of good luck.

mazi

I agree 100%

UKNZAUS

Oh Claire, I'm so sorry this has happened to you! It obviously wasn't the job for you, I know it's no consolation but if it was meant to be, it will be! The perfect job will be right around the corner now - and I wholly agree with the others ... def make an issue out of the ignorance of your son's condition !!! They surely can't be allowed to draw this out ?!

Good Luck with whatever you decide to do now xx

Michelle & Carl

claire hopkins

Hi Goldberry & Mazi,
Again thanks for the kind words it helps us and keeps us positive, The issues are more towards the employer who has ducked out,(This is me being polite) not NZIS who have been more than helpful to this point, NZIS have given us the options including if the Medical assessors say no, we have the option of a medical waiver, fortunately i still have enough points without the job offer to still be able to satisfy the requirements of the medical waiver. (a job offer would be preferred in the eyes of the NZIS without it I would have to have a telephone interview) It may come down to our CO's manager to make the final decision. We have already looked at the Residence Review board site for information and have seen some very interesting decisions overturned with individual cases a lot worse than ours. Still keeping our fingers crossed that maybe the Medical assessors will say Yes and all this has been for nothing but on principle I would not contact the employer who have asked if we are granted PR they would still like to employ me.

regards the Hopkins Clan

Maz

That utterly stinks Claire. I hope some good can come out of all this.

newkiwi

Thats very tough....did the offer letter specify a timeframe when you had to reply?

All the best of luck in getting a better offer and I hope you get everything sorted out with NZIS. If you want to take a positive out of this, if a company did this you are probably better of not having worked for them at all, better to know this now than finding it out after starting work at a company treating you badly.

Have you thought about contacting the press (in NZ) about it?

claire hopkins

Hi newkiwi
The time frame was interviewed by phone 2nd or 3rd september 06, written job offer received on the 19th sept 06 to start the 5th Oct 06. The NZIS will not process any application until they have a written copy of the job offer. I explained the problems and the unreel timescale and asked if a start date of the end of November would suit us more, until this e mail arrived we had no contact from them saying that there were worried about the timescale. I dont think i need to write to a newspaper i think enough people will see there name on this site, the company is based in Thames. you are probably right that we found out about the company now rather than later

Cheers the Hopkins Clan

Goldberry

Claire,
I'm just surfing the NZ Dept. of Labour site. It may be an authority you might want to contact. I haven't looked that deep into their site though - it's just a feeling I just got (hence this posting ).
I'm adding a link which may also be interesting to others, seeking work. I just had look at the Employers Guide, as I find it interesting to read up on where the other side is coming from.

Information for Employees

Very interesting are also these Facts Sheets , which are publications, for instance about minimum wages, types of holidays and leaves etc.

I'm on to reading about the "Code of Good Faith".

claire hopkins

Hello Goldberry

Thanks for the information I have had a quick look at the link and will look a little more in depth later. Again thanks for that

Cheers the Hopkins Clan