To date, Erik has been offered and accepted a position at SKM in Christchurch, NZ. He's going to be working on the Christchurch Rebuild project.
We have applied for passports, renewals for Erik and I, new ones for the kids.
We have also started the visa application work. This involves several things: FBI background checks and fingerprint cards for Erik and I, physicals for the kids (and a 30 page document detailing those physicals for EACH child), and physicals for Erik and I which include blood work and chest x-rays - amazing but true.
So far, the kids' physicals are done and we have had our fingerprints taken and sent for our FBI records. The FBI's web site says this part could take as long as 8 weeks! But it also is the only thing about the process that is free. I guess you get what you pay for. Next week Erik and I get our physicals done. Once all this is complete, we can send in the paperwork requesting residential visas to live and work permanently in New Zealand.
All I can say is that this place must truly be Paradise, the way they guard it.
hooray, I love a blog! The physicals were super stressful for us - the doc could not understand why every single detail and initial was so crucial to us. And the x-ray tech refused to initial my chest x-ray; I had to ask to see her supervisor. Not to stress you out - it worked out fine in the end :)
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