Auck Ward

I got the golden ticket, I got the golden ticket…

Jumping for joy in my pjs. Messy hair, don’t care. Photo by Kiwi.

On Friday, the courier man delivered something to me in a suspiciously small envelope. He delivered the work visa, in my passport, along with Kiwi’s passport!

As I have complained on this blog (not a great way to retain audiences and get hits, btw), the visa process was not easy. After getting signatures from American MDs, and then realizing that my medical exam was out of date and I needed to get a new one, I was hopeful this would be the last attempt for a visa.

Special thanks to Kiwi’s mum who helped me schedule exams and dropped off forms on my behalf, and to anyone who tolerated my complaining about how crap I am at immigration forms and my sitting around idle, hearing the same sitcom theme songs over and over again because of my daily streaming marathons.

So what now? The next step is to apply for a tax id number, known as an IRD number. You fill out a form and make photocopies of your passport and driver’s license and drop them off at a post office. It doesn’t cost anything and you get the number in eight to ten business days. Really easy.

Next problem: My passport expires next year, so I’ll need to apply for a new U.S. passport, THEN apply to transfer my New Zealand work visa to the new U.S. passport.

Too bad there isn’t an emoticon for a tight-lipped smile in response to future visa red tape.

I’ve thought about writing a lessons learned post about applying for a New Zealand partnership-based work visa. Would you read that? Let me know in the comments.