As most everyone knows we are here just on visitor visas at the present which allow us to stay to "visit" for 3 months. Today we spent a few hours at the International Student Office trying to sort out what we need for Dan's student visa. I'm not sure if it is New Zealand or universities in general, but the amount of paperwork is amazing. And it's not like just fill out all these forms; Dan needed to show proof of scholarhip (note from the dean), proof of acceptance at school (note from physio school), proof of accomadation (copy of tenancy agreement), proof of insurance, and all sorts of papers requiring signatures from various deans who are amazingly elusive. None of the things we had sent from the States back in November could be found "oh, that was around the holidays; no one would have looked at them then"
I knew it was going to be rough when, after waiting in line for 30 minutes, the student visa counselor said, "Oh, but this is the first time you've come into this office" implying that we were expected to have to come back many more times. She also said that graduate students are special cases and require quite a bit more time. This really makes no sense as there are not many graduate students and of those I expect quite a few are international students It's not like a great scheme to sneak into the country..."I'll just work as a graduate student for long hours and no pay."
I cannot do anything, visa-wise, until Dan has his student visa in hand since I am applying for an open visa based on his graduate student status. So for now we are just visiting this beautiful country, not actually working or anything.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment