Last night Grant phoned his recruitment officer in New Zealand. He hasn't been getting replies to his emails and he basically just wanted to know if she had any idea of time scales. He got through to the woman who is looking after his file - let's call her V. She is an ex South African too!
She said she is going to contact Grant's work and the University where he had his last job for his references today and once they are back with her she will then send his file off to Wellington for final approval and they will issue the job offer. We've worked out that if all goes smoothly we might get Permanent Residency by the end of November and be over in NZ by January or February next year. There would be no point trying to move before Christmas - flights would be too expensive and places like estate agents and car sales places would be closed.
The only hiccup in this whole process is our South African police clearance certificates. They will expire before we can apply so we need to get new ones. They take 3 months to come so we have already contacted Grant's parents for help in getting new ones (they last 6 months from date of issue). The good news is that because they are repeats we don't need to provide fingerprints again which means we are able to sign and scan the forms and email them straight to my parents in law. Thankfully they are not very expensive because there are enough other expenses - for instance, we have to have medical checkups done at specific doctors and it includes x-rays and costs £300 each! Yikes!
So ... another baby step forward. Just knowing a rough timescale has been very helpful and it was reassuring to hear from V herself that she is on top of things and that they are progressing as we were very much in limbo waiting here without any news. Onward!
