Well...finally :D Residence obtained!

Finally getting it in 2 years 10 months of blood, pressure and sweat experience. Son is really enjoying the school here, and my wife is starting to feel the differences instead of KL lifestyle. Auckland, is not as big as KL, but the infra development has much better quality in term of water supply, road experience (the traffic jam in Auckland can't compare to KL), the weekend lifestyle, the cheap car etc. A simple clerk work is much better paid than her account/finance exec job in KL due to minimum wages requirement here.

What is next? Of course, a house (not linked-house or apartment) and my dream to own a white mercz CLK :P

A landed house in good areas (nice neighborhood, lots of good schools, close to commercial areas) may cost around 350-500k here. A 2004 CLK/SLK cost 18-28k :P (only obstacle for this is my wife's approval now....)

Permit obtained.

Well, just got my permit renewed today and luckily I am not over-staying. To be honest, here is my advice if you get WTR thru the skilled migration to NZ.

1. It is recommended to get your family to here once you get your PR. However, you may have long time not seeing them though

2. Apply your work permit at least 2 months before your WTR expiration date (while waiting your PR)

3. Get a consultant, immigration rules is real complex than we thought.

4. If you are in Auckland, choose other immigration branches such as Henderson one. Don't choose Queen Street one as the number to process is too high.

5. Be prepare, be very prepared. Your skills (if you are technical, you will be asked some real technical question. I was tested online with Java certification test when I came to interview my current job), your way to communicate etc. To be honest, if you are not a native english speaker, don't expect too much to get PM or higher unless you are really the special one like Jose Maurino :D

Prepare your resume in Kiwi style, tough mind (this is most critical) because It is not easy to lose your job in Malaysia and finding job here is NOT as easy as Malaysia. It is hard, really hard (as at 2009) we are competing the job among local and immigrants.

However, once you overcome these challenges, the reward is there. This country is so good, quality education for your next generation, 0 air pollution, nice weather etc. My 10 years allergic problem disappeared after I came here just 2 months.

Bah...another headache

Well, my WTR defer PR visa is going to expire on 17 April so I called NZIS what can we do about it. They informed me that due to "extreme" number of applications, my application successful date mostly beyond the expiration date (as my case officer still not assigned yet). However, I can apply for work permit for the time being...at my own cost! DArn! That is 240 for work permit application, man!

I checked with my other colleagues who came here with WTR, ya, they faced the same thing as well! Well, it is good money for NZIS then.