The Story – Part 7

The job offer we received from B&M Electrical was amazing. It was more enticing than the job offer we received from Alexandra, which would require Matt to be away from home for a week at a time for up to six weeks, every time it was his turn to do so (I was not a fan). On top of the amazing job offer that would give us that work/life balance we’d been seeking out, they were offering a $2500 housing bonus to help us secure a place to live. Wow! That was a no-brainer decision, but I left it to Matt. After all, he was the one who’d have to show up to work daily, not me. I wanted him to be 100% happy in this decision and I stepped back as he made the decision.

The next day, we had a decision! Matt chose B&M Electrical in Palmerston North, New Zealand. (Palmerston North is located on New Zealand’s North Island). Shortly after he accepted the offer, we get a call at 11:00 pm from a company in Wellington that gave Matt a job offer on the spot, hoping to change his mind and win him over. How funny! Matt said no, but the gentleman from that company told Matt that if he ever changed his mind, the offer would always be on the table for him. A backup plan – how amazing. A second backup plan came to us shortly after when we told the Otago job recruiter the exciting news. She told Matt that if he ever wants to work in the South Island, she’d be happy to help! A third backup came when the company in Hamilton that was interested in Matt said to let them know if things don’t work out in Palmy (did some research, this is a pet name for Palmerston North). WOW. Three backup plans that we weren’t even looking for. God is COOL.

As soon as we accepted the offer, it was time for us to finalize our temporary and residence visa applications. When I got us document-ready the first time, that was for the temporary visa application. You only need electronic documents for that one and they were already uploaded to the NZ Shores online file system, ready to go. The part that took forever was the residence visa applications. That one required everything to be printed and notarized. That was both expensive and time-consuming. But we did it, and on June 12th, I mailed the seemingly full ream of notarized paper (+,- 150 pages) to New Zealand.

Now, a quick detour to explain Matt’s qualifications and how they transfer over to New Zealand. We have had to work with New Zealand’s Electrical Workers Registration Board (EWRB) since the beginning of this process. We paid them and provided them with the requested documents needed to assess Matt’s qualifications. Matt heard back fairly quickly and had the best results we could hope for: 7000 of his hours were applied to the 8000 hour requirement to become a fully registered New Zealand qualified Electrician. They deducted 1000 hours because of the voltage difference between the US and NZ. He was able to apply for (and was recently granted) his limited certificate, which is basically an electrical license that mandates that Matt be supervised while he completes his hours. He has to work the 1000 hours (equivalent to six months of work), and upon completion, he can apply to be fully registered and obtain his full certification.

Click for Part 8:

The Story – Part 8