Working Holiday Visa Scheme

President Aquino (more casually known as PNoy) paid us a visit here in New Zealand early this week, which surprisingly resulted to three new bilateral agreements between NZ and Philippines. I'm not going into details but one of the three agreements has been of great interest to me and at the same time caught a lot of attention back home.

I have heard about Working Holiday Scheme ages ago, what it was for, how to and who can apply for it. New Zealand is just one of the countries that has agreement with other nations to offer this visa to their citizens. Needless to say, most of them are developed, first-world countries, sort of an exclusive club if you may, which I never thought our country would be part of.

The intention of this scheme is to allow young citizens (18-30 years old) of one country to take holidays in foreign country for an extended period of time (1 year mostly) for cultural exchange purposes and at the same time have opportunity to spend at most three months on short-term employment to supplement their travel funds or take classes/training for the same period. There will be a limit of 100 visas that each country can issue per year.

No details about NZ-PH agreement is available at the moment but there should be little difference compared to existing agreements with other countries. According to this article online, first visa will be issued by 2013.

To be part of an agreement like this is unprecedented in our history, a definite step up of our country's reputation as illegal immigrants. It's like being finally accepted to be a member of an exclusive club, albeit still on basic membership plan! Lol. But it's a start.. a good start because according to the the correspondence I found from this link between NZ Minister of Trade Tim Groser and Philippine Secretary of Foreign Affairs Robert Romulo, it was in fact NZ who initiated the negotiation back in 2009.

As news starts to spread like wildfire, what worries me is how media communicates this information to the public, the impact to existing problems in human trafficking and potential abuse to this privilege.

"Pwede na daw pong makapagtrabaho ang mga Pilipinong turista sa New Zealand."

While the statement is technically correct, it's very broad and may be misunderstood as something people can use as pathway to gain permanent work in NZ. It's also NOT true that you can take continuous employment for one year, yes you can stay for one year, but each employment (for every company) must not exceed three months. It's important to be clear that while you can be employed, for 12 months, it must be for 4 different employers. We don't want the fly-by-night immigration agents telling victims that  they can find permanent work on this type of visa and end up being deported when visa expires. Sabi nga nila "Walang manloloko, kung walang magpapaloko".

Another concern would be those who intend to come on this visa and breach it, in short mag-TNT. I wouldn't want us to be part of this list.

More information will be available about NZ-PH specific on NZ immigration website. In the meantime, more information can be found here.

Be informed and inform others!

**Update** - February 8, 2014

On January 31, NZ immigration website was updated with the details of the working holiday visa agreement with Philippines. Starting Feb 5, 2014, they will start accepting applications for this visa allowing only 100 slots from each country.

Several minutes after the website opened at 10AM NZST (5AM PHT), all of the 100 visa slots have already been used up. The new quote for 2015 will open again on February of next year.

Details of the agreement is found in NZ immigration website.

To The Left, To The Left!

I don't know about you but when I was a kid, I struggled with left and right directions. Learning and remembering which is which was difficult, having to learned them both in English and Tagalog was an even greater challenge.

But it's a completely different story when you try to drive again and every orientation you are used to are flipped altogether! That's what I struggled on when I first drove in NZ. NZ is one of the many countries that drive on the left side of the road, which also means, the driver sits on the right side. I'm glad the acceleration and break pedals are the same! Can you imagine the trouble I'll get into in the middle of a traffic jam, bumpers just inches apart and decided to stop?

My first experience hopping in the passenger's side, which is the driver's seat that I'm used to, was a little weird. Turning on intersections would give me couple of milliseconds of scare and panic-attacks. With perspective from the driver's seat, my brain would tell me we're turning on the wrong lane which makes me awkwardly push my leg to an invisible brake pedal.

On my way home from work

What really surprised me was, seating on the driver's seat (right side) made all the difference. Sitting there with the steering wheel in front of me was an entirely new experience that I didn't have any old habits to influence me. Suddenly all worries and anxieties were really for nothing because it wasn't as difficult as I originally thought.

Every so often I still wonder why don't we change everything to the right and be done with it, everybody happy, right? The thing is, even Philippines back in earlier part of 20th century (source: wikipedia) drove on the left, so it's not entirely unique to NZ or other commonwealth countries.

One of my funny and scary experiences on this was that time I was heading for a collision with a huge bus when I drove to a narrow street. Good thing it wasn't a busy road and I was driving very slowly, I just backed up and gestured my apology to the driver.

Driving everyday to and from work for the past 6 months have improved my driving (I think). It's a good practice for me especially I'm planning to apply for full NZ license early next year. I heard horror stories about how strict the license driving test is but with almost a year of practice, it should be a piece of cake right?!

Having experience driving on both sides of the road, I can say that it's not important if you're driving on the left or right, if you know how to drive, you know how to drive! Unless you're Asian, woman or worse, both! =P

6 Months In

I realized I've been in NZ for more than six months! That's half a year! "Time flies when you're having fun" sabi nga nila. The reality is, living in a foreign country is not fun all the time, homesickness doesn't sound as bad until it hits you, being away from your family, friends, the people you love and all the comforts of home. But when I really feel down, I take comfort in the fact that I've been very blessed, looking at it now, I think I had a relatively easy experience compared to other Pinoy migrant horror stories I heard.

When I applied as migrant, I skipped several requirements saving me time and several thousands of pesos. Thanks to Mapua for being a recognized institution, I skipped my NZQA assessment and IELTS which would have cost a considerable amount of moolah, money I can spend for food and other stuff I need. My bosses in Accenture have been extremely supportive and have been helpful throughout the process and extended beyond what other organizations would do to work out a setup, even though it didn't push through, the efforts are very much appreciated. My kuya who sponsored by business class (ako na!) one-way ticket to fly here. My relatives who moved to Auckland from Rotorua just in time for my arrival (no they didn't move because of me but they considered the timing which I'm very thankful for!), support from family and friends, of course, the last but not the least, my girlfriend Kim, who have been patient, supportive and behind my back all this time and who also got her visa today! Yeey! Thank God!

Told myself months before I left for NZ that I'll document my adventures in this blog, 6 months later, you are reading my second entry! Bwahahaha! For the sake of this entry, sige, I'll just list down the highlights of my past 6 months here:

The Flight

It was a long 15-hour flight from Manila to Auckland, excluding 5 hours stopover in Bangkok. The experience was very pleasant, thanks to comfortable VIP lounge with overflowing free food and drinks. Business class seat was definitely more comfortable (for its price, it better be!) and the personal entertainment, huge leg room and 70 degree reclining seat made all the difference between an agonizing, can't sleep, can't move, can't pee economy versus champagne-drinking business class (pagbigyan niyo na minsan lang to! hehe)

Kelan kaya ulet ako makakapag Business Class?

Arrival in Auckland

A sunny sky greeted me as I landed in Auckland around 2PM. The view of NZ is equally stunning from the ground as it is from the sky. The clean breeze of air was also noticeable as soon as I got out of the airport, my uncle with his family who I met for the first time, picked me up. After dropping by Dunkin Donuts for the kids, we headed to their house -- my home in the last 6 months.

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Prepping up
Despite the overwhelming feeling of actually being in NZ soil (had to pinch myself every now and then to check I wasn't dreaming hehe), I did not waste time. Tita took me to the nearest AA office the following day to apply for IRD, counterpart of TIN, which I would need for work and other tax-related transactions. Also got myself a local sim card from 2Degrees for my cellphone then went for a stroll around the mall, which by the way is a far cry from the quality of malls we have in Philippines! I found the malls really boring and lack the variety of activities, products and stores we have back home! Did I mention majority of them close at 5:30PM?! Boooorrrriiiinnnggg!!! Hehe

Work
The type of visa granted to me is called Job Search Visa which gave me 9 months to find skilled work, or simply a job in line with the skill I indicated in my application. Basically, taking a job in the farm herding sheep or milking cow won't help me get residency. I'm sorry to disappoint my Navitaire friends hindi ako nagpapastol ngayon! Sirang mga pangarap... haha

After three weeks of walking around Auckland CBD attending recruiter interviews and exploring the area, I landed a job with a company called Flintfox located in North Shore, about 25KM from where I live and just North of Auckland. Not exactly where I initially thought I'd work but it turned out pretty well because I found location not as crowded as CBD and I don't get caught in traffic as I drive on the opposite direction.

Sightseeing
There are lots of amazing scenery in Auckland alone and if you're a photographer looking for some amazing vistas to shoot, you won't run out of it here. Both city and rural landscapes are several minutes away, and parks are all over the place where you can relax, lie on the grass, read a book or something. Unfortunately, I don't like reading books very much, but lying on the grass still works out pretty well for me.

Residency
Great news arrived last month when I finally got my residence visa. All the anxiety and unnecessary worries didn't mean anything after I got my hands on my passport. The weeks prior have been an emotional roller coaster, case officer wasn't replying to my emails for 2 weeks, no news whatsoever, until my status changed online and passport with visa arrived the following day.

Reunited
What I'm really looking forward to now is Kim's arrival next month! Finally! After 7 months of talking and dating virtually on our computers, we can finally talk without the other making inaudible robotic sound when internet speed goes bad or worse drops. If we survived the last 6 months, what's another month right?! Sisiw!

Okay mejo outdated na to kailangan na namin ng bago

I think that sums up what happened in the last 6 months, I look forward to adding new entries which hopefully won't take another 6 months! Haha Ciao!

Got Hit Again

My cellphone alarm went off with an irritating high-pitch sound at five this morning. I scrambled to pick it up and solved the simple math question I set the night before to dismiss it and put me out of my misery -- an effective way to kick-start my brain. Never underestimate the difficulty of simple math problems when your brain barely functions with a motor skill comparable to a zombie.

My girlfriend and I planned to get our NBI clearance today and took the whole day off from work. Wanting to make sure we don't miss anything, I tweeted my friend Ryan who recently got his clearance, I panicked when he told me how crazy the new system is. Apparently, NBI's contract with its former IT provider expired followed by controversies involving all data in the system. This means, they have to encode everything again, treating all renewals as new application. The scene in NBI main office in Taft starts at 1AM.. yes you read that right, because that's the time the guard gives out sequence numbers, maybe falling in line no longer works with the huge volume of applicants. A range of number is then posted on the gate, if you're number is not included, don't even bother going there. I think the main branch can accommodate 2,000 applicants in a day. That's a lot, but with local clearance having only six months validity and one year for abroad, lots of people are bound to end up renewing if they hop jobs every year or travel abroad for that matter.

What I learned wasn't very encouraging, I didn't want to waste Kim's PTO only to find out we cannot be accommodated. I want her to save as much leaves as she when she visits me in New Zealand this year. I don't really need the clearance soon and could just renew it in Philippine embassy but that can take a while because they still send it to NBI here for processing, we might as well get it now. I saw a glimpse of hope when I read this blog by chocoholiccynic, who got her clearance in less than an hour! One satellite branch in Robinson's Otis (didn't know the mall existed until now) seems to be still outside of the radar and not a lot of people go there. The blog was posted last year so I figured a lot of netizens already found out about it and flocked there, I expected it to be busier than before.

We left the house at around 6:10am, little late than originally planned, and traffic was starting to build up. Made it in Robinson's Otis around 6:45am with dozens of people already in line. We were 47th and 48th which wasn't so bad because the branch accommodates 500 applicants per day. We slumped on the floor while waiting in line for a good 20 to 30 minutes when the security guard opened the mall gate and instructed us to go inside.




Everybody was calm and orderly, no unnecessary nudging or pushing to get ahead, as we walked inside the mall and up to the second floor where another holding area was waiting.

They distributed info sheets which we filled out in five minutes. After 20 minutes, we were herded to form another line which brought us to first step of the application process.

Step 1 - Payment. NBI clearance for local and international purposes are the same at PhP115 (including postage stamp), after paying we went to another line.

Step 2 - Data Encoding. Our names were then called in the adjacent counter, stood up in front of a monitor to verify data being encoded is accurate and correct.

Step 3 - Data Capture/Fingerprinting. Stood behind a white background while in an awkward squat position, it won't take long so don't worry.

Step 4 - Releasing. I wasn't as lucky as Kim who got her clearance 5 minutes later. I, on the other hand, have to return on March 14 to get my clearance because I have a HIT in the database. This means, my name matches another person with record in their system.

I wasn't really surprised because in the past three times I needed a clearance, I always came back. I just never understood the idea of renewing if they can't verify my identity in their database. I'm sure they use some sort of identification number for each person so even if my name matches another, they can quickly determine we're not the same person, that definitely won't take more than an hour to do! The effort people give like staying out in the sun, falling in line for hours, starvation, sweating just for a piece of paper is just not worth it. Give it to them already and be done it it!

The entire process took about 3 hours which is nothing compared to the horror other faced to get clearance in other branches. I thank chocoholiccynic and other bloggers who shared their experience with Rob Otis, because of them we saved a good amount of time and effort to get clearance. It's time to share it to others, hence this entry, knowing that helping others through this also means people discovering this branch and eventually making it like the other branches.

Here are some useful links by:

• Sukey -  http://www.sukeywashere.com/2011/08/nbi-clearance-challenge-at-robinson.html
• chocoholiccynic -  http://chocoholiccynic.blogspot.com/2011/10/how-to-nbi-clearance-in-less-than-hour.html
• rubhee -  http://rubhee.com/2010/07/04/nbi-clearance-application-and-renewal-procedure/
• daddy joey -  http://daddyjoey.com/2011/07/nbi-clearance-application-and-renewal/