During my visit in Sydney, I was also required to apply for my New Zealand visa as the office to lodge the application form is only in Sydney. Hence, i took this opportunity to lodge my application form in person as I thought I had prepared all the documents that were required, stated on the immigration website, instead of using post.
I asked Vin to bring me there since I was not familiar with the location, but I did search on internet and knew it was just around the area where I stayed. After we reached there, it was quite a long queue and we waited for about an hour till my turn. Thus, I handed out the documents required to the immigration officer, and guess what?! The officer told me that I missed out one document, which was letter of enrollment from my university. I was like WTH?! Since I even did the documents requirement checklist and whatnot and it didn't even stated that enrollment letter is required. Hence, I tried to tell the officer about it and the officer could do nothing but agree that it is indeed not stated on the application form and website checklist, as it is a special requirement for student.
Nevertheless, it was still needed, otherwise, she could not progress my visa application. Hence, I was asked to either fax or email it to her ASAP, but the thing was that I only able to get it once I went back to Melbourne, and the fastest it can be done was by Monday, as the university is closed during weekend and I was gonna depart on Thursday. Honestly, I was so frustrated and didn't have the mood to even have fun on a trip to the beach. I tried to ask for help from a friend in Melbourne but the university won't let her as the university required me to come in person. What a mess! Sigh..
I felt so pressured and frustrated at the same time, as I already paid for the flight, tour + accommodation in NZ and to be honest, that's a lot of money. I came back from Sydney on Saturday. Obviously I really can do nothing much during weekend as I had to wait till Monday.
As Monday eventually came, I woke up early in the morning and stormed out to my uni. I went to the student service department and ask for my enrollment letter. For some reasons, it took quite sometime for the person in charge to print it out and the first print out turned out to be error as other details are correct, but my name was mistakenly input as other people's name. This actually happened to me before when I asked for my bank account statement in one of the bank branches. Guess it's the computer software error early in the morning (-_-'').
Thus, I went to library, scanned the letter and sent it to the visa officer, but I received no reply. Then I thought perhaps I should wait till afternoon, but then after 2 pm, I didn't receive any reply whatsoever. Hence, I started to worry and tried to call the immigration office. I called so many times and the one who answered was an operator and all it does was asking me to hold and I held for like 1 hour and still not my turn, as my queue number on the phone was 116. WTH! I spent my half day calling the immigration office and listening to the operator repeatedly, asking me to 'hold and that visa officer will come to you shortly' + the hold instrument which getting on my nerves!! Nevertheless, I ended up with nothing, and I spent the rest of the day doing nothing but sleep as I didn't want to think of the consequences of not getting my passport n visa.
I remembered that around 8 or 9 pm, my friend, Phei Fang, who organized this trip called me and asked me regarding something related to New Zealand, whether I want it or not. I felt so frustrated and really didn't know how to answer as I haven't received my passport n visa. Then, she asked me to call my friend, Vin, in Sydney, to help me ask regarding my passport n visa status on Tuesday morning, which I did so, but he didn't answer his phone. Hence, I went back to bed and around 1 am, Vin called back and he agreed to help me to go to the immigration office asking for my passport n visa status tomorrow morning.
As I couldn't sleep well, I woke up at 6 in the morning, trying to again call the immigration office and ended up with operator saying something 'unavailable' in the line as the opening hour starts from 9 am - 4 pm. Hence, I waited till around 8.30 and called again. This time the queue number is 2, then I tried to wait for about 30 minutes and finally it's my turn as my call was directed to an officer. I asked him regarding my visa status and told him regarding my situation and that I emailed my document to the visa officer but have not received any reply whatsoever. Apparently, he told me that the visa officer who progressed my visa was on leave for couple days and again I was asked to hold my phone as he helped to check for me. I waited for more than 15 mins and suddenly I heard nothing, hence I decided to hung up the phone. I tried to call back and now the operator told me that my queue number's 17. OMG, I really wanna freaking faint!! Then, I called Vin, asked him whether he was already there but he didn't answer the phone. Hence, I assumed that perhaps he has not woke up yet since he finished off his work so late last nite. I tried to wait patiently and calm myself down.
About 30 minutes later, he called back and told me that he was on his way to the immigration office. I was quite relieved as there was at least a little hope for it, though I didn’t expect much of it. I was told not to worry and that everything’s gonna be alrite. Then 15 minutes later, I was told that he already went inside the office and that the queue was not very long. When I asked whether there were many people there, I, again for some reason started to think negative since he said the people there were more than the first time we went, though most of them came in groups.
Shortly after that, he called back again, this time telling me that the officer wanted to talk to me through his phone, I felt a moment of happiness n hope and talked to the officer, and was told that I hung up the phone, and that they tried to call me back and could not get through to me. Thus, I told the person on phone regarding my situation again and telling her that the visa officer who was in charge of my visa was on leave and then she was like ‘Oh It’s me, I’m back’. Apparently, she’s the officer who was in charge of my visa previously. I was like ‘ OMG, you’re back..’ LOL! Then, I told her regarding my situation and asked her to help me finished off the visa by today, as it required one day to post my passport from Sydney to Melbourne through express post and I was going to depart on Thursday morning. Thus, she told me that she will try to get it done by four and post it to me, or perhaps if it was not posted by today, then perhaps she’s gonna post to me tomorrow, and I was like, ‘Please, I am going on Thursday, I really need my passport n visa the latest by Wednesday and today is Tuesday’ and then she was like ‘Oh, I thought today is Monday’. Then she said she will try to get it done by today and asked me for my contact number.
The moment I hung up the phone, I really felt so relieved, as there was hope of getting my passport n visa in time. Having said that, I was still quite distracted by the negative thoughts. There was always something negative that I could think of, such as my passport missing at the time of delivery, or perhaps I didn’t receive my passport in time, etc. Though, I was more than 50% relieved, I was still unsure whether the visa officer could get it done and at the same time posted it by today, as she didn’t inform me anything whatsoever. Hence, I tried to call the immigration again and ended up with nothing. So, I decided to email her again, and this time, within minutes or so, I suddenly got a reply from her saying that my passport has been posted via express post and that in future time, I was told not to purchase ticket before getting my visa, and that the visa application took about 10 working days from a complete submitted documents, and that she only received mine yesterday.
After I read her email, I really didn’t know whether I should be happy or not, as she didn’t tell me regarding my visa status. Again, I started to worry that my visa has not been approved yet as she said it needed approximately 10 working days, but then it makes no sense, as she definitely knew that although with a passport, but without NZ visitor visa, I was still unable to enter NZ. Actually, I understood what the email was about: firstly, my passport has been posted via express post, and the rest of the sentences were advice. But somehow, it had a vague message to me considering I was in this kind of situation. Nonetheless, I still prayed so hard to get my passport in time.
On Wednesday, I woke up at 8 in the morning, waiting for the postman to come since the doorbell was not working, as previously the parcel that was shipped to me was sent to the nearest post office, and I had to pick it up in person there, which was quite troublesome. Hence, I tried to wait on my balcony but it felt so cold! Then, I decided to open my balcony door so that I could hear or know when the postman arrived. The weather was quite cold in that particular morning, I even required to wear jacket in my room with heater on as the balcony door was opened, sigh..
I waited for 3 hours while playing the sims 3, though I couldn’t 100% focus on the game and started to worry, suddenly I heard a starting engine sound, and I quickly looked outside my balcony. It turned out to be a white van, so I started to doubt whether it’s the postman, and decided to go downstairs and checked it out. As I just wanna go down the stairs, my housemate, Nicholas, who was also going to NZ, was about to go upstairs, but I didn’t expect him to hand over an envelope to me, as I thought he’s going to bathroom. I freaked out when he told me that I got a letter and that it’s possibly my passport. Then I quickly opened the envelope and checked the visa on my passport. OMG, I was so happy that I received my passport in time. It was just a day before my departure date! How lucky was I?! Thank god for that!
Honestly, I also wanna thank my buddy, Vincent Ruen a lot as he worked till so late that nite and had to go to the immigration office early in the morning. Owe u once! I also wanna thank Lee Shy Leoi for troubling her to go to uni asking for my letter of enrolment, although ended up with nothing, but still thanks for ur willingness to help. Last but not least, I wanna thank Desiva Lin, Lin Yi Mei, Lee Sok May & Low Phei Fang for kindly cheering me and reassuring me that I could get my passport and visa in time, which I did!
Thank You So Much!
Cheers,
Xmalcolm
I asked Vin to bring me there since I was not familiar with the location, but I did search on internet and knew it was just around the area where I stayed. After we reached there, it was quite a long queue and we waited for about an hour till my turn. Thus, I handed out the documents required to the immigration officer, and guess what?! The officer told me that I missed out one document, which was letter of enrollment from my university. I was like WTH?! Since I even did the documents requirement checklist and whatnot and it didn't even stated that enrollment letter is required. Hence, I tried to tell the officer about it and the officer could do nothing but agree that it is indeed not stated on the application form and website checklist, as it is a special requirement for student.
Nevertheless, it was still needed, otherwise, she could not progress my visa application. Hence, I was asked to either fax or email it to her ASAP, but the thing was that I only able to get it once I went back to Melbourne, and the fastest it can be done was by Monday, as the university is closed during weekend and I was gonna depart on Thursday. Honestly, I was so frustrated and didn't have the mood to even have fun on a trip to the beach. I tried to ask for help from a friend in Melbourne but the university won't let her as the university required me to come in person. What a mess! Sigh..
I felt so pressured and frustrated at the same time, as I already paid for the flight, tour + accommodation in NZ and to be honest, that's a lot of money. I came back from Sydney on Saturday. Obviously I really can do nothing much during weekend as I had to wait till Monday.
As Monday eventually came, I woke up early in the morning and stormed out to my uni. I went to the student service department and ask for my enrollment letter. For some reasons, it took quite sometime for the person in charge to print it out and the first print out turned out to be error as other details are correct, but my name was mistakenly input as other people's name. This actually happened to me before when I asked for my bank account statement in one of the bank branches. Guess it's the computer software error early in the morning (-_-'').
Thus, I went to library, scanned the letter and sent it to the visa officer, but I received no reply. Then I thought perhaps I should wait till afternoon, but then after 2 pm, I didn't receive any reply whatsoever. Hence, I started to worry and tried to call the immigration office. I called so many times and the one who answered was an operator and all it does was asking me to hold and I held for like 1 hour and still not my turn, as my queue number on the phone was 116. WTH! I spent my half day calling the immigration office and listening to the operator repeatedly, asking me to 'hold and that visa officer will come to you shortly' + the hold instrument which getting on my nerves!! Nevertheless, I ended up with nothing, and I spent the rest of the day doing nothing but sleep as I didn't want to think of the consequences of not getting my passport n visa.
I remembered that around 8 or 9 pm, my friend, Phei Fang, who organized this trip called me and asked me regarding something related to New Zealand, whether I want it or not. I felt so frustrated and really didn't know how to answer as I haven't received my passport n visa. Then, she asked me to call my friend, Vin, in Sydney, to help me ask regarding my passport n visa status on Tuesday morning, which I did so, but he didn't answer his phone. Hence, I went back to bed and around 1 am, Vin called back and he agreed to help me to go to the immigration office asking for my passport n visa status tomorrow morning.
As I couldn't sleep well, I woke up at 6 in the morning, trying to again call the immigration office and ended up with operator saying something 'unavailable' in the line as the opening hour starts from 9 am - 4 pm. Hence, I waited till around 8.30 and called again. This time the queue number is 2, then I tried to wait for about 30 minutes and finally it's my turn as my call was directed to an officer. I asked him regarding my visa status and told him regarding my situation and that I emailed my document to the visa officer but have not received any reply whatsoever. Apparently, he told me that the visa officer who progressed my visa was on leave for couple days and again I was asked to hold my phone as he helped to check for me. I waited for more than 15 mins and suddenly I heard nothing, hence I decided to hung up the phone. I tried to call back and now the operator told me that my queue number's 17. OMG, I really wanna freaking faint!! Then, I called Vin, asked him whether he was already there but he didn't answer the phone. Hence, I assumed that perhaps he has not woke up yet since he finished off his work so late last nite. I tried to wait patiently and calm myself down.
About 30 minutes later, he called back and told me that he was on his way to the immigration office. I was quite relieved as there was at least a little hope for it, though I didn’t expect much of it. I was told not to worry and that everything’s gonna be alrite. Then 15 minutes later, I was told that he already went inside the office and that the queue was not very long. When I asked whether there were many people there, I, again for some reason started to think negative since he said the people there were more than the first time we went, though most of them came in groups.
Shortly after that, he called back again, this time telling me that the officer wanted to talk to me through his phone, I felt a moment of happiness n hope and talked to the officer, and was told that I hung up the phone, and that they tried to call me back and could not get through to me. Thus, I told the person on phone regarding my situation again and telling her that the visa officer who was in charge of my visa was on leave and then she was like ‘Oh It’s me, I’m back’. Apparently, she’s the officer who was in charge of my visa previously. I was like ‘ OMG, you’re back..’ LOL! Then, I told her regarding my situation and asked her to help me finished off the visa by today, as it required one day to post my passport from Sydney to Melbourne through express post and I was going to depart on Thursday morning. Thus, she told me that she will try to get it done by four and post it to me, or perhaps if it was not posted by today, then perhaps she’s gonna post to me tomorrow, and I was like, ‘Please, I am going on Thursday, I really need my passport n visa the latest by Wednesday and today is Tuesday’ and then she was like ‘Oh, I thought today is Monday’. Then she said she will try to get it done by today and asked me for my contact number.
The moment I hung up the phone, I really felt so relieved, as there was hope of getting my passport n visa in time. Having said that, I was still quite distracted by the negative thoughts. There was always something negative that I could think of, such as my passport missing at the time of delivery, or perhaps I didn’t receive my passport in time, etc. Though, I was more than 50% relieved, I was still unsure whether the visa officer could get it done and at the same time posted it by today, as she didn’t inform me anything whatsoever. Hence, I tried to call the immigration again and ended up with nothing. So, I decided to email her again, and this time, within minutes or so, I suddenly got a reply from her saying that my passport has been posted via express post and that in future time, I was told not to purchase ticket before getting my visa, and that the visa application took about 10 working days from a complete submitted documents, and that she only received mine yesterday.
After I read her email, I really didn’t know whether I should be happy or not, as she didn’t tell me regarding my visa status. Again, I started to worry that my visa has not been approved yet as she said it needed approximately 10 working days, but then it makes no sense, as she definitely knew that although with a passport, but without NZ visitor visa, I was still unable to enter NZ. Actually, I understood what the email was about: firstly, my passport has been posted via express post, and the rest of the sentences were advice. But somehow, it had a vague message to me considering I was in this kind of situation. Nonetheless, I still prayed so hard to get my passport in time.
On Wednesday, I woke up at 8 in the morning, waiting for the postman to come since the doorbell was not working, as previously the parcel that was shipped to me was sent to the nearest post office, and I had to pick it up in person there, which was quite troublesome. Hence, I tried to wait on my balcony but it felt so cold! Then, I decided to open my balcony door so that I could hear or know when the postman arrived. The weather was quite cold in that particular morning, I even required to wear jacket in my room with heater on as the balcony door was opened, sigh..
I waited for 3 hours while playing the sims 3, though I couldn’t 100% focus on the game and started to worry, suddenly I heard a starting engine sound, and I quickly looked outside my balcony. It turned out to be a white van, so I started to doubt whether it’s the postman, and decided to go downstairs and checked it out. As I just wanna go down the stairs, my housemate, Nicholas, who was also going to NZ, was about to go upstairs, but I didn’t expect him to hand over an envelope to me, as I thought he’s going to bathroom. I freaked out when he told me that I got a letter and that it’s possibly my passport. Then I quickly opened the envelope and checked the visa on my passport. OMG, I was so happy that I received my passport in time. It was just a day before my departure date! How lucky was I?! Thank god for that!
Honestly, I also wanna thank my buddy, Vincent Ruen a lot as he worked till so late that nite and had to go to the immigration office early in the morning. Owe u once! I also wanna thank Lee Shy Leoi for troubling her to go to uni asking for my letter of enrolment, although ended up with nothing, but still thanks for ur willingness to help. Last but not least, I wanna thank Desiva Lin, Lin Yi Mei, Lee Sok May & Low Phei Fang for kindly cheering me and reassuring me that I could get my passport and visa in time, which I did!
Thank You So Much!
Cheers,
Xmalcolm
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