Hi Everyone,
The Shanghai branch issued a WTR visa for me yesterday and the passport is one the way back. First of all I must thank each one of you for all the valuable information you have posted in this forum.
If I look back to the day I submitted by EOI to the pool, 16/June/2008, I never thought I'm going to spend the next 28 months (~2.5 years) staring at the NZIS website waiting to see the final decision. To be frank, if I knew I was about to stuck on such a lengthy process, I would have definitely considered some other country in need of Skilled Employees as an alternative.
Shanghai branch sucks. If I’m asked, I would say it’s the worst branch in the NZIS network. Most of the Asian applications are handled by the the Shanghai and Beijing branches and I have read many bad experiences some of our Asian forumites have gone through while dealing with these branches. I see the trend of issuing WTR to Asians instead of PR as discrimination. If not, can somebody think of a good reason for doing so? I have only came across 2 people in this forum who got PR right away from Shanghai/Beijing. Please correct me if I’m wrong.
Anyway, with all these mixed feelings, still I’m anxiously waiting to make my move in January hoping to start a better life in my dream destination.
/Beetle