Requesting slight pep talk, icewater to face...

[PollyLeritae]

Hello all,
As I earlier predicted I would be, I am hear to snivel a bit.

I have been accepted to PhD program in NZ with full scholarship, stipend, funding, and intra-departmental support - this is great, and I am, or have, been very excited and grateful.

The process however is taking forever, so long in fact that I fear sometimes I will not arrive in time to collect my papers.

I am an American citizen living in Germany, and over the course of the fall, while the US government was in shutdown, acquiring my background check papers was delayed. As soon as I received them I sent off my completed visa packet to Hamburg, where it was then transferred to London.

The packet is complete and all filled out properly but I received a rather vague request via email from my assigned CO for "more information," the email stating that a letter would soon follow and that I must respond by 17 January. Well, the letter never came (my guess after looking over the email is that is was probably addressed in the Anglophone style, which won't work in the part of German I'm in) and now the deadline is this week. I wrote via email to the CO several times asking for an elaboration upon the questions, and also for data about where to send my response - no answer. No returned phone call. I'm not even sure whether to send my follow up information to Hamburg or London.

I am very discouraged by the thought of what I have come to think of in dealing with certain bureaucracies as "low communication" derailing what has been an effort years in the making. I know a lot of the posters on this forum have come through Phd programs so you are aware of the work involved *just* in acquiring departmental sponsorship and acceptance to a program.

It is tricky trying to figure out how to deal with the nonresponsive CO. This is just an impression but I got the idea from the email that it is not a person who places great value in written communication, and the person is not reachable by phone, either. And I really strive not to be *that* American, pestering, hectoring, and acting entitled. I've actually been happy with Germany's diminished emotionalism and emphasis on task completion. And as a sometime teacher I am extremely reluctant to attempt to go over this person's head and try to contact a supervisor. That scenario never ends with good feelings or outcomes. Yet time is running out.

I guess I will sleep on it and reach out again (to someone somewhere?) in the a.m.

More esoterically, I wonder if the time of multiculturalism has passed us (as Angela Merkel did NOT say). I know has become insanely difficult to immigrate to both America and Germany, and apparently New Zealand also. I predict in the next decade international graduate scholar exchanges will dwindle.


Anyway, thank you for listening.
- PL

[JandM]

Oh, you poor thing - how frustrating! All good wishes for making some useful contact in the morning.

[sks]

As an American who made the move to NZ, I understand and applaud your wish to best fit into the culture that you're dealing with.

In your current situation, however, you've been put into an impossible predicament by your CO -- you've been given a deadline that you can't comply with, through no fault of your own. As I see it, you have no option but to ring the INZ office processing your application, explain the situation, and insist on speaking with either your CO or their supervisor. If your CO has made no significant mistake, and it's simply a postal or clerical error causing the problem, then there's no reason for your CO to take offense at your initiative. On the other hand, if your CO has contributed to the delay, then he or she should welcome the opportunity to correct it -- if not, then there's a bigger problem that the supervisor absolutely should be made aware of.

Better to be thought of as the pushy American but get what you need rather then be the culturally sensitive but passive loser in this scenario. Once your visa is issued, you won't have to deal with your CO again, anyway, and you can practice your adaptability on those better able to appreciate it.

My $0.02, anyway. Good luck.

[sks]

...rather then be...

I meant "than," obviously.

[72andsunny]

And I really strive not to be *that* American, pestering, hectoring, and acting entitled. I've actually been happy with Germany's diminished emotionalism and emphasis on task completion.

Your post reminded me of an old joke; I think because many parts of living in this country feel like Switzerland, and many parts feel like Italy. Here it is:

The difference between heaven and hell...

IN HEAVEN :

The police are British
The chefs are French
The mechanics are German
The lovers are Italian
and it’s all organized by the Swiss!

IN HELL :

The chefs are British
The mechanics are French
The police are German
The lovers are Swiss
and it’s all organized by the Italians!

[wellywearer]

I'd try calling your CO again and if you have no luck try this number 01344 716199 (which is an alternative number for INZ immigration posted by JandM a while ago) and explain your situation.
I used this number from France about 6 months ago and got really helpful staff who told me everything I needed to know. Hopefully someone could give you a clearer picture of what they require, an extension to the deadline and where to send the info...though my guess would be London.
Hope you get things sorted soon!

[kiwieagle]

I really feel for you. I think sks says it perfectly with this:

Better to be thought of as the pushy American but get what you need rather then be the culturally sensitive but passive loser in this scenario. Once your visa is issued, you won't have to deal with your CO again, anyway, and you can practice your adaptability on those better able to appreciate it.

I've felt the same way as you a few times. In the States, I had no problem politely getting things resolved but I often find myself hesitating here because I do worry about being "that" American. However, as sks says, this is your future and you'll probably have to take that risk. Good luck to you.

[PollyLeritae]

Hello again,
I wanted to thank all for the helpful suggestions and most of all the sounding board; the tone and content of the feedback and comments really helped steady my nerves yesterday.
As a point of information, unfortunately, the "back door intelligence" line 01344 716199 seems to be closed now; however, I was eventually able to get through to a very nice communications agent on this number: +44 2035827499 I called on my German Skype line and was on the phone for about 15 minutes and not too terribly expensive (<2€). I'm not exactly sure what happened behind the scenes, but after conveying the circumstances to the communication agent, she told me she would relay my concerns to the London CO, and call me back confirming this had been done (which she did rather quickly).
In the late afternoon I got an email from the CO with further information and and extension, if needed, for the submission of additional data.
The NZ visa application is quite different than that in Germany (as I am sure many people realize) with the latter relying almost entirely on objective criteria and the NZ more subjective and thus mysterious (to me at least, especially coming from Deutschland).
In any case thank you and I will post an update for the sake of completeness when one is available.
Very kind regards and thank you again,
PL

[wellywearer]

great news, glad to hear it's moving forward.
Fingers crossed for the next steps!