To say that I buggered up the immigration paperwork for our trip to New Zealand would be an understatement. That is what I get for doing most of it on my own. In all fairness, the Immigration NZ website is a somewhat confusing to negotiate, and the crisscrossing paperwork, website instructions and mailed instructions, left a few holes for me to fall through. Fotunately after some hasty phone calls at the San Francisco airport, a delay with immigration at the Auckland airport while some of our bags disappeared, and then three days of working with immigration officials on two different hemispheres, we were able to become legal visitors to NZ.
For those interested in visiting or working in New Zealand, here is the Immigration NZ for Dummies that I wish I had before leaving. If you only plan on visiting, you can stay for up to six months. You will need to have a visitors visa and evidence of a planned departure date and finances to be able to afford to leave. If you plan on working here less than one year, you need only to apply for a work visa, which does not require a police or medical certificate. If you would like to work for more than 12 months, you and all members of your family older than age 17 years, will need a medical certificate including a chest xray and blood work and an FBI (police?) certificate to be eligible for two year work visa. Children under 17 years require a medical exam, and blood tests and chest xray only if recommended by a physician.
Ultimately the lack of an FBI certificate would be our downfall. I diligently followed the written instructions, that failed to mention US citizens needed an FBI certificate as a police certificate. If I would have scrolled to the bottom of the online instructions, I would have found the required steps to follow for contacting the FBI. The Bend Police Department was excellent in quickly producing certification that neither Kim nor I were criminals. On an international level, I guess the Bend PD doesn't rank as high as the FBI for security clearance. More on this at the end of this post.
The Immigration NZ medical certificates were the closest thing I could find that may equate to preexisting condition screens undertaken by the majority of US health insurance companies. New Zealand as an island nation, is protected from arrival of undocumented people due to the dangers of travel on the southern ocean or need to arrive through airports. Subsequently, its government has chosen to reach beyond its borders to verify the health and productivity of anyone who may want to remain in the country for an extended period of time. Since people who qualify for a work visa longer than a year are eligible to covered under the NZ public health system (yes we get to pay taxes in two countries this year), INZ is tasked with verifying the health of immigrants prior to arrival.
While much less invasive than any preexisting condition paperwork required by the US health insurance industry, the Immigration laws are very helpful at limiting medical expenses for New Zealand's medical system. For a two year work permit, you must:
1. Be aged 25-55 (productive working age and less likely to have developed long term medical condition)
2. Show offer of employment and income (higher socioeconomic status generally equates to better health)
3. Confirm no history of long term medical conditions that require expensive medical treatment (yes, diabetics receive an unfortunate drubbing worldwide)
4. Admit to your smoking, alcohol or drug use (you oughta see the cost of cigarettes over here, good on you NZ!)
5. Have blood work verifying that you do not have HIV, Hep B, syphylis, renal or liver failure (decreases country wide infectious disease risk)
6. Have a chest xray that does not show evidence of active tuberculosis (guess I didn't just learn about histoplasmosis in Minnesota, I acquired it. Nice granulomas. Hope that preexisting condition legislation is enforced before I have to reapply for US health insurance.)
I found all this an interesting lesson in how the cost of healthcare amongst a population really starts at the border. Something the US health insurance industry has known and more aggressively enforced over the years to protect their profit. Now that health reform has passed in the US, I wonder what the next step will be by the insurance industry. Perhaps building fences through the desert?
The process reminded me once again that I married up. You see, the first trip to Wellington INZ, I was on my own during a break from the orientation session with NZLocums. The very pleasant INZ Officer that day, took one look at me, and only pushed the exact same stack of applications that I had already sent to London toward me. Telling me to fill them out again. Dejected I left. The next day, with Kim accompanying me, and not having completed any additional paperwork, the officer smiled at Kim and kindly processed our visas!
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