Entry Date: 16.04.2021, at 19:16:50 hrs (local)
Cook Strait - Mana - Whangarei
Simply Apply Online (continued)
| PRID: | 12191 |
|---|---|
| LegID: | 330 |
| LegNo: | 78 |
| Latitude: | S041°06.08' |
| Longitude: | E174°52.08' |
| Day#: | 1055 |
| Log (Total): | 54417 nm |
But there was still the issue of the payment: During the process of applying online for certificates of good conduct at the BfJ, we were not only informed that we would need an ”Apostille” for New Zealand, but also that it would be attached by the Federal Office of Administration (BVA) and that we have to pay a fee of 25.00 Euros each.
As you already know, Lutz is chronically suspicious. In this case, he asked himself whether the BVA might simply leave our certificates lying around until we have paid the fee. So we google the contact e-mail address of the Federal Office of Administration (BVA) and ask by e-mail how we can pay that fee.
The reply e-mail from the BVA then explains to us: Quote ”As a precaution, I would like to point out that a sent via courier Foreign Office to a German representation abroad may take a few weeks and we have no way of tracking this shipment. I always recommend shipping to a German address and then forwarding it by the recipient in Germany by courier (UPS, DHL, etc.) to your home address in New Zealand. ”. However, our question of how we can pay the fee was initially not answered.
Great, the New Zealand immigration authorities will probably lose patience with us beforehand.
So we write back to the Federal Office of Administration (BVA) and inform them that we want to follow their recommendation and ask them to send these two certificates of good conduct (with ”Apostille”) to the address of our friend in Germany. We ask again how we can pay the fee.
Done? No, no, that would be way too easy.
We again receive an e-mail from the Federal Office of Administration (BVA) and it reads: Quote ”We can only change addresses on the instructions of the Federal Office of Justice (BfJ). Send an e-mail requesting a change of address to the Federal Office of Justice (BfJ). Unfortunately, we only send certified documents by cash on delivery, in this case the recipient will have to pay the fee of € 25.00 per ”Apostille” when they are handed over by the postman. ”
So we write another e-mail to the Federal Office of Justice (BfJ) and request that they please instruct the Federal Office of Administration (BVA) not to send our two certificates of good conduct to the German embassy, but to the address of our friend in Germany.
Then there was silence because of Easter holidays.
A few days after Easter we finally receive a copy of an e-mail from the BfJ to the BVA in which the BVA is asked to send our certificates of good conduct to the address of our friend in Germany.
It is almost unbelievable, but a few days later our friend received not only the certificates of good conduct without an ”Apostille”, but also those with an ”Apostille” and only a short time later we received the scanned PDF documents by e-mail from our friend.
Here in New Zealand we don´t even need to print the documents. All we have to do is upload these PDFs to our online account with the New Zealand Immigration Service.
The very next day we received an e-mail from the immigration authorities that they have received our certificates of good conduct. But there is still one problem with the certificates from China. We are asked to hand in a statutory declaration each that we have not committed any crimes in China. The declaration was written quickly and a notary who had to certify our signature was also quickly found nearby.
We scanned these certified statutory declaration yesterday and uploaded them online to our account with immigration authorities.
Today, the very next day, we finally received an email from the immigration authorities, confirming that our application for an extension of our visa for further 6 months has been approved - Was easy, wasn´t it?
