 Welcome back to my YouTube channel guys. Today we have Chantel. We haven't seen Chantel in a while and I thought I'd have her on because they have been approved right for a visa to live in New Zealand. So just so you know, they've been to like over 100 countries and they're picking New Zealand. So it's pretty great here. And so if you're thinking about moving here and want to get some information on where to start, I thought I'd cover that in this just brief video today because I get this question probably like about five times a day. What do you do? Let me just overview what you do. If you're thinking about moving to New Zealand, you need to start with the New Zealand immigration site and you go on there and there's like a little quiz that you can take to figure out how many points you have, what visa options are available to you based on where you're coming from and what your skill set is and what kind of skills they're looking to immigrate to New Zealand. And so that's where you start. And if you have any questions about that, I'm happy to help just reach out to me, email me or whatever. And that's what I do. I help people figure out all those details. But it's best if you go on the site and figure that out what visas you qualify for before you contact me because that's where you need to start because it's always changing and I'm not able to give necessarily immigration advice, but I can kind of steer you in the right direction. And so I get so many questions about visas and everybody's situation is so different. So a lot of people just book a time to talk about it with me. But I thought I'd have Shantel on here today because I'm having so many more clients that are doing the entrepreneurial visa or doing the investor visa or all different types. And I just think it's helpful to have and hear other people's experiences getting a visa. So thanks for joining us today. Nice to be here. Yeah, so good. So Shantel, you came when you, it was like COVID. Why don't you tell the story? Yeah, so we came on a holiday as you do when you come to New Zealand and we were locked down because of the pandemic. So we were happily stuck here, I say. And we thought it was maybe three months and two years later, we were still in New Zealand. So after being here this long, you kind of get immersed into the culture and you discover the country. I mean, we fully discovered it from Cape Reanga, which is the very north all the way down to Stewart Island, which is the third island that a lot of people don't really know about if you're overseas. Yes. There's not just the north and the south. That's true. So we visited the country. We fell in love with the people, the landscape, the culture and just its beauty and kind of what New Zealand is all about. And so it was like an easy process. We were like, I think we want to call New Zealand home one day. Yeah, like they got stuck here. They loved it. And now they want to apply. Like she said, like we've been to many countries. So we know, like we've seen a lot of government systems and we've seen a lot of different things and we really could appreciate everything that New Zealand has to offer. So we thought, okay, what are our options? And where are you originally from? I'm originally from Canada. Okay. Our governments are very similar. They operate similar. Our healthcare system similar. And we're dual citizenships with Switzerland actually. So very different. Switzerland's very, very different. So and you have long story short, we were trying to see what our options were. And so when you're first coming to New Zealand, obviously, if you're in a trades or a job that's like in need, that's an easy visa to get because they need skilled workers here. Or if you're younger and you want to just do that working holiday visa is a great, I think it's 35 and under for that one. Yeah. And that was kind of neat too, where you can work and kind of see the country. But they do want you to stay in one spot. I spoke to a lot of the like different farming people and they don't want people just to come work for a week and then go and travel. They want people there to really help them in their business. So normally like in the winter, those people on that visa will stop and work for a couple months in one location. But it's a really great end for you to come into the country and meet the people and get some contacts because getting a job here is all about who you know. And so if you can come in here and like make some contacts and then maybe they can sponsor you for a longer visit, it's just much easier to extend your visa to get more visa options once you're in the country. So for us, it was a little different because we're entrepreneurs at heart. So we own a business. We run businesses. That's what I've been doing for my whole entire life, essentially. And I grew up in a family business. So it was natural to not want to have a job and plus for digital nomads. So we want to travel and having a job doesn't kind of equate to being able to have that lifestyle. So we decided to do what's called the entrepreneurial work visa. So essentially, you just kind of go through the process. We did it without any help. So we did it ourselves. But we had the confidence in doing that because in the past we did that to live in the US for a while. And so we paid expensive lawyer fees. We've done that whole process once and we realized, and this isn't the case for everybody, okay? But I'm just saying from our perspective, we realized that all they did was literally give us a checklist. This is what you need to do. And we gave it to them and they prepared it nicely. They did a good job preparing it nicely. But we can prepare things nicely too. No, and that's a really good point because my clients are always asking me, can you recommend an immigration advisor? And I go, my first line of recommendation is that you don't need one. Wow. Everything on the website is all that you need. Like you actually don't know. Of course, like you said, there's circumstances and situations and some people's personalities, they just prefer that. They just have that extra, you know, because it's not an easy country to get it. In fact, as an American, it's probably one of the hardest. Wow. Yeah. And you do have to make sure that you check off every single box. Now I'm saying that, like you just said, everything's very clear, very concise. And once you have started the application, you have an assigned officer who is working with you. And the biggest difference in misconception would be like you would feel originally as when you're applying. Oh, they're going to be working against you, but it's the opposite. They're working with you to make sure you have checked off all those things and you have given them the details they need so that they can make their decision. And so they work back and forth. They call you on the phone. You have access to the phone number. You're speaking to them. You're emailing them. And they'll just, you know, it was a long process because they go back and they go forth, you know. Yeah. And so that's what I really want to make clear. So like I work with so many people that are applying for it. Now in order to apply for it, it's like application, you have to submit a business plan, right? Yeah. There are other things that I'm not, okay. Yeah. Is that it? No, like, yeah. There's a lot to do. There's a checklist of things to do, but I get so many Americans like afraid to just submit that. Like, have I thought of everything? Have I put everything in the business plan that they're looking for? Do the best that you can and submit it because like she said, they just work with you. If you forgot something, they'll say, hey, can we get more details on this? Yeah, go more in depth on that. Right. And so it's like, you're trying to understand what they're looking for and there's just no way that you can. So you do the best that you can and then don't worry about it because they'll just work with you at that point. Yeah. And then also, yeah. So it's this specific visa, it's a one-year visa and then you have to make sure you're not overestimating what you're going to do and then you have to meet certain requirements and prove that you have taken the steps to do what you said you set off to do. And then after that, you get extended for two years and then after those two years, they really analyze and check that you've done all those little things to be able to extend it and eventually have. So then do you get a resident visa after that? You would. You would. So after the two years? Three. Three years of meeting the requirements. And then check out two and so there's different options too. I mean, some people can do it differently. So that's not just the only, but this is what we are doing and what we have done. So yeah. Okay, cool. Yeah. I like, I end up recording myself throughout the whole journey of it and eventually I'll come out with a video that kind of explains more in detail of like all those things. Because like when you're doing it, it's very likely it took us a whole year from start to finish. Oh really? Is that including working with the guy? Yeah, the whole thing. The whole thing. Okay. Before it was like completely submitted and then you get that one year. That means you get that one year at that one point. Okay, cool. So yeah, sorry. I didn't say this in the beginning. This is Chantel with Growing Up Without Borders. So you can check out her channel. I'll put it in the description and yeah, so when she has that video when she's probably done with the process. Yeah. Yeah. It'll be interesting for people just to see what it was all through because I filmed even like submitting the documents, like all those little things. Yeah. Oh, that's why I like doing all the health checks, like all those things. Do you think it helped you that you lived here when you were going through it? 100%. Oh, okay. Because most people aren't going to have that really an option. Yeah. I mean, it's just like you do, I feel just the proximity just in general when you're in your mindset is proximity, you know, because you're here. But it's not necessary. Yeah. Yeah. You can just zoom or whatever. Yeah. This is what we do these days, right? Yeah. No, no, no. They really work with you. So I really, I was really impressed and like, you don't, it's approachable. Like, I don't know when you're working with, I'm not going to pick on the US, but when you're working with US immigration, it's scary. And they're like, I mean, I did this a long time ago, but like they didn't get what we did. They didn't question it was just kind of like over the, and they're just, you feel like you're just going to get a stamp yes or no approval. And it was like, here's like, let's work together. Right. And so that's what I feel like Americans feel when they're applying. They feel like it's going to be that. Yeah. And it's not. And so it's just an introduction to the culture is what it is. And so that's cool. So, so you were immigrating from Switzerland to the US at some point or was it Canada? Canada. Canada. Yeah. Okay. And then you went through that whole process and then what kind of visa or green card or whatever. Back then I had an L1 visa. Oh, an L1 visa. Yeah. So we brought our company because we were living in Florida as digital nomads. And we had our girls in school and such. And the US started hassling us like as a Canadian. It was really funny. So I got stuck for three hours at the border and question like, what are you guys doing here? Are you working? Yeah. And so then I was like, Oh gosh, this is getting, you know, scary. Like what if I get not able to come in and Tyler was with the three girls, they were really young at the time and I was trying to get in and they wouldn't, they said, this is your last time coming in. So I was like, okay, let's do a proper visa so that we can stay. And it was great because then we were allowed to have our girls in school for the full 10 months. And then just, you know, go back. So before that, the digital nomad was supposed to be okay, but people weren't familiar with it. It was very gray. Like, are you working? Are you not? Are you allowed to be working? And then you, you know, how many days? Because then your taxation changed. So it was like all of that, right? Okay. So then we just made it, okay, like, I'm going to be an employee of my company and we're going to register there. And then, but then it was like never certain because it was like, are they going to approve or disapprove? And you get this like feeling. And how long did that practice take? Do you remember? It was like, It wasn't, I feel like it wasn't that long. It wasn't as long. But then when they go to renew it, that's that whole pressure, like, are they going to accept it? And do they understand what we're doing? They're going to find some little reason to not exactly. Like, we all know if you're a very, you know what we're saying. And it's just like, you feel like you don't, you're never really part of, you know, essentially, and to be honest, not to be mean, but we never really, that wasn't never our intention to be there long-term anyway. Yeah, right. Yeah. So it's okay. It's okay. Not like New Zealand. So yeah, okay, there we go. So does your visa, sorry, I'm just curious. It still lasts? Like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. No, we're back to normal. No, no, it's like, once it's expired, that's it. I see. And so that was a renewal that you were talking about. Okay, cool. Well, I so hope that this video was helpful to you. If you have any questions about that, please post below and like, just share your experience or, you know, kind of what you're going through. Feel free to book an appointment with me. I'll put the link in the description as well. And I'll see you next week. Bye.