I am such a DISASTER

hbunting86

Hi

Goin to use this space to empty my head about what's going on in my life at the moment and maybe get some other peoples perspectives as I'm really at the end of the rope with things at the moment.

Basically I left the UK in 2010 and came to NZ and started a PhD in 2011. Fast forward to April 2012 and I had to re-apply for my student visa. I did this, and immigration stuffed up by only granting me a 6 week visa despite having my medical documents, all fees paid etc - apparently the hold up was that my uni hadn't paid the tuition fees but when they had this would be changed to a full year visa. In September I get an email from my uni saying my immigration status is 'unknown'. I immediately called immigration and it seems they lost all my files and never uploaded anything to the system so technically I was an overstayer. Since then I've paid for and resubmitted everything, and Immigration have had my documents for about 6 weeks before FINALLY deciding to look at them and process them. HOWEVER my uni have now got involved and threaten to withdraw me and my scholarship here as I still have to wait for INZ to rectify things.

Basically it's a huuuge mess and I'm on the other side of the world questioning whether or not its still worth it. I've used all my money paying immigration fees, so literally I'm living off what scraps of money I have to eat and have no idea how I'll make rent next month. My whole life things seem to go wrong - I fall from one disaster to the next without things ever clicking into place.

What saddens me is I'm halfway through my PhD and doing really well at the research side of things. It's just the rest of life I suck at. Anyway I don't know if anyone has been in a similar situation or anything, but I have no idea what I can do to sort this out.Anyone from NZ will know the immigration system is worse than the Gestapo.... they make the Nazi's look like a box of fluffy kittens.

My fear is I'll be kicked out and then I've got nowhere in the world to go... life really shouldn't be like this.

Zomoniac

Sounds like a painful state of affairs. First off, not sure why you declaring that you are such a disaster. The situation is, certainly, but it's out of your control. No point blaming yourself. Alas I can't really be of any practical use other than to say don't wait and keep your determination and perseverance. If they say it'll be six weeks, call every day for a progress check. Harass everyone all the time. I've never been in the situation so have nothing more to add, but feel free to rant at me anyway, it can be therapeutic.

hbunting86

Thanks... it's just hard with the uni blaming me and not supporting me at all in this. Immigration told them off for effectively employing an overstayer, so they're taking it out on me by withdrawing me and cutting me off completely with no support either in getting immigration on side, or in a financial sense. I'm here on my own too with no family so it kind of makes it doubly worrying as I have nowhere to go as a contingency plan - much the same if they booted me from the country, I've got nowhere to go in the UK. Kind of ridiculous for someone who on paper should be pretty sorted in life.

SeaRunner26

Sorry to hear about all the trouble you're going through. Working with government institutions can be extremely aggrivating. So often it seems like the folks there just don't really care and only want to follow procedures. I hope you can work things out and can finish up your education. It would be such a shame to lose that accomplishment because of a paperwork error.