10 years? No... more like 14....
Before we got married, Jan had mentioned NZ. Then after we were married a few months, we went to one of those seminars to just check it out. But we weren't really ready then for a big move - too newly married, and Jan's dad was ill and needed us nearby. Then 3 years down the line, a friend went to California, and phoned us a few months later saying Jan should come over and try there. He went on a two week holiday, went for an interview, but didn't get the job, cos they'd taken too long to make decisions... but the bug bit. The USA was so "1st world" in comparison to life in SA. So for a year, all I could hear was "This works better in the USA, that works better...". Eventually I sat him down and said, "we either make our happiness here in SA and you shut up about America, or we leave this place." We then discussed seriously where our future was going, and decided that SA didn't have much to offer for either our future or that of our future kids. So then we talked about USA or NZ. We decided USA because it's bigger, more choice, and stronger economy. Took us a year to get there after making the decision. We landed with a work permit for Jan and nothing for me (accompanying visa - they're not so nice as NZ or Canada that still gives the spouse an open work permit). We tried for years to get our PR (known in USA as the Green Card). Finally in January this year, we heard the whole application had failed. It took us two seconds to decide on NZ at that point. From there to us arriving in NZ with PR in our passports was 6.5 months.
We celebrate our 14 anniversary this December 16th.
