Et innlegg om inntektskravet i det norske famlieinnvandringsvisumet

http://www.nrk.no/ytring/rike-gutter_-det-vil-gamle-norge-ha-1.12389820

A tribute to New Zealand’s family friendly immigration policy

Today I am the very happy recipient of a permanent residency of New Zealand. Here are some of my thoughts as I reflect on what this means to me.  

Taranaki, where my husband comes from. 

Firstly, I am relieved. This residency means that I can live with my husband “‘til death do us part” without applying for another visa (except for extensions when my passport expires). It is nice to end our series of visa-applications with a sigh of relief. 

Mauganui, where we escape to when we need to see the ocean.

Secondly, I am grateful. I am grateful that family means a lot in New Zealand. It was not hard for me to obtain this permanent residency. I was granted it because I am married to a New Zealander, and because I have lived here for more than two years on a temporary residency. These family-friendly immigration-rules reflect a beautiful aspect of New Zealand’s culture: namely that family is important. I could say a lot about this (and I expect I shall do so in a later post). For now I just wanted to say that because family is greatly valued in the New Zealand culture these values are also reflected in the immigration laws.

NZ sunrise to symbolise hope.

Thirdly, I am also hopeful. I hope that Norway too may enforce family-friendly immigration laws in the future. Currently, Norway’s family immigration laws works like this: a visa for your foreign spouse is based on how much money you earn rather than on the genuineness of your family connection. Though it is not intended this way, such laws sort of say that in our culture money is more important than family. However, knowing the sincerity of the politicians back home I need to give the Norwegian immigration system the benefit of the doubt, and conclude that this surely is not the values held by the majority of the members of parliament. This is why I can also be hopeful, because now that they are aware of this I know they will use the first opportunity to change the laws.

Vi har fått en baby!

I starten av januar ønsket vi velkommen til en liten gutt. Vi gikk og gledet oss i hele fjor, og andre januar ble han født her på New Zealand. Vi tilbrakte mye av den første måneden på sykehuset siden han ble født noen uker for tidlig, men nå har vi endelig fått lov til å ta han med hjem. Det er så koselig.

Hverdagshelter! Ja, absolutt hverdagshelter.

På dagsrevyen i går kveld ble politimannen som hadde ordre om å utføre arrestasjonen av den såkalte "tolken" betegnet som en hverdagshelt. Dette rørte meg, og minnet meg også om vår egen historie om avslag på søknad om familie visum. Jeg er enig i at det norske politiet er en tropp med hverdagshelter.

Kortversjonen om vår helt egen politihelt.

I juni 2012 kom avslaget som vi hadde ventet på. Min mann fikk brevet fra UDI om at hans sponsor (meg) ikke oppfylte underholdskravet, og at siden han ikke hadde særlig tilknytning til Norge måtte forlate Norge innen 3 uker.

Vi hadde som sagt forventet et avslag, og hadde derfor allerede kjøpt flybilletter til New Zealand (min manns hjemland). Blemma var den, at vi hadde billetter for 2. august, mens min manns utreisedato var bare knappe to uker før dette. Nederst i brevet til UDI stod det at dersom det var nødvendig å utvide utreisedatoen, så kunne man spørre om dette ved nærmeste politidistrikt.

Vel, jeg ringte til Søndre Buskerud Politidistrikt, og fikk en myndig røst på tråden. Etter å ha forklart historien, og fremlagt mitt ærend, fikk jeg det fantastiske og medmenneskelige svaret, som lød:

"Vel, sist jeg sjekka, så var'e meg som var Pol'ti i "denna" by'n, så da er'e vel meg som kan godkjenne "denna" henvendelsen".

Noen dager senere kom brevet med stempel som forklarte at (siden vi allerede hadde billett ut av landet) var fristen for utreise utvidet til 3. august. At politiet er hverdagshelter? Ja, de er absolutt hverdagshelter.

For, jeg elsker jo dette landet

200 års jubileum!

En grunnlov.

En uavhengighetserklæring.

Et folk.

En nasjon blir stiftet.

Det er undertegnet.

Det er bestemt.

Det er loven.

Loven gir oss frihet.

Loven gir oss rettigheter.

Loven passer på oss.

Den beskytter oss.

Den hjelper oss

Å bygge samfunn.

Samfunnskunnskap,

kunnskap om hvordan vi lever sammen.

Å leve sammen.

Å leve.

Vi lever nå

til døden skiller oss ad.

Å bli utvist.

Utstøtt.

Ut.

Eksklusivitet.

Elitesamfunn.

Elitesamfunnskunnskap,

kunnskap om hvordan vi stenger andre ute.

Min, mitt, mine.

Min lov.

Mitt land.

Mine landsmenn.

Løven holder øksen i hånden.

Den er klar til kamp.

Den kutter bånd.

Familiebånd.

Familie…

Familien er historie.

Historie.

Tid.

Telefontid.

Tidsforskjell.

Når passer det for deg?

Å ja, ungene har kanskje lagt seg.

Men vi kan jo ikke gi oss.

Vi prøver i morgen.

Skal vi «skypes» på syttende mai?

Ja, det gjør vi.

Kanskje du kan rette kameraet mot TV skjermen,

så får jeg sett toget på Karl Johan.  

Karl Johan.

En svenske.

Svensker.

Nordmenn.

Hva er jeg?

Hvem er jeg?

En eks-nordmann?

En eksil-nordmann?

Nei, jeg elsker jo dette landet.

Jeg er en landsmann.

Furet og værbitt gir godt grep.

Jeg slipper ikke taket så lett.

Jeg fatter nytt mot.

Mot morgendagens Norge.

Med de tusen hjem.

Hva gjør det vel med tusen og ett

hjem til?

Et hjem til meg.

Et hjem til oss.

En drøm.

En fin drøm på vår jord.

Ja, hårde tider har vi døyet,

ble til sist forstøtt,

men kanskje

frihet blir oss født?

En drøm.

For, jeg elsker jo dette landet. 

"Fjernsyn" (et dikt om å bo i utlandet)

Nå ser vi igjennom glasset 

hvor vi vokste opp. 

Der våre barnsben løp, 

og hvor vi lærte Herren å kjenne. 

Der snøen vitnet om den kommende hvile 

og våren om det evige liv. 

Der solen kom frem om sommeren 

og der natten varte den lange vinter. 

Å, den iskalde luft! 

Våte regndråper duftet av de mange sommerkvelder, 

av fjord, mygg og brennesle. 

Syrin og rips, morelltrær og måker. 

Fremdeles ser vi de mange fjorder 

og de høye fjell, 

men nå kun bakom en myriade 

av firkantede farger og lyspunkter. 

En illusjon!

Liksom ørkenvandrerens hallusinasjoner. 

Det er fjernsyn. 

Det er ikke lenger ekte. 

Det var. 

Liv Ahie, 2014

One Year Today

Today I have had my temporary residency for one year!

Experiencing Neurological Strangeness

As a student of psychology, I have a particular interest in neuroscience. I continue being very intrigued that, as I think, my brain "moves". That a single cell can "jump for joy" upon getting activated by a particular thought, is something I cannot easily forget. Unless of course, my brain cells stop getting activated, and I forget. 

Anyway, even more exciting than reading about neuroscience is having personal experiences of strange neurological phenomena. I recently had two of these occur, and as is good research practice, I shall hereby note these down. I shall call the first phenomenon: "What English shall I wear today?", and the second shall be called: "Carrying dead weight". 

#1 What English Shall I Wear Today? 

The other night, as I was exhausted from another day of speaking English, I had what almost felt like an epiphany. Suddenly, I had words to describe what speaking English felt like. I realized that speaking English feels remarkably similar to wearing clothes. Now, that is a strange comparison (hence the title of this post). But, speaking English feels exactly like wearing clothes. Now, as there are many types of clothing, there are also many types of English. There is the formal English, that I use for work, and when I meet new people. There is the English that I speak with friends, who speak the local dialect. This is a bit more casual, and I can wear it comfortably for longer than the formal English. However, there are even more comfortable levels of English. There is the English that I speak with friends who have their mother tongue somewhere in Europe, which makes it even more comfortable. And then, finally, there is the English that I speak at home. Now, some days this English is barely English. Rags, I think is a good description. But oh! It is so comfortable that I can wear this English all pretty much all day. Remarkably, my mother tongue feels nothing like wearing clothes at all, but simply part of who I am. Strange aye! 

#2 Carrying Dead Weight

I became aware of the second phenomena the other day, just after speaking with my brother back home for a little while. He asked me: "Little sister, have you forgotten your mother tongue?".. Oh no! It is just not very well trained at the moment, I could reassure him. However, this experience, made me realize a strange fact. That for most of the time, I am not speaking Norwegian, or even thinking about the things that happen in Norway, or smelling Norway, or using my knowledge about Norway... etc. All these Norwegian-neurons have absolutely nothing to do all day, and must be getting rather fat and under-exercised "up there". The conversation in Norwegian suddenly stimulated gigantic amounts of dead brain weight. To describe this experience, I picture the following scenario: I picture a very inactive army base (the brain cell base), which had it's last big assignment more than a year ago. Now, when the red light flashed suddenly in the barracks, calling all brain cells to report, they were so unfit that the old saying rang true: "Mouth was in motion without brain being in gear!"

The story of the student that fell in love with more than just the green islands.

http://www.studenttorget.no/index.php?show=4618&expand=3796,3930,4609,4618&artikkelid=12755

Here is an article (in Norwegian) about the student who went to New Zealand, and quote: "fell in love with more than just the green islands."

Life at 6 months

First of all, and for my records, today I have had my temporary residency for exactly 6 months. This is strange and so awesome! It is awesome because it means I have not actually thought much about visas and expiration dates and moving for such a long time. Instead, this means I have been spending much of my time studying, and here are some photos that have been snapped while preparing for the upcoming data collection. Also, on the sheep side of life, another lamb was born yesterday at the farm. We like to call him Koura Tipua (Golden Giant).

'

A day was spent reading speed gun manuals and charging batteries.

The material box, which sat so empty for a long time is definitely filling up. Almost time for data collection! 

Starting on the last half of B-semester!

Date-Break in the University Library 

Before this year started, we braced ourselves for what we would later refer to "the year of the married students". Six weeks before my husband reaches his finish line at the university, we are starting to feel the strange blend of excitement, nerves, and really a lot of tiredness. Some reflections at this point. Though busy, and poor, 2013, the year of the married students, has insofar been a happy year. Though, there have been many normal and perhaps uneventful everyday-days, we have been given pleasure in many of them, to which we are so very grateful. Today, spring commenced here in NZ - a little friendly reminder that after winter spring does indeed come!

One Year Since Norway... One Year in Aotearoa!

Such a momentous anniversary seems worthy of couple of momentous words. These are my favourite:

"..he made from one man 

every nation of mankind 

to live on all the face of the earth, 

having determined allotted periods 

and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 

that they should seek God, 

and 

perhaps 

feel their way toward him 

and find him..."

Acts 17:26

A very blue New Zeland June tune

New Zealand June
should be the name of a tune.
For a New Zealand June
is quite cold and full of gloom.

For, while the grass may be green,
the skies, they are grey,
And, while the mountains are white,
the fingers, they are blue.
Oh a New Zealand June!

There are raindrops on the window,
but alas, they're on the inside.
There's a wind-gust from the door...
or is it coming from the floor?
Oh a New Zealand June!

So, let us sing a little song,
through a winter that is long.
It might help to keep us warm,
or at least, it does no harm
in a New Zealand June.

One month in...

A student's desk

One month out of twelve has already flown by. What have I done? By the looks of it, readings.

That time of the year again

Oh, it’s that time of the year again, and I feel a strong need to write. Not a news-paper article this time. But a blog post. A little ‘blip’ on the radar from the little island far, far away. 

I don’t know why it has become this way, but June seems to have become the month where life changing events take place. 

5 years ago, in June, I moved to New Zealand. That is probably one of the craziest thing I have ever done in my life:

June 2008, First week in New Zealand

4 years ago, in June, I stared dating a New Zealander. Maybe the second craziest thing that I have ever done!

June 2009, "Last week" in New Zealand

3 years ago, in June, was just horrible! (My husband can vouch for that). I guess that explains why there are no photos...

2 years ago, in June, I had one of the most exciting times in my life. My New Zealand boyfriend finally was moving to my home country!!

June 2011, Dad taking a photo of us

1 year ago, in June, my home country asked my New Zealand husband to leave.

June 2012, Packing up to move to NZ (again)

This year though… nothing! As another June comes around, we find ourselves puzzled, and surprised, and relieved that, it seems (at least at this stage in late May) that nothing special will happen this June! 

Our news article. Thanks bro for getting it published! 

A photo journal from the national day

A peak through the window to the lunch buffet in our home.

Smoked salmon, and smoked ham were the stars of the show.

Two flags in a pot. 

I am not entirely sure why we do this, 

but I saw that the crown prince and his family did the same, 

so it must be a legit tradition.

Outside our window it is now autumn.

Inside, the marching bands which are thousands of miles away 

bring the sound of spring into our home.

The wonderful thing about having 17th of May in the autumn in New Zealand...

Fejoas! 

A foreign,

but very fabulous addition to this traditional celebration.

The best thing about having 17th of may in New Zealand...

My husband :-) 

Hipp, hipp, hurra!

It is coming up to 17^th of May! A date that holds a special significance for many Norwegians (me included). On this very day, just one hundred and ninety nine years ago, our forefathers got their own constitution and even a random king!

Here is a photo of some of my forefathers:

Back left: My great, great grandmother. Back right: My great, great, great grandmother.

Front left: My grandmother. Front right: My great grandmother.

This momentous occasion was not really celebrated until a couple of poetic guys rocked up and gave fiery speeches and wrote poems and songs in the mid to late 1800s, one of which was to become our national anthem. 

One momentous 17^th of May was in 1906, when for the first time in history, the king and queen joined in the celebrations. My great, great, great grandmother was 57 years old that year (Whereas she would be about 75 years old in the photo above).

Another very sweet 17^th of May celebration happened in 1945, just 9 days after the second world war had ended, and peace had been declared in Europe and much of the world.  17^th of May celebrations had off course not been allowed during the time of the occupation, and so I think it held a special significance to many Norwegian grandparents (mine included). 

To me, a very sweet  17^th of May celebration happened last year when I finally got to show my husband what the fuss was all about. 

Here is a photo of my husband and me getting ready to celebrate: 

Why do I write this? 

Well, my wise auntie once said that "some occasions suit big words", and so, as another  17^th of May comes around, it seems fitting to write a few words of history, and so to share in the tradition of speech making which started the whole thing. 

Gratulerer med dagen, kjære gamle Norge!

52 weeks & a whole lot of words

Tomorrow will be the first of  many days devoted to reading, writing, and researching. I look forward to this new journey, full of challenges, defeats probably, a lot of fun, and hopefully some helpful results.Tomorrow a thesis commences!

Visa Expiry: Indefinite

I am a NZ resident!!!
I'm looking for the right words to describe what that feels like, but it is not so easy. Joy, relief, excitement!!

Thanks guys!!! Now, for the venture ahead!

I redefined this blog one month ago in order to make it the space where I document my visa application history. I had expected it to be a much longer ordeal, because of our experience back in the motherland. Instead it was a super sweet experience! Kia pai mai hoki, Kirikiriroa!!! We are so happy. Thanks to everyone who has helped support our application in some way or form. You are very well appreciated and loved! From here, the blog must perhaps again be redefined. Perhaps as we venture into the next chapter of our international life, there will be more stories to tell? :-)