New Zealand Working Holiday Visa for Malaysians

Travelling is fun. But what make it less fun for a working-so-hard-and-struggling-to-earn-and-save-money-for-travel person like me is when we need to think of the money we have to spent for travelling.

When I was a teenager, I always thought how nice would it be to go some place, the other side of the world, maybe Italy, Australia, India or Egypt, live there for long enough to learn their culture etc. Well I wasn't a really good student, so studying oversea with scholarship option was totally out of plan. Then I thought, maybe I could just work so hard and save a really huge amount of money and then take a year off to go for a holiday. But well, I don't think this could possibly come true if I don't earn high enough yearly. Or at least not in near future.

But few weeks ago, I came across a scheme that I think is made specially for people like me - the New Zealand Working Holiday Visa for Malaysian. The scheme was introduced by the government of New Zealand to give opportunity for people from several countries in the world including Malaysia, to apply for a working-while-travelling in New Zealand. This scheme enables travelers to visit New Zealand and permitting them to supplement their visit with work.

The visa applied under the New Zealand working holiday visa allows foreign nationals i.e Malaysian to work temporarily in New Zealand for a minimum of 12 months and a maximum of 23 months. This would allow the working traveler to maintain their financial fund while spending their time awing to the beautiful scenery of New Zealand.

However, there are some rules on Malaysian applicants' eligibility set by the New Zealand government as follows:

• You must have a Malaysian passport with at least three months validity after your planned departure from New Zealand
• You must be at least 18 years old and not more than 30 years old
• You may not bring children with you
• You must hold a return ticket or have sufficient funds to purchase such a ticket
• You must have a minimum of NZ$2,250 available funds to meet your living costs while you are in New Zealand
• You must meet New Zealand government's health and character requirements
• Your main intention of the visit to New Zealand is for holiday, working will be the secondary intention
• You have never been approved for a visa under a working holiday scheme before 

A quota of 1150 places are available each year to Malaysian citizens under the New Zealand Working Holiday Visa for Malaysian. The application for 2013/2014 was opened on 22 January 2013 and is already full. The application for 2014/2015 will be opened for interested Malaysians in January 2014. Application for the New Zealand working holiday scheme can be made online through the New Zealand immigration website.

This is such a good offer for those who want to travel to New Zealand, isn't it? Well, if you love traveling, learning other culture, people, food and enjoy viewing beautiful and breathtaking scenery of New Zealand, why don't you give it a thought? Visit mynzworkingholiday.com for more info. You might find one good experience that you will remember for the rest of your life. ;)

My first postcard by Pic Collage

As some of you might know, I love collecting postcards. I always send postcards to myself from places I've been to, and ask friends and families to send me one too when they're travelling. Besides, I join Postcrossing because I think it's a great idea to have us sending and receiving postcards from random people from all over the world.

Sending postcard to myself from Krabi, Thailand

Umrah 1434H

Alhamdulillah .. Allah granted us the opportunity to fly thousands of miles to become guests of His home, Baitullah, once again. The happiness and joy that can't be described. The pounding and nervous feelings still arise, more over when it was nearer to the departure date. I went to the Umrah trip with the two most important person in my life - my mother and my husband - and with my aunt and her family. 

We departed to Jeddah by Saudi Air on Saturday 16 February 2013. We spent three nights in Madinah before we go to Makkah. 

Masjid Quba'

The first and oldest mosque in the world - built by prophet Muhammad s.a.w

One of the hadith on Masjid Quba':

"Prophet Muhammad s.a.w said: Whoever makes ablutions at home and then goes and prays in the Mosque of Quba, he will have a reward like that of an 'Umrah."

(Hadith is reported by Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Al-Nasa'i, Ibn Majah and Hakim al-Nishaburi.)