Uri and Rinat Meizeles
Never say “ never”…….
And yes we found ourselves, a couple with three children building a new life in New Zealand.
So the story goes like this….
Two years ago, we decided that enough was enough! We couldn’t live the crazy lifestyle of Israel any longer, so we decided to leave.
Are we leaving to Australia?…. Uri’s lifelong dream?
After a brief internet search, we found Advocate Lisa Segelov, sent her an email and met. At the same meeting, Advocate Lisa Segelov placed before us all of our options, with amazing professionalism, and the decision “to go for it“ was made almost immediately. All at once we felt like we had a “mother and father“ whom were going to help us achieve this dream quickly.
Stage after stage we progressed with Advocate Lisa Segelov, collected all the necessary materials and passed all the tests. Advocate Segelov was always there with the right words and encouragement that we were almost at the end of the process-almost there.
And then ……we were leaving Israel with great pain, yet with lots of energy, traveling into the unknown. We decided to leave Israel before we received our visa, as we wanted to enjoy a family trip in New Zealand with a caravan for two months. It was an unforgettable experience. During the entire time we were waiting for the visa to continue on to Australia. We had constant contact with Advocate Lisa Segelov and she updated us constantly. However, there was a terrible backlog in the handling of the files by the Department of Immigration in Australia and we began to feel the pressure of what will be as well as the financial pressure. Then out of the blue it came…… not our visa but an offer for work for Uri, in his profession- a dream come true! There was the getting to know the Israelis in the community and lots of sympathy ad goodwill to help.
After consulting with Advocate Lisa Segelov, we decided to take the work offer and remain in New Zealand for a while. Like a snowball- things flowed and fell into place in the best way possible.
You need to understand that in New Zealand everything is relaxed, slow and organised. The connections we have made with the Jewish community and Israelis are warm and embracing. Our children were accepted to the Jewish day school- all three of them on scholarships. We found a magical house close to many friends in the centre of Auckland.
Our container changed direction and amazingly arrived in its entirety at its destination. We bought a second hand car and second hand electrical appliances so fast that we could hardly believe this was happening to us- in short all went perfectly.
Uri has a work visa for two and a half years. We received it in record time!
Please don’t misunderstand us, as we left behind a large family and good friends in Israel. But with this alone, one can’t put food on the table and send the children to university. In today’s day and age, internet, Skype, Jiga and so on, helps a little with the longing. Also one learns to live with it. What’s important is that we are extremely satisfied with the decision, happy to the end of the world ( and we are living there! ). The children are relaxed and content with their new surroundings and the family that we left behind in Israel very supportive. As far as we are concerned, today the sky is the limit!!!
We are thankful every day for the strength and the courage that we had to make the move and of course we are thankful to Advocate Lisa Segelov and Eti who accompanied us, helped and supported us.
We are waiting for whoever wants to “take the plunge“ with open arms and much love.
Rinat and Uri Meizeles
Please feel free to contact us by email- intchoo@gmail.com