[Moorf]

As you know, I'll be applying to sponsor my parents to NZ. What I want to know is - can I lodge the application here in Chch for them or must it be done from the country they are living in at the time it's being processed?

I just wondered whether, as I'm applying to sponsor them, it could be done in NZ as, from our experience, Chch processing office is quick.

Cheers
Moorf

[Mickstim]

Hi Moorf

As a sponsored parent I am pretty sure I am right in saying it has to be done in the country where your parents live. We put in our application in February this year and were granted PR after 11 weeks, so it was a really quick and fairly painless process applying through London.

Let me know if you need any more info on it and good luck with your parents application!

Barb

[Moorf]

Thank you Barb - it's great to have another sponsored parent on here.

I'll PM you with some of their concerns, if that's ok.. :nice1 They won't be putting in the forms etc until 10th March but this year has gone so fast already that they are, understandably, getting nervous.

By the way, I notice that you live in West Sussex - so do my parents - they live in the Findon Valley area on the outskirts of Worthing - where are you?

Thanks again,
Moorf

[KelvinAng]

Hi Moorf,

I happen to chance upon the page on sponsoring parents while looking for some info relating to my own application, and remember seeing that the sponsoring of family is temporarily unavailable. After reading your post I went back to check it out again, just to make sure.

"Under our Family Quota Category a number of people (including their partners and dependent children) may be granted residence in New Zealand each year.

The number of places available under the Family Quota Category is announced by the Minister of Immigration each year. As there are no places available under the Family Quota in 2008, there will be no registration period for the period 1 July 2007 to 30 June 2008."

http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migrant/stream/live/familyquota/

Is there another way for parents to join their families in NZ?

[Moorf]

As far as I am aware, the Family Quota is a type of "draw" or ballot, and it is completely different from the Sponsorship route.

I wasn't aware they were connected, hopefully someone will be along to confirm.

Regards
Moorf

[KelvinAng]

You may be right there. I'll be curious to know this too.

[wiki]

Moorf will be applying under Family Category (Parent Policy) - which doesn't have a limit, as far as I'm aware, and never has.

The family quota is for less close relationships which cannot be covered under the Family Category - ie, not siblings, children or parents, so instead it's there for cousins and more distant ties who don't have the quals or experience to apply on their own and therefore not such a surprise that they're not opening it up this year.

Rest easy Helen! March will be here before you know it :D

[Moorf]

Oh Wiki - thanks for allowing my blood pressure to return to normal! :o

[KelvinAng]

Opps! :D Thanks for the clarification there Wiki. That's good news.

[Mickstim]

Hi Moorf

We would be glad to help you with any info! We live in Copthorne (close to Gatwick) but actually are quite often around the Worthing area and would be more than happy to speak to or meet up with your parents if we can help.

We found getting the paperwork together a bit of a challenge but most of that due to the fact that I needed a S. African police clearance which involved getting fingerprinted and having to find a reliable way of getting it back from Pretoria in our time frame. The rest was really quite straightforward - much easier than having to submit an EOI.

We are just waiting to sell the house so that we can be on our way!

Barb

[Moorf]

Hi Barb,

That's a fantastic offer, I'll PM you.

Thanks muchly!

Helen

[JoanneG]

Thanks for posting this Moorf - I had thought that there was no chance of getting my Mum over so the answers have set my mind at rest as it would really influence my decision to go.

Mickstim - do keep us all posted on your progress and your thoughts about NZ from your point of view - your posts might help me convince my mum to consider the move.

Cheers all.

[Mickstim]

Hi Joanne

Has your mum been to NZ? We have been 3 times and absolutely love it. Add to that the fact that we can buy a really nice house for about half of what we should get for our house here (leaving us a nice sum to subsidise our desperately small pensions) and the fact that we have a son and grandson there, it makes it the perfect place to retire in. When we retire we need financially to downsize as we would not be able to afford the upkeep of our current home here and the idea of life in a little semi doesn't have a lot of appeal.

We did consider Europe but basically would rather be somewhere English speaking and consider ourselves really fortunate to be able to get into NZ.

The downside for us is that we also have children (adult ones of course) in the US, UK and S Africa. With the best will in the world we cannot be where they all are, but do hope they will come to visit often and we will be able to visit them too.

If you want to PM me anytime please feel free - as I don't know what your mum's reservations are!

All the best

Barb

[moppet]

We would also like to sponsor my mum to come and live with us in NZ as my father passed away two years ago and she's now on her own although she has three sons in UK she has little or no contact with them unfortunately. We would have her actually living with us and she would have around 30.000 pounds plus state pension. Is it likely she will qualify to come to NZ and live with us? or is there an issue that she has more kids living in UK than NZ?


Thanks guys

[Mickstim]

Hi Moppet

Sorry to tell you but your mum has to have the 'weight' of her family in NZ i.e. as many children in NZ as in any other country, so she would not be eligible for sponsorship. It's a bummer I know. I have 2 sons in NZ and one in S Africa, so for me the weight of my family is in NZ and therefore it was relatively simple.

I wish I could give you better news

Barb

[moppet]

Hi Barb

Thanks for the info, do you or anyone else know if there are any loop holes that i could use ie coming for 6 months leaving then returning a week later? Is it not possible to take financial responsibility for her permanently and provide private medical care an place for her to live etc so she would / could never be a burden on the country?

Any advice would be hugely appreciated about how i could make it happen

[Mickstim]

Hi Moppet

Unfortunately again they have rules about how much time a person can stay in the country on a tourist visa and I stand open to correction but believe you can only get a max 9 month stay at a time and as far as I know you then have to leave the country for 3 months. Someone else may know that more accurately though. I don't really know any other way around - wish I did!

Barb