[britzy]

we have a child that will require ORRS funding and reading all the information on the nz education pages and this forum .it looks unlikely that we would get this due to her disability.Everything seems so much harder with a child who has special needs, autism in fact. Both my husband and I are assurred jobs, being nurses .We have sent off our police checks and are in the process of applying to the nz nursing council for registration, I would be interested to hear from anyone who has had to apply for funding ,how long does it take? is there a light at the end of the tunnel?. we have our mind set on NZ but it seems so far away now. Thanks to this forum it has kept us going.

[britzy]

OPPS. sorry terrible speller meant to put ORRS funding, .

[incredible hulse]

Hi Britzy. We are currently going through this process at the moment. It has been done for us by Special Ed who write up the report and collate the information from others such as physio, OT, SLT, etc. We are unlikely to get it as we've been told as the budget for this is very small and the 'requirements' are very severe it seems (Our son had a statement in the UK btw but this is not a given to automatic ORRs status). We should know within the next month.

Are you saying this is part of your PR application and a requirement to get ORRS is part of this ? It wasn't for us but we applied prior to the medical change in Nov 2005 I think.

If you don't get ORRS funding there are alternative type of support that your child maybe able to access but this seems very school dependent.

[aggelon]

For us the school applied for the ORRS funding so have no idea it took to come through. It took about the same amount of time for the school to get everything in place as in the UK (i.e. almost forever)

[britzy]

thanks no i am not saying this is part of our PR application , we know that our daughter will need a medical waiver ,due to her disability, we would not be able to come to nz if we couldnt receive funds for her schooling as she couldnt attend a main stream school, so its catch 22 for us.We just dont know whether to risk applying for our nurse registration then jobs then the EOI just to have no chance at all.It is pleasing to hear that other people in a similar situation have managed to get to nz and i am so pleased for them, dont know whether we have fight in us ,done at all here in england all ready.

[jent]

Hi Britzy
We are in a very similar situation, also without jobs. I am still as confused, as you seem, as to whether or not NZ will accept children like ours without ORRS funding, even if they qualify. Does anyone know if we would be able to have our children enrolled at a special school without ORRS funding, if we are able to pay the extra or take responsibilty for therapies out of school?
I would also like to know how you managed to get a student visa for your child when you entered NZ withour PR, just with a work permit? I am busy registering as a teacher and OH farming degree has been accepted, but we are also feeling terribly insecure about going through the whole process, only to be rejected. Wondered if you could go the other route. Work permit, student visas, PR application. They seem to take these things case for case nowadays. ie: how much will give NZ compared to what you will need from them. I have been told that they will often look to see how committed you have been to your child's education. They don't want people who are going to hand their children over and expect the state to take responsibility. Our agent knows the medical guy in Wellington and is sending him all our info beforehand so he can give us an idea of what our chances are, so we don't have to do the whole thing for nothing. I will keep you posted!