[mikewalkerfrom]

Hiya,
I'm a kiwi returning home with an English wife and 2 kids. I'm heading down the sponser route. Has anyone done this?
Do I need a police certificate for myself in order to sponser my wife and family?
Any tips on this would be great!
Cheers
Mike

[2nd timearound]

Mike - do you have a passport? If so, IIRC you just need to get medical certificates for the wife and ankle - biters

[mikewalkerfrom]

I only own a NZ passport.

Ankle biter? Have you met my daughter? She'll take you leg off at the knee!

[Kiwi-In-Texas]

Hi Mike... I am a Kiwi returning home this year with my husband who is an American. As of November 2007 anyone sponsoring a spouse etc is required
to have a police clearance also.


Hope this helps,

Suzanne.

[mikewalkerfrom]

Thanks Suzanne,

That's thrown a minor spanner in the works.... It takes about 6 weeks to get that in the UK!

Cheers
Mike

[mikewalkerfrom]

You have to admit that's a bit bonkers. If I were a double axe murderer, they'd still have to let me back into NZ as I'm NZ born and bred...

You'd think that the importance would be on the person who isn't a NZ resident. If they pass the police check all should be ok.

Fortunately however I'm not a double axe murderer :nice1

[Kiwi-In-Texas]

Your welcome Mike...It threw a spanner in the works for us here in America also.


Suzanne.

[2nd timearound]

Is there not a 'premium' service offered by the police for character assessments? Fast-track the check for a few more quid?

[mikewalkerfrom]

Not according to the Hamshipe constanbulary.

"Following this, you should expect to receive a response from the National Identification Service in approximately 4 weeks, although the process can take a maximum of 40 days. Unfortunately, due to the number of application received, the NIS are unable to fast-track any applications"

[Kiwi-In-Texas]

I agree with you Mike...I was rather annoyed about having to get an FBI check to be a sponsor as well... My husband had his FBI check in hand and then we had to turn around and get one for me as well...However if that's what it takes to be able to return home with my husband well so be it...Can you put on your request for the police check that it is for Immigration purposes and give a date when it is needed by to speed up the process? You can with FBI checks.

Good luck,

Suzanne.

[James 1077]

Thanks Suzanne,

That's thrown a minor spanner in the works.... It takes about 6 weeks to get that in the UK!

Cheers
Mike


Shhh, don't tell anyone but you can get them in a couple of days by emailing acro.policecertificates@acro.pnn.police.uk and then sending off the application form that they email back.


However it will cost you £70 for each certificate (and yes, you need one for you).


This is all totally above the board as well as I was given this address by someone from NZ House when I asked if there was a quicker way of getting the police certs.

I sent the email on a Monday, posted the form special delivery on Tuesday and got the certificate back on Friday morning - so it is a little bit quicker than the "40 day" method.


Keep it secret though as, for some reason, it hasn't been well publicised so they must not want people knowing! :-)

[mikewalkerfrom]

You gotta love this forum :yes

Thanks James!

[James 1077]

Mike

Have you got a job back home or are you heading over there and hoping to find one?

I'm also a returning Kiwi (although returning is a little strange to say as I left when I was 2) and my wife and I decided to head over to NZ after the birth of our twins 11 weeks ago.

I've got myself a job in Auckland and am really excited about going back home!

[James 1077]

OK, now that I'm at home I've been able to dig out the application form and have attached it to this post; cost is £35 for the standard service of 10 working days and £70 for the premium service of 2 working days.

You also need to get passport photos signed by teachers/lawyers etc and get a copy of your passport and 2 utility bills / bank statements.

So all in all if you aren't in a rush then the £10 normal 40 day service is probably your best bet but if you need the certificate urgently then this is your best bet.

With respect to the application form I've had to get rid of the pictures on it in order to get it down to the right size for uploading but otherwise it is the same.

[mikewalkerfrom]

I'm really excited about heading home too. I've been out almost 10 years living in GB and Ireland. I may have a job lined up, it's under negotiation... fingers crossed!

Even though I'm from Paihia, we're heading to Christchurch. I'm in IT but couldn't face living in the hussle and bustle of Auckland again which I did for 5 years before heading over seas

Are you sorted job wise? Have you got a move date? Our house has just sold so it looks like we're moving end of March start of April.

[James 1077]

I've got a job in Auckland all sorted with a start date on 1 April. Hopefully we'll have the flat sold by then but, if not, then I'll probably go out by myself and my wife and kids will follow. If all goes to plan though then we'll head over in the middle of March.

I had a job offer from the same company in Wellington as well which I would have preferred but my wife is a London girl through and through and Wellington is just to small for her! :)

[mikewalkerfrom]

Sounds good! I've had enough of big busy cities. My wife specified "city" but wasn't fussed on the size! (And we liked Christchurch when we were looking around NZ). I think I'll be expected to start work at the same time.

It took me an hour and a half to get into work this morning (less than 18 miles). I could walk from one side of christchurch to the other in that time (including a stop off for a cup of coffee)

Good luck!

[James 1077]

Got in from work today to see that the babies have been granted their NZ citizenship and we now have passports for them.

So now all we have left paperwork-wise is Eleanor's PR to come through.

Of course we also need to sell the flat, confirm with new work which mover to use and get them to send me the tickets but that doesn't seem as much of a hassle than getting the paperwork sorted! :)

[mikewalkerfrom]

I'm assuming your kids were born in the UK. How did you get them registered and how long did it take to get their NZ passports?

I've not thought of that route for the kids, I was going to wait until we'd lived in NZ for a while...

[James 1077]

It took about a month from sending the forms in to getting the passports back (but this did include Christmas as well).

Details of what to do are here (http://www.nzembassy.com/info.cfm?CFID=10367395&CFTOKEN=43535719&c=14&l=56&s=nz&p=572) and here (http://www.citizenship.govt.nz/diawebsite.nsf/wpg_URL/Services-Citizenship-New-Zealand-Citizenship-by-Descent?OpenDocument).

You can apply for citizenship and a passport at the same time which saves some time.

This sort of citizenship means that they can't pass it on to their children (unless the kids are born in NZ) but they can get full citizenship once they have been resident in NZ for some time (I think 5 years).