[marshanite]

We were advised by the agency that has found Hubby a job, to arrive in Auckland on a visitors visa. They will then arrange a work permit for hubby very quickly, however, they have said that they will be getting student visas for our twin girls. As I read it, student visas would require us paying international fees for nursery/primary school - not an option on an NZ salary. We are already looking at a large GST bill on our furniture/container due to following this advice.

Should I tell them to forget the students visas & concentrate on getting PR as soon as possible?

Fi.

[wilson182]

How old are your girls? You need a student visa for primary/high school. As your hubby will be on a work permit, getting a student visa for the girls will mean that you do not have to pay international school fees - but you will have to pay the school "donation" which everyone has to pay and will depend on which school you send them too (you would have to pay these even if you had PR) and of course you will have to pay for the student visas themselves. If the girls are in higher education, then I believe you do have to pay international fees.

[marshanite]

Thats fantastic news as we can get them into Kindi fairly quickly. The girls are 4 yrs old, so will be starting school at the beginning of 2009.

Very helpful post Debs, thanks again. Fi.

[wilson182]

Someone may correct me on this, but I think you are getting bad advice tbh. If the girls are only 4 and attending Kindi I'm pretty sure you don't need a student visa until they start school - which will be 2009, and by then you will probably have PR anyway. My daughter didn't get her student visa until April 05, but she had been attending pre-school since Oct 04. Are you using an immigration agency or an employment agency (silly question probably)

[dharder]

Thats fantastic news as we can get them into Kindi fairly quickly. The girls are 4 yrs old, so will be starting school at the beginning of 2009.

Actually, they'll be starting school in November 2008 (November was their birthday, wasn't it? :)

But even that should give you enough time, if your OH has a job, to get a work permit and student's visa sorted out before school starts.

As far as Kindergarten is concerned, I don't know if you need a visa for that at all? But you will have to check if there are waiting lists where you are going to move to, they can, depending on the kindergarten, be quite long.

Daniela

[marshanite]

to Deb and Daniela. That is good news - looks like I was stressing unnecessarily on this issue, although I don't like the sound of long waiting lists for kindi :no .

They are an employment agency, so we don't pay them anything (actually they have arranged a 'relocation allowance' - ha! doesn't come close...).

Thanks for your input girls. Look forward to meeting you in Auckland Daniela.

Best Wishes, Fi.