[walshy]

Hi, my father is 84, if my wife and i qualified , would my father count as a dependant and also gain entry?

thnks in advance.

[JandM]

http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migrant/stream/live/parent/canisponsormyparent/

Here is a link to explanations of the regulations for getting your parents to join you in NZ. The basic rule is that you can sponsor parents after you have been a permanent resident for three years, and there are other conditions as well.

[walshy]

Thanks, it says 3 years, if i gained pr, would they be soft maybe as he is 85 and potentially in his last years, as 3 years obviously may be too long, although for 85, he is in good health.

Is there any scope to name him as dependant, like a child? Even though he has savings and a good pension here.

[JandM]

There are so many of us who wish there was some way the rules would be 'soft'. (Big sigh.) But I don't think so. No, a parent can't be a dependant. The one thing I can think of that might ease things for you is this. http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migrant/general/generalinformation/qanda/mulitpleentry.htm The parents'/grandparents' visa would allow him to be in NZ for six months at a time, up to a maximum of eighteen months out of a three-year period. And/But I notice among the questions on this page that he could have had a nine months' stay on a visitor's visa immediately prior to applying for the parents'/grandparents' visa. So if you used BOTH options, he could spend quite a long part of your first three years in NZ with you, even though he'd have to leave the country in between. And once you'd been there for the three years and got your PR, you could sponsor him for PR in his turn.

This depends on your father being in good health and spirits and happy to manage for himself in between being with you in NZ, of course. I've sent you a PM.