[us-expat]

Hi All,

My sister wants to move to NZ but it doesn't look like this is possible. She lives in the US and my parents also live in the US. The immigration site says because she has family in the US I can't sponsor her? This seems a bit silly to me. She really wants to move here, is there anything I can do to make this happen? She's mainly in sales so it's not like it would be easy for her to get a 'sales' job and work permit. If she was in I.T. that would be easy. Not sure what to do she's getting upset :(

[Annierobrigado]

hello us-expat

i don't know if this will help you at all, but what i understand from the nzis website is yes, you can't sponsor your sister if your parents are still living in the same country she is. however, you can sponsor your parents as long as you meet the requirements, and your parents also have to apply for residence visa.

if you wish to sponsor your family under family category, the best although runabout way to do it is to sponsor your parents first, and then your sister. she however can apply on her own as skilled migrant, and she can claim points for having family in nz.

hope this helps. i don't usually understand all that nzis says, but asking them over the phone is also confusing to say the least, coz not all officers answering the phone know the guidelines by heart. the best we did was to read and interpret the website guidelines as simply as they are written out.

good luck!
annie

[Avalon]

Thats my reading of it also. In fact - its what Ill be doing in about 18 montths. As I understand it (and I could be wrong - cos my dweeb case officer is not being too bright at confirming things at the moment), I need to apply to sponsor my parents in, and then I can ppretty much straight away sponsor my Brother.

It works on the center of gravity, Ie. Where is the bulk of the family.

I dont suppose your parents would consider a move???

[becca]

Hello,

I have just done this and yes, the others are right. I could only be sponsored under adult child/sibling in the family category, if I could prove that all other members of my family were living permanently in New Zealand. I had to supply birth certificates for them all and then proof of their residency status and then finally proof that they live there permanently, ie. tax bills, bank statements and rates demands. They were very strict about all of this. On top of this I had to have a job offer and my Dad had to sign his life away promising to support me.

Hope this helps.