[Qiwi Lin]

My husband and I are looking for jobs so we can apply for work permits and then once we are in NZ with jobs, apply for PR immediately. Here is what we were wondering about and thought we should ask on the forum:

We are trying to have a baby. what if I get pregnant before the PR comes through? What should we do for our medical expenses before we become residents? I mean can we get ourselves insured and will it cover maternity care expenses? How is the medical care in NZ?

Thanks

[tick tock]

I think you will find that you are only intited to state medical insurance if you have more than a one year work permit or are PR. PR can take several months to come through, as can work permits.

Insurance companies require that you have a valid visa before they will insure you. They ask for full details of any previous problems. Some if not most will have a period of exclusion for pregnancies...ie you have to be isured for a period of time before they will pay anything towards costs in having a baby.

Travel insurance nearly always excludes pregnancies.

[Qiwi Lin]

Thanks for the info. That would be quite a pickle if I'm pregnant with no insurance.

Also, can anyone let me know where I can find information about how much maternity care could cost in NZ?

[The Hodges]

Also, can anyone let me know where I can find information about how much maternity care could cost in NZ?

Did anyone answer this, apologies if they did. If not see here http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=746&highlight=maternity+care and good luck with everything.

[neilw71]

Sorry to be a bit brutal - but why not just wait until you have PR and are settled? It does come across in your posts that you want to have a child here to gain in some way (apologies if I have mis-understood you), but I maybe wrong to say that even if a child is born here and the parents do not have PR, the child is not entitled to an NZ passport.

Neil

[Qiwi Lin]

Sorry to be a bit brutal - but why not just wait until you have PR and are settled? It does come across in your posts that you want to have a child here to gain in some way (apologies if I have mis-understood you), but I maybe wrong to say that even if a child is born here and the parents do not have PR, the child is not entitled to an NZ passport.

Neil

We have been trying to have kids and our first attempt ended in a miscarriage (ectopic) and I had to be rushed to the emergency room. My OBGYN has advised me to make sure I have proper monitoring to ensure nothing goes wrong or if it does, that it can be dealt with, without repeating what happened last time.

We would just be extremely stressed and worried if we didn't have access to good medical facilities when trying to get pregnant in a new country.

I know that our child will not be an NZ citizen at birth unless we have PR. But that is of little consequence. Basically we want to move to New Zealand and also want to have children. Both of these have no relation to each other other than that we would like to accomplish both with the least stress possible.

Thank you everyone for your help.

I found the page to the Ministery of Health website had the answers to my questions.