ma larkin

A while back i remember reading a post from a family whose child had a speech problem (can't find the original thread.) We are now in a similar situation. Ready to submit ITA but worried about the possible delay/ knock back this may present. He is 4, just started school and has a mild delay which has improved dramatically over last 6 months. Paediatrician has discharged him last week (and kindly wrote us a favourable report of his progress) He does have funding for minimal support at school which may not be repeated at annual review because of his good progress. Thought all would be hunky dory but today attended Manchester expo where INZ informed us that they may not consider us if it is deemed he may need further support at school. Dont want to fork out for medicals and INZ costs if the answer will probably be no.
We are both professionals with 135points but no job offer as yet, though husband actively looking now.

Any advice gratefully received thanks

Ma Larkin.

mark and kim

It was my family. My daughter has speech and language delay and went for speech assessments 4 times per year in the UK. She didn't really have any other input. She is 6.
Well we have been in Wellington for 3 weeks now and we have permanent residency. My daughter is enrolled at the local school and they seem unconcerned about her speech. She loves the school and is having a great time.
When we submitted our ITA our immigration officer contacted me after about 10 days saying there was a problem and that my daughter's medical has to be sent to a medical asessor. With our ITA we sent some info from daughter's speech and laguage therapist which said she would need further input in NZ - it seems this sentence was the problem. We then had to wait 2 weeks for the medical assessor to get back to us and say we had to get a paediatricians report. This took a few weeks to organise and then we had to wait 2 weeks while the report was sent to the medical assessor again. My daughter's medical was then cleared by the assessor so we were granted PR. I have to say it was a very stressful and worrying time. Although it probably only delayed our application by 6 weeks the worry was that we might not be given the PR. And without that we weren't going. NZIS's concern is that daughter would cost the NZ education system and health service money. The laugh about it is that although the UK therapsist has advised that daughter needs input here we would have to pay as there doesn't seem to be any service available otherwise so we won't be costing NZ health service anything.
So I don't know if reading that has helped you come to a decision. Every case submitted to NZIS is considered individually. From the postings I received others on the forum seem to have got by without the speech/language issue being picked up on. So I can't tell you what the outcome will be but you won't know unless you try.
Good luck with your decision/application. I know exactly how you feel so PM me if I can help at all.
It is lovely here and we are settling in well

Kim