simonmarkellis

I sent an Email to NZ immigration yesterday asking whether under any circumstances they consider an application for sponsoring a family member without having to wait the three year qualification period. They replied and said yes, they consider it on a case by case basis, but in order to proceed i'd have to submit a 'request to waiver' the three year requirement for consideration. Whilst i wait on them over this weekend to explain what they mean by this, I thought i'd ask if anyone here knew anything about this? I can't find anything on their website...

Stoof

good on you Simon! sorry, can't be of any use on the 'request to waiver' as i too have been unable to find anything more detailed on the website! (am almost relieved to find it's not just me!!)

simonmarkellis

I'm gonna go in next week and ask them...

UKNZAUS

Oooh this is handy to know Thanks

simonmarkellis

So of i pop to the Immigration Offices in Wellington with email response from NZ immigration in hand which stated I had to submit a 'request to waiver' form in order to proceed with sponsoring a family member before completing the three years qualifiation period. I waited my time in the queue and when called forward asked the polite lady behind the desk what was ment by submitting a 'request to waiver'? She was as puzzled as i was so departed for further knowledge. On return she said that a more senior official had stated that there was no such thing. I would have to wait the three year period, then added that I could apply, which would then be rejected and then appeal against the rejection submitting mitigating circumstances. Okay i thought, bemused and confused i headed back to the office... Still not happy on how to proceed i logged back into the immigration website and updated the question i had submitted requesting clarity on the two pieces of advice i had been given... low and behold I get a response with a third piece of advice... Submit the application with the mitigating information and if succesfully your happy and if not... well you'll have to wait the three years...

So does anyone have any big arse and elbow stickers I can send NZ immigration. WHat i though was a fairly straight forward question has given me three answers...

[1] Submit a request to waiver to see if you can apply early;
[2] Appeal after initial rejection of the application submitting mitigating evidence;
[3] Apply as normal submitting the mitigating evidence...

Perhaps i should start a poll and together, collectively decide which way I go...

Stoof

pants

J said you'd not had great experiences with NZIS!

i wonder if someone else could try emailing them and asking the same question to see if any common answers come back - i'll volunteer to do it once we get there, but we've not got our passports back yet!!

Stoof

hmm... have been googling various forms of waiver and sponsor parents... past my bedtime now but will continue looking tomorrow! there's got to be some more info out there somewhere!!

simonmarkellis

Sleep tight!!!

BEVS

I've spent some time going through the NZIS operations manual and can't find anything about this at all. There is certainly no form for this.

My guess would be that NZIS do regularly receive requests from people wanting to waive the 3 year waiting period for the sponsorship of family members overseas. As far as I am aware NZIS are obliged to consider each request . They cannot just bin a request because it doesn't fit the criteria. It has to be a case by case basis. Rather like the medical and character waivers . The immigration officer receiving the application to waive the 3 yr waiting period would have to refer this for a 2nd opinion etc.

If this is a correct theory, then the way to go could be to submit the sponsorship application as clean cut and easy for the NZIS officer as possible and with that send in a complete weight of mitigating circumstances.

If rejected then I suppose it would be onto the Residents Review Board but that could also lead to another rejection. Would you really want to do all this?

Couldn't you have your parent utilise the multiple entry visa to spend as much time with you as poss .

simonmarkellis

Thanks for that Bev... a big issue here for my Mum is the fear of the unknown! She doesn't want to be in NZ on a Multi-entry visa with a property back in the UK standing empty... as she needs the money from the sale of the house to support herself here. If she sells the house and comes over on a multi entry visa and after 3 years qualification period for what ever reason they say no... she might not have the money to go back to the UK and support herself there. She'd much rather apply now see what they say, if it's yes then all good and great, sell the house and over she comes..., and if it's no wait till August 2010 when she can be sponsored officailly, then we can try and put other things in place... if that all makes sense...

BEVS

It makes total sense . I can fully understand your Mum not wanting to have the house left empty for any length of time. My husbands uncle, who lives with husbands mother and watches for her, if you know what I mean... well, he wouldn't leave their house in Wolverhampton empty for any length of time at all.

I think the main difficulty that some of the 'older' generation have is with any possible medical conditions. I dunno how old your Mum is or how her health is.

What would you think to use as mitigating circumstances if you don't mind my asking. Just being nosey.

If your Mum wants to give it a go, then why not ! As you say, in 15 months time you can officially apply anyway.

simonmarkellis

Hey Bev,

The situation is that there are three siblings. My sister and I live in New Zealand (so COG is over here) with just my brother back in the UK and all the grandchildren are over here as well. My brother has also in the UK just lost his job and as a result isn't in a position finacially should anything happen to my mum be able to assist, especially as he lives in Birmingham and my Mum in Kent! She has also having now been out twice to see us all decided that with all the grandchildren over here prefer to be here as well. My sister will have three years in as a PR in August 2010, so by the time they get things sorted you'll only be looking at under cutting the qualification period by less than a year.

So in short, mitigating circumstances... COG in NZ, all grandchildren in NZ, sole sibling in UK not able to finacially support mother, both familes over here, better equipped to assist and support her in her remaining years (She'll be 79 this August)...

Simon

directjinxy

new zealand immagration department seem to have diffrent rules for diffrent people..i had no end of problems with immagration..but well nz is a nice place to live..beats england man

Stoof

BEVS - thanks for the link to the RRB - this was my task for tonight!

i've just spent my short lunch break having a quick squizz at appeals under family cat for 'sponsor not eligible due to not residing for 3 years at time of application' found a few (in fact, 24 pages!!) - links here for the most recent

http://www.residencereviewboard.govt...Family+(Parent)

http://www.residencereviewboard.govt...Family+(Parent)

http://www.residencereviewboard.govt...Family+(Parent)

http://www.residencereviewboard.govt...Family+(Parent)

http://www.residencereviewboard.govt...Family+(Parent)

http://www.residencereviewboard.govt...Family+(Parent)

http://www.residencereviewboard.govt...Family+(Parent)

http://www.residencereviewboard.govt...Family+(Parent)

there are loads of Centre of Gravity appeals on there too, for those of you with COG issues!

given that all our personal circumstances are so different, i think it would definitely be worthwhile having a look at the RRB site BEVS has linked to - there are explanations on there about how to search for decisions etc - the links above are just to the abstacts, but there are full decisions there too - very useful!

worth a look Simon i think before deciding whether to try an early application or leave it until next year! (a proper review of these decisions will be on my (ever lengthening!) list of things to do in the next few months)

Paula2007

Hi Simon

I and my husband have just visited New Zealand House in London in March 2009 and handed in our application for a Parent Visa. Our son is sponsoring us as he has been a resident in New Zealand for OVER 3 years. We have two children and our daughter is also a resident living in New Zealand. So 100% of our next of kin are living in New Zealand as residents.

A week later we received a letter from New Zealand Immigration in London which basically said that it could take up to 2 years before we are allocated a Visa Officer and then a further 4 to 6 months before a decision is made. These Visa's are given low priority.

We were very 'down' as like your Mum - we want to be with our two children and our grandchildren in New Zealand not in England. WE want to support them, look after our grandchildren etc., just like your Mum does. We are just WAITING!!!! Our life is on 'hold' and we are just counting the months/years before we hear anything.

I know of another couple, also living in the UK who are in the same boat as us and they are in their early 80's and as someone else said on this post, your health does not get any better as you get older. The medical is very strict and I was recalled back for one of my blood tests, we both lost nearly 3stone in weight before we had our medicals (we had a long time to do this as we have been planning our application for quite some time). My waist measurement was 1cm too big so I had to have an extra blood test!!

I did ask at New Zealand House how our medicals and Police Checks could possibly be accurate if our application is not looked at for 2 years and they said "it would be" - this seems really odd to us. Who knows what things you could develop unknowingly in two years?

We have never heard of this 'Waiver' if you find out what it is - we would be very interested to hear. It is not in any literature that we can find. They just told us that these applications are taken in strict application order. Surely all people applying for Parent Visas would apply for this Waiver if they knew how to get it?

The other couple in their 80's also got the same standard letter as we did and there is no mention of a 'Waiver' in this letter.

Paula