sunshine_and_rain

Hi Everyone,
We are in the process of attemtping to sponsor my parents to comelive in NZ - just filling in the forms etc. I wonder if anybody else has dome it?? How long did it tak in total for them to get here? HOw much stress? How did your parents adapt here in NZ? Any feedback at all would be good. Thanks heaps.
Sunshine

poppets

hi sunshine,
i'm sorry i have no idea but will watch the thread with interest, my folks come out to visit a chrimbo (1st visit) & i'm hoping that they will eventually want to come to live, the in laws already want to come & live
godd luck with the whole process
popps

Off2NZ

Hi Sunshine
My sister and I are in the process of doing this at the moment even though I've only been here 4 months but she's been here for 25 years. My parents have wanted to come here for years but until now they've not been able to because there was more children living in the UK than here but I've now evened the numbers up!

My parents submitted their forms (through an agent here in NZ) before we had left the UK in May this year and the agent received notification from NZIS that they'd been received but they would just be "sat on" until we had our PR. the day that our PR was granted NZIS looked at my parents paperwork and they are now asking for other various documents which is good. Our PR was granted on 20th September so they've been very quick with looking at my parents case,I think.

I haven't had to fill out any forms as I'm not the one sponsoring my parents, I've just had to supply various documents to prove that I'm here and am allowed to be!

My parents are actually going to come over on a holiday visa and hopefully complete their residency application from here. (Shhhh don't tell NZIS!) They are prepared for the fact that they may be refused and decided what they will do back in the UK if so. Their house has just about sold and they are looking to be here in a couple of weeks - so excited about this!!!

Not sure if I've been any help to you!

danny.f

Evening S and R. Have to have half or more of your kids living in the country before the parents can move-so I'm in the process of disuading her two brothers from ever moving here-thus opening the door to the in-laws. Good luck.

lardyl

ROFL...... good move???? How about child care/birthday presents/easter eggs/advent cards/woolly jumpers/dodgy fashion items from M&S/odd lipstick stains/etc etc??
Wondering how we will live without the "olds" as the missus calls em....

danny.f

Fair point,it really is. But similar to most,we will probably see more of em 13,000 miles away! We see them about 4 times a year,for about 2 days per go. Now,they'll be over for months! Free babysitting,I suppose.

sunshine_and_rain

Its hard actually. Its harder on the kids than us in many ways. They only have us here, and no one else that loves em like we do to spend time with. I get sad when my kids friends go fishing with Grandparents, or spend time at th beach with them. Grandparents Day at school is always really hard for me - and them, as well. You don't realise how important family, and a sense of 'belonging' really is until you don't have it - by that I mean for my kids, as I already have that imstilled from my childhood and my large family.

Joshlin

Hey sunshine and rain - you have just echoed the exact thoughts that I had when I had one of my major bouts of homesickness - as you say, that thought that other than us the kids have no one else who sees them as that special! We were geographically close to all of my family and the children would stay at nan's for lunch, pop out with their uncle and cousins for a mcdonalds, etc etc - and that you can't replace. My parents come out for their first trip in November, we haven't seen them for just over a year - it will be interesting to see what the relationship is like.
Vicki

Andrew Cross

Me too...I miss just popping into my mums on a Saturday morning with the kids for a chat and a cuppa. My dad always went over the top and wanted to go round to the 'bakers oven' for fresh rolls for lunch. He would talk me into taking my mum shopping and he would take the kids to the park for a few hours and then buy them an ice cream on the way home... I also used to love going to Bingo with my mum the odd night when the telly was rubbish. My parents are both 65 now and are retiring in December, they are coming out for 3 weeks at Easter next year. If they like it I am hoping that they will come out here to live, fingers crossed !!!

sunshine_and_rain

I hope they do too. Mine are finally starting the process. I miss them like mad, and so wish my children had some family here - they have an Aunt here, but she lives in Auckland, and we all lead such busy lives. One of the reasons I stopped coming here was because I got fed up with the "Rosies". If anyone ver says anything negative on her about NZ veryone jumps on them like a ton of bricks, they see NZ through Rose tinted glassed and won't hear a word otherwise!! There are lot of downside to living here - as well as the many many upsides - and this is one of them, missing your family and your kids having that time with their grandparents. Its such a short timeframe that they get that - and its so quickly gone. Then thy are grumpy teenagers and don't want to speak to any family membes anyway! LOL

Apple12

Not having extended family around you is a downside of emigrating practically anywhere, not just to NZ. If you live in a different part of the UK from your parents it can easily be a once a year visit! It is just that NZ is even further away because of cost, flight times and time zones.
This is an obvious downside of emigrating that many people don't realise is important until they have moved. The only solution is to move back to where your extended family live (which is not always easy with jobs and housing to consider) or move your extended family to you as in the OP. Or cope as millions of families have done through out history.

sunshine_and_rain

I can cope, it gets easier with time as well. Its just a regret that my children miss out. Hopefully though, Granny and Grandad will be with us next year

helinuk

I can relate to this re Grandparents not being around. My parents didn't visit often when the kids were small -(no babysitters for me! we only lived 45 miles away- then we went to Singapore when kids were 7 & 10 and they didn't visit us there- (mum was suddenly scared of flying.)
Now we have been back 4 yrs and they visit occaionally,(don't want to drive much now!) so when we said we might live in OZ mother accused me of taking granddaughter away for 1/2 her childhood now 1/2 her teenage yrs!Don't think they'll come to visit or stay in NZ if we are granted visa!

One of my work colleagues wants to join her daughter in NZ but doesn't know how to go about it. Is the info on NZIS website?

Jude J

In my fantasy world, my sister and her family will emmigrate here, followed by my parents as my two other sisters live outside UK as well. Only problem is, my mum has had cancer (been in remission for 12 yrs) and my dad has high blood pessure. Do parents being sponsered need to have medicals? I dont think mine would pass.
But first I have to work on getting my sis, bro-in-law and neices here! They came for hols in February and loved it, I just know that we would spend so much time together especially as our babies are only 3 months apart in age. I have not lived near my family from the age of 19 though so it would be a huge novelty to begin with!

mumomonty

No I like my parent and wouldn't be that cruel to older persons.