janj

Hi - I'm posting here to ask some advice from you great people in NZ

We're an expat family in the US and our 18 year old daughter is applying to do a GAP year through a UK organisation in NZ. She'll be having a telephone interview early next week and then may get some choice in where she ends up living and working (probably in one of many schools all over the country).

Apparently she may be given some choice in where she goes, so what would you guys recommend? North or South island? Any favourite cities? Where would you have wanted to go as a teenager for a year? Are there any unsafe areas to avoid?

Thanks in advance for any advice. She's very excited at the prospect

Gill and Rob

Depends on what she likes doing in her spare time, skiing? water sports? shopping. My personal shoice would be somewhere like Rotorua {I'm biased as we live here}, where your daughter can experience more of the Maori culture. 33% of the population here in Rotorua is Maori, another area with simmilar demographics is Gisborne. Defiantely more for her to do in Rotorua however.

If you want any more info, just send a PM.

Cheers
Gill

scottish

A friend of mine spent his gap year in Nelson.... he travelled a bit through the South Island but for the majority he fished, surfed and chilled out in his wee rental...... he had a ball!!!!!!!!!!!!

JAJ

Hate to put a potential damper on things, but what's her status in the US?

If she is not a US citizen then she needs to be careful to ensure she is allowed back into the US after spending time in NZ. Are you green card holders or temporary residents?

Jeremy

janj

Thanks for the replies - we do have greencards - I was anticipating having to request a reentry permit (?) for her to be out of the country for so long......I'm actually kicking myself for not applying for citizenship for the whole family years ago, but in all truth we've only been sure we wanted to stay for the last two years, despite having greencards since 1992! New Zealand sounds so beautiful - I'm starting to save already to be able to go visit her!

Gill and Rob

Hello
So where has she decided to go to?

Gill

JAJ

So she needs to be very careful. There are two risks:

- she can lose her greencard. She definitely needs a re-entry permit and must abide by its terms. Even with a re-entry permit her 'residence' must be in the US and she must file for US federal taxes as a resident.

Re-entry permits take time to process.

- even if she keeps her green card, she may find that when she returns to the US, she has to re-start the 5 year clock for naturalisation from scratch. There is a facility to apply to preserve continuity of residence for naturalisation purposes but she may or may not qualify.

A consultation with an immigration attorney may be in order.

A lot of people in early adulthood lose their permanent resident status because their time overseas takes longer than anticipated. Have you thought about putting the gap year 'on hold' until you sort out US citizenship?

Or she could do a gap year somewhere in the United States.

If you want to ask further about the Green Card, re-entry permit and naturalisation issues, post on the US immigration forum.


Jeremy

janj

Thanks for the info, Jeremy - we'd hate Hannah to lose her greencard, so will proceed cautiously. She won't be leaving the US until June '06, so there is plenty of time to do things the right way, I hope. I'm definitely going to post on the US immigration forum too.

Gill, she still hasn't had her 'phone interview - hopefully that will happen this week. I'll let you know what options she has! Thanks for asking

JAJ

See what they say on that forum. However the 'right way' may involve putting off any plans to spend time overseas until she obtains US citizenship.

There are so many sad stories of young people just like her losing their resident status. As you're discovering, not having US citizenship closes down options in life.


Jeremy

Pompey_Paul

Queenstown...................deffo