Tomsk

I notice that there's been a few recent postings about teenagers heading off to university, so I wondered if anyone else was having the same experiences as us, or if anyone has any insight as to where we're going wrong.

Short story, my 18 year old son has been offered a place at Victoria Uni, Wellington, starting next year. Naturally he was delighted to get the place, & we're very supportive of his decision.

We arrived in NZ on PR visas in June 08, since then he's been enrolled in school, had various out of school jobs, paid taxes, lived a very normal teenagers life. He has left NZ twice on holiday (not even sure that's relevant, they were brief trips, NZ is where he sees his home and immediate future). In May this year we applied for, and got the IRRV visas. Now StudyLink are refusing to accept that he has been in NZ for 2 years because they are only looking at the IRRV, not the original PR, despite them having copies of the PR in his passport. Consequently he's been declined for a student loan we've rung up & spoken to completely charming but ineffectual people, who request further copies of the passport. Son then trots off to WINZ to supply said copies.....and the loan application gets declined. Again!

Quite honestly this is becoming tedious & frustrating. I admit the passport is confusing with his PR & IRRV stickers, plus his entry visas each time & I guess you need a decent understanding of the stamps, stickers & visa rules to work out what's what, but surely it's not that difficult. Quite honestly we can't afford to pay for his university studies....if he's going to go he needs a loan. Is this a common experience since they've introduced the new 2 years in the country for a student loan? Or are we just either unlucky or doing something wrong?

Archangel

Hi Tomsk, I am currently studying at the AUT North Shore and can’t really see why they would decline your application however I do remember when I applied this year to do the nursing degree there were a number of requirement that you had to meet. If you’ve been here for 2 years then you are entitle to apply for a student loan but it could be that your child has not spent enough time in the country to make up the 2 year rule. I am only surmising and I am sure someone will be along soon who can to offer you better advice. You may or may not be aware of this but I also know that all the university’s/study link in NZ will be tightening up their criteria for applying for places and student loans. I was told this by an AUT student services rep this week he also said that up to 5 thousand people applied for the nursing degree at the AUT this year. He suggests that the reason for this is because of the current recession which is causing people to look at jobs that will provide long term security. ! So I guess they can afford to be picky.
I know it’s a little frustrating but maybe try to talk to someone again. It could be that you get someone who understands what’s happened and can sort it out.
Good luck

Tomsk

Thanks for that Archangel, but he has been in NZ for more than 2 years, without any question. From June 08, until now and with no plans to leave, with approx 1 month out of the country in that time on 2 different holidays. The difficulty seems to be that StudyLink don't understand the visas.....we've been told by them that his PR was cancelled by the IRRV, & that therefore he's not eligible. Our next step is to contact NZIS & ask them to confirm that he's been in the country for that time & is eligible. It just seems to be a case of introducing a new rule that will, by it's nature, affect immigrants....but then not having an understanding of the immigration process.