garni

Hi- My husband and i have NZ residency. We came back to the UK for a while and now have a little one we will return to NZ with, in Sept. It only just occured to me that we will need to sort her visa/residency out. From searching it seems it will cost £800 is that right??? seems such a lot. We need to do the form 1000 plus a sponsorship one. Can anyone advise. I mean could she just go on a holiday visa to start with and we sort it out there or is it best to do it while here?
Many thanks

Sherlock Holmes

Hi there and welcome to the forum.

Can't answer your question I'm afraid but wanted to say hello to you as new member.

Could be all our 'experts' are in bed now, so you may not get an answer for a few hours yet.

Enjoy B.E.

garni

Thank you for the welcome!

Persephone

I've had a quick look and it costs 800pounds in the UK but $930 to apply in NZ. The medical will probably be cheaper in NZ as well. So yes much better to get the residency visa in NZ.
However:
It would depend on how long it takes to issue. If they typically take longer than the 6m visitor visa then it's probably not advisable.
Also what about the need for anyone on a visitor visa to have a flight out of NZ?. Obviously the baby couldn't fly out alone and would need an adult to travel with her. Could this cause a problem at check in on the way over to NZ? The parents would not need this flight as they have residency but the baby would yet the baby's flight is useless without an adult. Hope that makes sense!
Plus you arrive in NZ with a visitor that cannot leave by herself voluntarily, how would immigration assess that? They might accept an explanation that you will be applying for residency or they may not.
I may just be looking for problems that will never be an issue but best to check prior to arranging everything!

Hopefully someone will have had experience of this. If not then it may be better to consider contacting NZ House in London or emailing NZIS. You would also need to check when booking flights whether they will allow the baby to forgo the necessary onward flight. It's the airline that gets into trouble if they allow travellers on without the requisite paperwork. Or just do it in the UK.
Sorry I can't help much

MrsFychan

does the cost of a return ticket, if required, and lack of stress about outweigh the money side of things.?

Persephone

Just had another look at the NZIS website, it looks like you can only get a residence visa for a dependent child if you are in NZ.
http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migra...ck/default.htm

So why do they have fees in pounds? Time to confirm with NZIS directly unless someone can answer this. It may be you have to go with the baby as a visitor and then apply.

trafford

I just started a thread on this topic without looking - and realise we are in a similar predicament (although my "baby" is nearly 15). I have been told that you need to be living permanently in NZ (with relevant proof) before applying for a dependent child visa. About a year ago I rang that infernal £1 per minute UK phone number for the NZ embassy, and they gave me poor information - saying I needed to apply before I left the UK. But when I asked Immigration when I was in NZ, they said I could not apply until I was actually living back in NZ - the exact opposite to what I had been told by the NZ embassy in London.

garni

Yes i think i will try and ring the nz embassy in nz this eve to seek advice. I guessed she would have to have something but 800 pounds seems incredible for a little person though. As 'persephone' said they may make an issue of it when we get to nz if she only has a visitors on a single ticket so i guess we night have to trump for a return for her which seems ludicrous if we dont have one!
I will see what they advise tonight and hope its not a pound a minute like the uk one! Thanks for the replies

garni

Thanks for taking the time to look this up- will call tonight to confirm

garni

Just to update- i called nz immigration in nz and they said to get her a general visitors visa (form 1017) and to put a covering letter in saying she will be on a one way ticket and that we will sort residency when we get back. If i'm honest it still sounded a bit vague but i am going to do it and see what comes back!

trafford

Glad you got something sorted. Also glad you did some leg work for me! Now I know what to do if we end up coming on a one way ticket! Good luck. When are you planning on returning btw?

garni

We return in Sept. Very mixed feelings leaving here with a toddler! Having slept on things last night- have just had a thought that its all very well the nz office saying send a covering letter with the visa application but if i am sending it to the london office and they had a completely different idea on things- goodness knows what will happen with it!! I dont really want to send the passport to nz unless i have to- will let you know the outcome Trafford!!

garni

Ok so i printed off relevant form for visitors visa 1017 and my daughter needs a limited medical as her parents are already residents- which still involves using a panel doctor 40mins away and £115 ! so hope i am getting this right.

hellsbells7070

Hi there,

I just wanted to tell you about my similar experience.

My husband and I are both british and have NZ residents visas.

We went back to the UK when our son (who was born in NZ) turned one a couple of years ago. We went throught the same process as you, deciding if we needed to get him a residents visa (he has a british passport as we we not residents here when he was born...crazy!) or to leave it and bring him back with us as a 'visitor' when we returned to NZ after the holiday.

I rang immigration many times and got different opinions on many occasions.

In the end we decided a residents visa would not be necessary (upon the advice of the Immigration department) and a visitors visa would suffice.

How wrong we were!

When we arrived back in Auckland, after a 36 hour flight, we were retained by immigration officers and were told that our son (who was one!) could not enter the country....even thought he was born here!

We were held for a very long time whilst they made enquiries about our immigration status and finally they issued him an emergency visa which was valid for only 30 days. We were told that we needed to apply for and recieve his residency visa before the emergency visa expired.

Thankfully, we had already started the application before we left on out trip so the visa came though in enough time.

My advice would be to get names of people you have spoken to in immigration and keep a log of dates and conversations to use as evidence if you need it when you arrive in NZ.

Good luck, whatever you do!

garni

omg- thank you so much for your message- i was worried this could possibly happen! The London office said to get residency for her, the nz office said a visitors visa and yet stuff i have read says that you cant even get them residency if you are not in nz!! Its madness- now i dont know what to do!!
The NZ office also said that we shouldnt do it before we go incase there is not time (we leave in 5 months!) ???
I will ring the nz office again tonight and get a ref/name etc- to be honest i'd rather do it in nz because of the cost but at the same time i will worry the whole way back!!!
She is booked in for a visitors visa medical at the moment but dont even want to go ahead and do that if she needs to have a residency one.
What a minefield!!! thanks for informing me of your first hand experience though!!