Australian Citizen needing NZ residence Visa to sponsor British spouse and daughter

[Supercell]

Hi,

I wonder if anyone can help me.
We wish to emigrate to NZ for the better life.

I am an Australian citizen who has been living in UK for 15 years. I hold a valid Australian passport. My soon to be wife is applying for an INZ1000 family route residence application, with me sponsoring her and my daughter. In her application one of the requirements is for me to hold a current NZ residence class visa before her application is submitted. We are still in the UK and trying to get all of the paper work straight before we leave.

Can I apply for the residence class visa while still in the UK? and if so does anyone know what the fees are.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[jawnbc]

You need to be in NZ as a resident to sponsor her as an Australian citizen. When you arrive in NZ you are granted your residency automatically. You can then immediately apply to sponsor her.

I'm in the same boat: my husband has Australian citizenship and we live in Canada. I have a job offer and it would've been much easier for him to sponsor me--but he won't be able to go to NZ for several months after me because of his job. So I'm going the skilled migrant route for my own visa; he'll get his when he arrives several months later.

I was told by one immigration consultant he could sponsor me from outside as an Aussie. I emailed Immigration New Zealand myself to find out and they confirmed Australian citizens CANNOT act as sponsors from outside NZ.

[G-Mo]

Why not sponsor her for Australian residence? As an Australian PR she can live and work in NZ?!

[Supercell]

Thank you both for such a quick response.
JawnBC, we have been racking our brains as to how this all works. We've just paid £450 for all of her medicals and x-rays on NZ forms. OW!
G-mo. It didn't even cross my mind to sponsor her as an Australian spouse. We where so intent on NZ being the place we wanted to be. Great idea. Just hope the NHS will change the forms for us without too much of a charge.
Thanks again

[Supercell]

We've just been looking over our options.
I see we can take one of two routes.

1. Stick with the NZ route and we enter Australia with spouse on a holiday visa. I head over to NZ and get my residence visa and start the sponsorship route with her staying with my Nan in Melbourne. She can then join me on a holiday visa with her application already in so we aren't lying to anyone. She read somewhere that you shouldn't enter NZ on a holiday visa and them apply for a residence visa. Please correct me if i am wrong.

2. Enter Australia and start to sponsor her as an Australian spouse with the aim to move to NZ. I was under the impression to go down this route we should be intending to live in Australia.

We are not too concerned if she can't work initially. Am i right in understanding once residency is granted she will be able to work.

Cheers
R

[_shel]

To be granted an Australian spouse visa you should intend to live in Australia. If the CO does not believe you intend to live in Australia they may ask you for proof of your intention and they can deny if they do not feel you will. Reason being there is a limited number of spouse visas available each year and they want them to go to people who will genuinely live in Australia.

She would only be allowed to live in NZ on the spouse visa if she is granted the PR visa straight away. If you get the PR or the 2yr temp visa depends on how long you've been married and/or if you have kids.

But you realise if you get a AU spouse visa then go and live in NZ the AU visa will expire and if you later wanted to live in Australia you would have to go through and pay for the whole process again. You would also need to pay for the NZ residence once there before the AU visa expires.

Where did you have the NZ medicals done? They may not be transferable to an AU application because they use specific medical centres, not sure if the match the NZ ones. United Kingdom – Panel Doctors

[jawnbc]

As a UK passport holder she can enter NZ as a tourist with you and stay there. You get your residency upon arrival at the airport. Find a place to live, apply to sponsor her and your child.

Once that application is in place, if you need to you can either extend her visitor's visa (with the pending application as the reason) or she pops over to see your Mum for a bit then comes back in as a tourist.

[anski]

Originally Posted by Supercell

Hi,

I wonder if anyone can help me.
We wish to emigrate to NZ for the better life.

I am an Australian citizen who has been living in UK for 15 years. I hold a valid Australian passport. My soon to be wife is applying for an INZ1000 family route residence application, with me sponsoring her and my daughter. In her application one of the requirements is for me to hold a current NZ residence class visa before her application is submitted. We are still in the UK and trying to get all of the paper work straight before we leave.

Can I apply for the residence class visa while still in the UK? and if so does anyone know what the fees are.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Hi,

As a fellow Aussie I can tell you that provided you hold a current Australian passport you do not need to apply for an visa. Your Australian passport will give you the right to enter live & work in New Zealand. You will have access to medical care at Public Hospitals but like everyone here you will pay for Dr visits & Specialist care although private health cover can reduce these costs. You are entititled to ACC ACC Homepage

You can also sign up to Kiwisaver KiwiSaver

However you may discover when you come to pension age, you may not be entitled to NZ Super but will have to claim an Age Pension from Australia instead this is Income & Asset tested unlike the NZ Super.

Not sure about your wife & child, you may find the answers in this publication.

http://www.immigration.govt.nz/NR/rd.../0/INZ1003.pdf