My Daughter

[Ruth]

My family and I immigrated to NZ, last April. However, the agent that we used to immigrate from South Africa, took it upon themselves to remove my then 20 year old daughter from our permanent residence application, although she was and at this point still is solely dependant on myself and husband, so I have been trying to find ways to keep her in New Zealand with us, her time is running out really fast. I would move mountains to find a way where she would be able to stay here permanently. As we come from a country where the unemployement rate is about 45%, and the fact that she is a white young woman, it was virtually impossible for her to find work over there, so she has no work experience. This would have helped her to get a job offer over here, which would have helped, I am really desperate and if she were to get a job offer, even to sweep the streets, at this stage I would be happy. Does anybody know how an inexperienced young South African girl could get a job offer, in order to continue living in this beautiful country, with her family? I would really appreciate any advice.

[MotherBear]

Hi Ruth.

Sorry to hear that you've been lumbered with an incompetent consultant. When you say they removed her from your PR application did they mention her at all on the forms i.e. there's a section where you must fill in all your close family. At a later stage, 3 years after you've held PR, you are able to sponsor one (or maybe more) of these people for NZ PR if they are named on the form. I know that still leaves you with 2 years to go before you can sponsor your daughter, but it's a start. You would also need to take into account the time that it would take for the application to go through, which could be several months.

As for short term, has your daughter got any qualifications that might help her get a job in NZ? If she could get a suitable job offer she could apply for a Work Permit and stay with that until you could sponsor her for PR. Alternatively I wonder if she would be eligible for further education and could spend the time in study in NZ.

Perhaps having a read through this might give you some ideas. It's for temporary entry rather than long term but you will need something to bridge the gap between now and sponsoring her. For the amount of money you no doubt paid the consultancy, I think I'd be getting them to sort the whole thing out for you seeing as it was their mistake. After all, they've only done half a job because part of your family doesn't have PR.

[alan&moyra]

also if you can prove that removal from the country would be detrimental to her welfare she may be allowed some sort of leeway in this, if i was her I would be trying local shops ect...... i know these do not meet the requirements for skilled employment but is is a start.

Good Luck

[Ruth]

Thank you for your suggestions, somebody else also suggested that she studies further, and therefore gets a student visa, my husband will actually be in New Zealand two years in November. It is just really frustrating, as it would be very bad if she had to go back to South Africa.

[MotherBear]

This tells you about the requirements for studying in NZ and may throw up a couple of obstacles, one being that, with her not being under your PR umbrella, she would be liable for international fees if she studies and I understand they can be quite hefty. Another problem is that it says she needs to show that she is going to leave NZ as soon as her study period is finished, also that she needs to show proof of sufficient funds to support herself while she is there studying. It would take a lot of looking into to get it right.

Can I ask which visa she holds at the moment? I was about to suggest she try a Working Holiday Visa for 30 year olds and under, but there isn't such a scheme available for SA, which surprises me.

Because of the circumstances, I wonder if it would be worth going to the head of the well and asking advice from INZ themselves. Does your daughter have any close family back in SA? If not it would be another string to your bow when you try to keep her with you. I wouldn't think SA would be the sort of place for a young woman to be on her own without the protection of close family members.