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My fiance and I currently live in Arizona(USA). We are looking at moving because it sounds like a better place to raise a family and go to school.
My fiance has his high school diploma and I am working on getting my GED. My fiance is 21 and I'm 18. Also, we will be married in September. We are planning on attending collage over there in NZ and we're both looking at getting into the I.T field. Since we will have student visa's, would it be a good idea to get pregnant and have a baby over there in NZ or wait to have a permanent residency there? Your input is much appreciated.
I don't know much about New Zealand,
but in Ontario (and probably most of Canada) anyone new to Ontario must be legally residing in Ontario
for at least 6 months to be eligible for our provincial health coverage plan.
This policy includes Canadian citizens who've been living abroad.
In Canada, each province has their own plan,
but residents of one province are often covered in other provinces if they're travelling, or working short-term.
My best advice is try to hold off on getting pregnant until you have already secured health coverage.
(don't get pregnant early and hope that you will be covered just before the baby's due)
*Permanent residency might not be required to secure health coverage.
(some temporary work permits in some countries allow for this)
My fiance and I currently live in Arizona(USA). We are looking at moving because it sounds like a better place to raise a family and go to school.
My fiance has his high school diploma and I am working on getting my GED. My fiance is 21 and I'm 18. Also, we will be married in September. We are planning on attending collage over there in NZ and we're both looking at getting into the I.T field. Since we will have student visa's, would it be a good idea to get pregnant and have a baby over there in NZ or wait to have a permanent residency there? Your input is much appreciated.
Do not screw around with NZ immigration! Do it right, apply properly for immigration.
BTW, a child born in NZ is NOT automatically a NZ citizen, citizenship is obtained from the parent - one parent has to be a NZ citizen or entitled to live in NZ indefinitely.
I do not understand why people try to trick the system, if caught then you will have a lot more heartache then if you had done things properly.
1. Student visa. married couple. Possible child. How will you support yourself not mention the costs of moving over there? Last I looked a student visa only let you work a few hours a week for spending money. Also keep in mind international students are charged much higher fees for university. You will also have to apply and secure a placing at a university. Unless you are independently wealthy you'll have to support several years of living and university school fees.
2. I started participating in a sport in New Zealand and am not a resident and I looked into what would happen if I had an accident. Turns out for foreign nationals if you do happen to have an "accident" your immediate health care is covered. However things like getting preggers and having babies is not. I know for some of the student visas and working holiday visas the "sponsor" requires you to have travel insurance as a requirement. There again that is not going to cover pregnancy.
Also a student visa is not going to entitle you to "roll over" into permanent residency once finished with university. It also appears that you have never been to New Zealand which is risky to suggest you automatically want to move there permanently sight unseen.
What I would recommend from my experience is to start school in the USA and then do an exchange program through your university for a semester or year in New Zealand. Or take advantage of the one year working holiday visa and go down to work and live and see if you actually like it before committing to school. And while there check out the different university towns like Dunedin, Palm North and Lincoln, etc. and see what might work for you.
I suspect unless you are independently wealthy which most people of your age are not, going to university there in New Zealand for 3-5 years while getting married and starting a family on a student visa is going to be nigh impossible.
There will be no cheating the immigration system, that's for sure. My fiance and I want to have a baby soon anyway. We'll visit NZ in October to test the waters/get a first-hand view of how living there will be. And we'll be good on the money front. Also, we have decided to do our schooling here in the USA. If/when we end up moving there, we'll have our college degrees.
Might also be a good idea to grab some certs before you job hunt in NZ (that is if you still wanted to head out that way a little early). Checking out the want ads you'll see employers looking for MCP, A+ and Net+ certs. A+ and Net+ could probably be obtained over the summer if the two of you sat down and studied over the material. Heck if you already know a good amount on computer hardware, basic networking it might just be a a little review. I'd recommend the Mike Meyer's guide books if you wanted to take that route. Honestly more and more IT is looking for certified indivduals... it's a pain in the butt but that's what the hiring managers are looking for now.
In my own personal experience it was hard for me to obtain a job in I.T even with a degree in I.T cause 1) I didn't have any real experience and 2) didn't have any certifications. Once I had the Certs the offers came in and I was able to get my foot in the door. Not sure if it's the same way in NZ (kind of looks like it is) but either way trust me certifications are a big part of I.T.
Arushan,
I'm born and raised in NZ and currently living in Auckland. Just want to back up everything wanneroo said, especially the suggestion of coming down here either on a student exchange or the working holiday visa to see how you like it first. I'm just finishing off my postgrad studies at Auckland uni and there are quite a few American exchange students here every semester. I don't imagine it's cheap, but it has the advantage of a good support network for you, helping out with finding accommodation and things and giving you a feel for whether you want to make the move permanent.
And on the certs suggested by mazdajenks, they will all be helpful in actually finding work. But unfortunately you will probably need a degree to qualify for a work permit. There are various ways to immigrate here, it would be worth having a good look at the NZ immigration website to see what will be best for you. But the reality is that this is a country where a large proportion of the population here has university qualifications, and when a company can't find somebody with the skills here it would generally be easier just to recruit in Australia as they don't need work permits to live here.
Good luck though, I think it would be a great place to raise a family. But also take into account what minibrings was saying. My understanding is that in NZ, a child basically has the same legal status as their parents. If you are here as a student, then your child would be no better off being born here than being born in America and brought over here by you. If you are permanent residents first though, then your child would also be a permanent resident and so can become an NZ citizen.
Two international students who face removal orders because they got pregnant while in New Zealand say they are being discriminated against and treated "unduly harshly".One plans to appeal to the Human Rights Commission. Women who get pregnant while in New Zealand on temporary residency permits are being told they have to leave the country to have their babies because they would put pressure on already-stretched maternity services, the New Zealand Herald reported.
Two international students who face removal orders because they got pregnant while in New Zealand say they are being discriminated against and treated "unduly harshly".One plans to appeal to the Human Rights Commission. Women who get pregnant while in New Zealand on temporary residency permits are being told they have to leave the country to have their babies because they would put pressure on already-stretched maternity services, the New Zealand Herald reported.
That's an interesting article. I find it hard to believe though that it's really about "putting an additional strain on our already short services" as was claimed in the article, especially if somebody is willing to pay for it themselves. My first instinct is that it is something to do with the student visa itself, maybe the concern is that if somebody is needing to give birth and raise a child then they are not really going to be focused on their studies - which is the basis for being here in the first place.
A couple of years ago the wife of one of my fellow postgrad students (here on a student visa) got pregnant and had their baby here. It was fully covered by our health care system, as was their babies ongoing health care which is completely free for under 6 year olds here. They had no trouble with the student visa at all. All he had to do was apply for a visa for their baby, which was granted and made valid as long as he was a student here. If it really is about the burden to our system then they should have been affected just like the people in the article. As they had no problems at all, I suspect it's the fact that it is the student getting pregnant, not just the fact that it is "strain" on our system.
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