Visas - A Family Affair

This weeks blog is a game of two-halves, with the first part focussing on the trials and tribulations of telling your children, that you are about to uproot them, to move to another country. The second half, is focussed on the slightly more technical aspects of actually including those children in your application (there are different rules for different visas).

The inspiration for this blog came from a conversation I had with a potential client earlier in the week. Bob (not his real name) was contemplating the big move, along with his wife (who was already onboard) their two children - somewhat less enthusiastic. As we discussed the various steps involved, and some of the challenges, the topic of “when and how do we tell the kids” came about. Bob was already knee deep in some teenage angst, having dropped this particular bombshell on his children already.

That discussion did get me thinking, because as a father of two (Miss 12 and Miss 8), I wondered how I might approach that topic, if I were leaving New Zealand to live permanently in a far off land. It also made me consider, how well the rules for including children are understood out there, amongst our future new kiwis, particularly if your children are getting up to that 20 to 25 year age bracket.

So, this post covers a bit of both of those topics…starting with the challenging discussions you might be about to have with your children and then moving on to some of the technical issues to do with including children in the application process, and how that differs across the various visa pathways.