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Thread: Visa for a newborn

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    Christchurch
    Posts
    31

    Default Visa for a newborn

    My family hopes to have our visas by early January, and we will head to New Zealand soon thereafter. We're happy to be patient with the application process, but I am pregnant, due in early February. My obstetrician has said I can fly until January 12th.

    If we do not have our visas by then, my husband will still move to New Zealand to start his job when his visa arrives, and I'll stay in the States with my two daughters until the newborn arrives. (We don't have a name. To lesson confusion, I'll call her "Baby")

    So, here is my question: do I have to wait for Baby's visa before we can join my husband? Or can I take all my children to New Zealand and apply for Baby's visa from within the country?

    Obviously, from the embassy's perspective, there's no urgency to a newborn's visitor visa. Probably the soonest we can procure a passport for Baby is late February. Even if I can apply for the visa immediately, it could be May or later before the visa is processed.

    My current thinking is that we could buy Baby a round-trip flight and let her enter the country as a tourist. While in NZ, we could apply for Baby's visitor visa for the duration of my husband's job.

    Is that legal? Is this going to anger the Immigration gods? I appreciate any and all advice here. I really don't want to have my family split apart for five months, and I'm not sure what else to do.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Posts
    37,824

    Default

    My current thinking is that we could buy Baby a round-trip flight and let her enter the country as a tourist. While in NZ, we could apply for Baby's visitor visa for the duration of my husband's job.
    I think that would work fine.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2012
    Location
    Whangaparaoa
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    472

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by TeamBacon View Post
    My current thinking is that we could buy Baby a round-trip flight and let her enter the country as a tourist. While in NZ, we could apply for Baby's visitor visa for the duration of my husband's job.
    Children under 2 years of age do not need their own ticket, they travel on their parents ticket as long as they don't occupy a seat.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Nov 2012
    Location
    Christchurch
    Posts
    31

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by G-Mo View Post
    Children under 2 years of age do not need their own ticket, they travel on their parents ticket as long as they don't occupy a seat.
    She definitely won't occupy a seat! Hmmmm. So perhaps this is a much smaller issue than I think.

    I didn't want to raise any red flags, applying for a visa while *already* in the country. . .but perhaps it doesn't seem fishy at all? (Especially given the fact that we assume she's not, you know, a known felon at birth. )

    That is a huge load off my shoulders.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Posts
    37,824

    Default

    No, it's not in the least fishy. Mother Nature is well known for supplying extra humans to a family regardless of what plans they had for that day/week/month, and even INZ is aware of that! (I suggest a phone call to the airline you're thinking of using, to check their policy, as they're not all necessarily the same for all routes and price-bands.)

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Oct 2012
    Location
    New Zealand
    Posts
    24

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by TeamBacon View Post

    My current thinking is that we could buy Baby a round-trip flight and let her enter the country as a tourist. While in NZ, we could apply for Baby's visitor visa for the duration of my husband's job.

    Hi there
    Unfortunately, you cannot buy an infant a round-trip flight unless an adult is traveling with them. And about the visa, you can always apply with a cover letter from your husband and yourself. So that the family can get together asap.

    Or

    You can book an itinerary by paying booking fee of $20 or 30 to an agent for your return. And if you are not planning to travel return, you can always cancel it.

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