In the Netherlands it’s been the time for ‘surprises’ – this is a creative way of wrapping gifts related to Sinterklaas* – but we were not expecting this extra surprise that the school of Linus had in store for us... The evening before I flew to the Netherlands to celebrate Sinterklaas with my family, we got an e-mail that it was not possible after all that Linus would go to their school. Full panic mode!

A web of bureaucracy

After the difficulty with figuring out which visa we should apply for, the visa application which took much longer than expected, and the rejection of the local school, we were so happy that Westlake was accepting him as an international student. We had a short interview and we paid the fees, so all was in order. Or so we thought. On their last day of term, right before the summer holiday started in New Zealand, they informed us that Linus can’t attend their school after all because he is on a domestic student visa and there is a waiting list for out-of-zone domestic students. Apparently, they didn’t check the information we sent them weeks before, and he can’t be admitted as international student based on that visa…

Calling New Zealand

Westlake said that it’s the local in-zone school that should admit Linus – but they have been saying ‘no’ to us (twice). We had informed the ministry of education about this, since they are supposed to help out in cases like this, but no reply whatsoever. So now it was time for more drastic measures. And the good thing that it was Thursday night 21.00 – which is Friday morning 9.00 – so we started calling New Zealand. And, surprisingly, the ministry did pick up the phone and reassured us that the local school should indeed take us, and the fact that we are only staying temporarily is not a reason to reject us. And now they did take action (we were almost harassing them with phone calls :D) and we heard back a few days later than ‘if we meet the entry requirements’ then Linus would be admitted ‘though it is not an ideal situation’.

All is well that ends well (we hope)

So it looks like we should be able to get him into this school after all, and this would be fantastic. We would save about 4.000 euro, and, more importantly, Linus wouldn’t have to travel so far by school bus, and he would be in a somewhat smaller, mixed school, right next door to Birk’s school. The only thing is that now, of course, the Admissions Office is closed for the summer, and we probably have to wait until the 23^rd of January to know for sure that everything is in order… We have sent in the 13 documents they need to enroll him, and now we’re crossing our fingers!!

* I uploaded the picture of the ‘surprise’ my niece made for me this year – it has a New Zealand theme!! <3