Nelly Trolley

Hi

Can anyone who has submitted a long term business visa application please share their experiences and indicate how long their application took to progress and approve.
It would also help if you could indicate business type

Thanks

anewstart

I submitted mine a few weeks ago (internet franchise). According to the letter I was sent from the Business Migration Branch (who manage applications) they "process 75% within 3 months and 90% within 6 months". Not sure when they start the clock ticking i.e from recipt of application or when a case officer is actually assigned to evaluate (within a month of receipt).

Are you at the thinking of stage at moment?

Nelly Trolley

Hi anew
Great to find someone else going through this process at the same time.
Our application for a long term business visa was submitted in August. We are using an immigration adviser based in NZ and have been informed that a case officer has been appointed but have had no direct contact from them yet.
What about you?

anewstart

I didnt use an advisor - did it all myself. I submitted middle of August an am waiting for a case officer to be assigned. Just trying to selll house now as visa no good unless I can sell!

simonsi

Just out of interest have you had any feedback on the internet franchise concept yet??

Rachel n Steve

Hi there - we are awaiting our case officer as we speak, told it could take up to 6 weeks, then a further 3-6 months to get an answer. We went through a company to do the 185 page business plan as we heard that roughly 69% of LTBV fail of which 61% is people who do it themselves. Yes it is VERY expensive, but we decided it was worth the money. So far we are happy doing it this way (though there have been some communication nags etc. perhaps due to timezone!) Good news is we sold the flat at 8k over valuation! so very happy with that, now preparing living with family till we find out !
Also heard that the earthquake in CH has not helped admin factors, and stuff had to be moved up to wellington offices.
I would be interested to what others experiences have been with business visa processes.
rachel and steve

Nelly Trolley

Hi we submitted our LTBV on 19 August 2010 and it was approved 5 weeks later we leave for NZ in 5 weeks time. If it is done properly there is no reason why you shouldn't get such a swift response.

BEVS

Congratulations & many thanks for this update to this little NZ forum Nelly Trolley. It's very much appreciated.

I'm wondering if you'd consider making a more detailed post about your experience of the process for the benefit of anyone else out there who is considering the LTBV route. Or perhaps submitting a bit of an article on the subject to BE admin.

As you can read from the forum, those applying via the LTBV are few and far between .

Sue

Congratulations!

Sue

That is a wonderful idea.

anewstart

Nelly - Great news on your LTBV!! I submitted mine a few weeks after you an am currently waiting on news. Although I did it myself I had an 'Expert' review my application. The feedback was good and allowed me to fine tune a few areas to strengthen the application. Fingers crossed still.....

Chris-Napier

Hi,
My daughter and I started our LTBV in 2006 and we got it through very quickly towards the end and actually got here in Napier in April 2007. Because I was 56 the only way we could get here was through LTBV. My daughter was 39 with two young daughters. She was in the 'Fitness Industry' in the UK so we decided to go with a NZ "Franchise'. This was acceptable to Immigration. We came over here in 2006 and met with the 'Franchisor', signed the paperwork, went back to UK, put both our houses up for sale, put our notice in at our jobs etc. We went into rental for a couple of months here until we found a house each to purchase. Got the two girls into school. We then got the business on the go. The building had been secured for us by the 'Franchisor', so we then had the building totally refitted to a 'Health & Fitness' Club - Women Only. Was hard work but we did it!! We opened the doors on 10th September 2007 and have flourished ever since. My daughter had knowledge in health and fitness and I have done all the finance/payroll and do sales too. It works very well. Have over 600 members and in profit. It is a lovely club and we are proud of our achievements. Having the backing of the 'Franchise' has helped us, we got our "Residency' last December and will apply for Citizenship later. We employ 6 staff and have 7 contractors. (Kiwis' and a couple of British). Works really well. Just about to employ a girl from Nottingham who has been here for a few weeks after emigrating here with her Kiwi partner.

What are we going to do now? As we have achieved what we set out to do in 2007, we have decided to put the Business up for sale. It is a great club and easy to run as all the hard work is done. We want to try something else now and see some more of this beautiful country. Regrets - none! The granddaughters are doing so well at the Girls High School, so much more to offer them than the UK. Lovely weather here in Hawke's Bay, and we do not miss the dreadful traffic jams endured in UK. Life is what you make it, yes it is very different from UK but that can only be for the better.

So stick with it and it will happen. Any questions, am happy to answer.
Regards
Christine & Karen

Nelly Trolley

Hi anew any news on your LTBV application yet?

Nelly Trolley

Wow a lot has happened since I first posted this and I wanted to provide a quick update for those thinking about applying for the long term business visa.

We submitted our application in August 2010 and got approval in just 5 weeks.

This does not reflect the 6 months of lengthy research and preparation and 2 recces to NZ that we invested prior to submitting the application. But the hard work and thoroughness paid off with the speed of our approval.

In that time we sold our house and prepared ourselves for the move. When we got approval we were given just 9 months to get into NZ, and to invest the money in setting the business up. We set ourselves 6 weeks to leave the UK and get that process rolling. And we are now 2 weeks from starting out on that journey.

When we get settled I have agreed to write an article for BE sharing our experiences as I do feel there is a shortage of information on this visa option.
In the meantime anyone requiring a little bit of advice is welcome to pm me.

anewstart

Great news...I'm still waiting on news of our LTBV visa (submitted at the end of August). More worrying is our house is still on the market and falling as each week goes by. So, at the moment it's a relief not to hear news of the visa at the moment.