Bermudashorts

OK so they were not actually filming today when we arrived in New Zealand but Mr Bermudashorts did experience some visa troubles at immigration. We are a little worried and wonder has anyone else come across something similar.

We are here in Australia on PR visas and our understanding was that this meant we had free passage to New Zealand. So we arrived here this morning with nothing more than our British passports and Australian visa.

Unfortunately Mr Bermudashorts' visa did not "show up in the system". Supervisors were called over and we thought we would be sent packing. We asked them to check mine and it was OK so I got my residents stamp. Eventually they asked him to amend his landing card so it did not say that he was an Australian PR and they let him in on a visitor visa.

Obviously he has used his visa to enter Australia as we have been living there since July, but this is still a little concerning for us. Should we be worried?

iamthecreaturefromuranus

I hear Christmas Island is lovely at this ime of year.

cresta57

Yes quite picturesque, just don't try the boat tours

SillyOldBag

Because I hate fuss and bother when travelling and I would therefore worry about going to NZ again in case there was more fuss and bother, I would be inclined to phone DIAC when you get the chance or wander in to see them if you have a local office and ask them to check their system to see if there is any system anomaly in relation to MrBS (<--- just realised that the "BS" could be misinterpreted but it made me giggle so it stays ).

ETA: Mind you, if there were a problem then he would have trouble getting back into Australia! You could always ask on your way back in if they can see on their system what the trouble is/was?

Pomster

When we were first in Aus it was me who was the main visa holder on a 457.

Went to NZ and Mr P went first- he got 'indefinite leave to remain' as the immi woman was flirting with him. I came immediately after him and got a 'visitor' stamp in my passport.

Think it depends if they feel kind or not...

billymacker

how is he going to get back in to australia if his visa is not showing will they let him on the plane New Zealand.

Pollyana

Allow extra time at check in and if necessary the check in staff will phone DIAC.

newjersey

I have had two incidents of visas not showing in their systems, both resolved themselves fortunately. First one is owed to the fact that my daughter has two citizenships and her visa sticker ended up in the wrong passport - embassy made a mistake. The ticket was bought with the passport number that had a sticker in, but that was not allowed for entry to Australia, while the second passport without the visa sticker could not be used to let her board the plane, technically speaking. So we spent half an hour at the check in in Singapore, while the airline called Canberra to sort this out. There I learned that while checking you in the airline can automatically see if you have an entry permit or not and deny you boarding if something seems off - just by plugging your passport number.

Second one was actually in Centrelink, where a woman at the counter just could not work the computer system odds and ends. To her it was simpler to come back and tell us that we are in the country illegally because we had no visas at all.

Can you go to a local immigration customer service or something, like they have this walk-in service in Sydney and sort this out?

JAJ

Interesting that NZ Immigration appears to verify visa details with DIAC. If he has used the visa to enter Australia, then all should be ok with DIAC systems.

Nevertheless, as someone else says, on the way back I would leave more time for check-in. If all goes ok, I would then once back in Australia, write to NZIS in Sydney and ask them what the reason for the problem might have been.

freebo

Back in early the 90's, when I fist had PR I decided to do a round-the-world trip to visit folks in the UK and stop off at a couple of places on the way. The last leg was Auckland back to Brisbane where I was living at the time. Aus immigration gave me the third degree - heaps of questions about my reasons for visiting 'err I've lived here for 4 years', my job etc. When I asked why all the questions I was told 'its because you're a UK passport holder arriving from NZ'

When I entered NZ they just automatically gave me PR for there, which was nice of them I thought

koalakim

Hope he gets it sorted.

My OH went to NZ on his Brit passport from Oz and didn't have any problems either way.

Maybe he's just the unlucky one with a glitch in the system?

Alfresco

That's just nuts! Hope you get it sorted.

I would expect an apology in writing with the reason too!

Bermudashorts

Yes quite. Hence the thread.

We will bring the visa grant letter with us and allow extra time at check in...

Red_V_Roger

I go in and out of NZ quite a bit for stays of 3 or 4 days. They are supoosed to stamp the indefinate visa with me being PR, but some times they are just so automated they stamp the visitors visa. Last time one realised and I had to wait while they cancelled the temp visa and re-did the indefinate one, even though I told them not to bother.

So I now have a cancelled visa in my passport!

But that doesn't explain his status not showing correctly.

Bermudashorts

Well I dropped an email to DIAC yesterday and got a response this morning in which they have said it is all very odd and they don't know why there should be a problem with NZ immigration.

They sent me a copy of the visa grant leter again and a screen shot of some system showing his visa is in order. We will take that with us too when we are flying home.