Documents with Immigration....what next
 

Hello,

Myself and my my family have applied under the SMC for residency. Our EOI was successful and we DHL’ed our documents to Auckland on Friday. Amazingly they have arrived already (Monday morning)! Could anyone tell me what happens from here? How long does it take for someone from immigration to get in touch? We did not use an agent.

Thank you

Re: Documents with Immigration....what next
 

So, does that mean you have received ITA and you have submitted all of your documents and evidence for ITA - police reports, medical reports, payment of fees, qualification evidence, work experience evidence, partnership evidence etc ?

Do you have an NZ skilled job offer OR prior qualifying study experience in NZ OR prior skilled work experience in NZ ?

Process doesn't go any faster if you are using an agent.

On receipt of your documents, Immigration will queue them for initial checking and may send you confirmation they have been received. I'd hope to have important documents back by return courier within 2-3 weeks tops. Priority of processing is dependent on how your points are made up. If you have points for a skilled job offer then this will make your application a higher priority. Be aware if your EOI does not have any points for an NZ skilled job offer, no NZ work or study experience you will not be approved for RV via SMC. The best you will get is a job search visa for the principal applicant only.
If you do have the skilled job offer Immigration will attempt to allocate your application to a case officer as soon as possible. I'd hope within 4 weeks. Those applications with less of a priority can take several months before they are allocated.
If your application includes everything Immigration need then processing shouldn't be that long and arduous - maybe 4 weeks. If you have left anything out or been a bit stingy with some area of your evidences then Immigration may halt processing, send you notification of what is required and give you a deadline to respond. All this delays matters. Likewise if you have issues with your police reports and/or your medical report then again they will ask questions and investigate further. Any medical issues will be referred to an MA which can add months on to the processing.
If all goes well, 2PC (second person check) will take 2-4 weeks then you'll receive formal notification of the outcome. If it is good news you'll be invited to send in passports and final fees. You send in the passports by courier, Immigration apply the visas and return them in a couple weeks.
All up from Immigration receiving your ITA submission and assuming nothing goes wrong and they don't ask any more questions it should take 3-5 months before you have your visas/passports back in hand.
Really rough guide as every application is treated individually so no hard and fast rules.

Re: Documents with Immigration....what next
 

Re: Documents with Immigration....what next
 

You will have 12 months from the date the visa is applied before it expires. In that time you need to cross the border in NZ to activate it. If you have a job offer involved (as you state) your visa will have conditions pertaining to the period when you must take up that job offer following visa activation and the minimum period you must remain in that job offer.
You would be wise to not delay unduly. I agree things can change in your personal circumstances but so can with a company, a companies job offer and of course Immigrations rules which are depicted by government. There's always the possibility of that rug being pulled from under you if you fanny about. Unlikely, but possible. The risk is yours to take.