Suzbits

Looking for some advice regarding going to London to lodge ITA in person.

We have now received back our medical reports and police checks and everything is ready to go to NZIS including OH original copy of his job offer. Can anyone who has done this shed some light onto things for me.

1. Do you need to make an appointment or do you just turn up with the pack, passports etc
2. How long do you need to wait around?
3. Do they check it all in front of you and give originals of certificates back, or do you have to go back later in the day?

Sorry for all the questions but the guy who has certified all our stuff so far is away on holiday so will need to take down originals.

All being well we may schedule a family day out in London on Tuesday to take in the ITA and do the London Eye etc with the children - finally we are nearly at the last stage of it all!

ScottyD

Hi
We took all our paperwork to NZ House in person.

No appointment necessary, just turn up, take a ticket like you are at the deli counter in the supermarket and wait your turn.

They will check that everything you were asked for in your ITA is present and correct and that they have your means of payment...

We had to leave all original documents with them, although we didn't have certified copies, the only thing we came back with was a receipt for the processing fee.

They give nothing away to you in terms of your likely success or speed of processing which we were hoping for...ours was submitted 8th July, had a letter within a week saying it was approved in principle, but asking for additional info. Supplied this the next day and now still waiting....I'm wearing out the online login button on the NZIS website checking the status of our application!

Make the most of your day out in London! We're in Milton Keynes too, but hopefully not for long, we've already booked our flights to Welly so the visa better hurry up, we're going in September!

howden40

We sent everything by registered mail, no sitting around. And from the sound of it you don't benefit from taking it in personally only a day out in London. We wouldn't of had the time, plus the added expense of fairs and entertainment in London can't be cheap.

Just another alternative for you to consider as you have a lot to do at the moment.

I keep reading that people received acceptance in principal, we just got a phone call saying send passports.

Pauline

P2L

Think it really is a case of who you get as to whether you come away with your original documents.

We took ours down, and came away with all our originals

Suzbits

Thanks for that guys, not sure if the children will be up to sitting around waiting for an appointment, so maybe just one of us will go down or maybe send it all registered delivery - just not sure about trusting royal mail with all our original documents, if the worst happened it would set us back about a month getting replacements ......... not that I'm a worrier!

weejie

I sent all my originals and passports via secure post next day delivery and it arrived ok according to tracking system.

Phyllis

howden40

It only cost us £5 to have all originals photocopied and certified by our solicitor. 100% certain someone recently said the same.

hope this helps

Pauline

Persephone

Hi,
I sent mine in by special delivery and it got there ok! I also sent in certified copies of everything, passport/degree cert/ birth certificate so there were no originals in with my ITA. It only cost 2 pounds per document for a solicitor to stamp and sign each photocopy and it was money well spent for the peace of mind.
Besides I needed my passport soon after I sent it in and was not going to risk it getting lost in NZ House
Good luck
Sue

Flan

Howden 40 and Sue R - when you got your documents certified did you you use any general solicitor?!

I thought we had to use a solicitor who is also a Notary and when I e-mailed them (there are only 2 in my area that fall into this category) they have quoted £140!!!!!!! :curse:

Did you just go to a normal solicitor to get yours done?

Persephone

I just used a normal everyday solicitor to certify my passport and degree certificate and a couple of other documents which I then sent in with my ITA. Got PR so NZIS were happy with that

I needed to use a notary to get occupational registration though and these are a lot more expensive as you know!. Apparently Notaries are necessary if documents are to be certified and then used in a different country whereas your ITA will be sent into London so a normal solicitor should do.
That's what the Notary told me when I asked the difference!

Also shop around, normal solicitors varied from 2-5pounds per document and notaries varied from 30-140 pounds in my area!

All the best
Sue

Flan

Thanks for clearing that up Sue! Very useful

Suzbits

Just to say we decided to take everything down to NZ House in person, with photocopies behind everything. When we worked it out it was cheaper for the train ticket than to pay to have everything certified (5 in family plus lots of C&G qualification certificates for OH!) We only had to wait about 10 minutes in NZ Immigration Department and there were toys for the children to play with. We then went in to see a lady whom we had seen at the Expo and she went through everything. She would have let us take all the originals, but explained if there were any issues they would need the originals back so we left them with them as this could delay things.

I will now be wearing out the online section of the immigration website to check when our status changes. She quoted anywhere between 3 weeks to 3 months Not such good news as OH has job offer with provisional start date of 1-10-08!

Now it is totally out of our hands, scary thought, but exciting!

howden40

Should have read this last post first, anyway my comment may come in useful for someone else.

Well done, here's hoping

Best of luck
Pauline


I used my local solicitor, well actually a para-legal signed the first few (Tony's registration) as she was a commissioner for oaths, our solicitor signed the rest.

They took the photocopies and as I said it only cost £5 for everything and we are 4 adults.


(It's quite good here a JP sits in attendance at the local Mall for this type of thing).

Pauline