joshbay84

After the interview with CO, how long does it take to get the Visa stamped on the passport (assuming there is no denial)?

I am based out of USA, can I get the visa stamped in the nearest embassy or do I need to send the passport to New Zealand ?

escapedtonz

Once the Co has completed the interview they make a decision on your application.
Next step - another Co must carry out a full audit to ensure the decision is correct and immigration have followed all their operations rules. This takes around a month generally until you are notified of the decision.
If successful you'll have around 3 months to return final levy fees and passports for the stickers. Once immigration receive these they are usually returned in a couple of weeks.
You will need to send them to your designated Immigration office where your application has been handled.

Persephone

I heard in about 2 weeks though that was a few years ago.

Once you get confirmation that you have been issued residency then you have 6 months to pay the migrant levy and send in your passport for the stickers.
If you are issued a Job Search Visa instead then you have 3 months to get the stickers issued and 3months after that to enter NZ.

I applied through the London branch and there was a possibility of me being in NZ by the time I needed to get the stickers. I was told that I could do this via a different branch in NZ if necessary. Hope this helps though might be best to double check just in case. Can't see why it would be a problem though.

Good luck

joshbay84

Thank you guys for the replies. Finally, I got an email about status change- and in the online portal the status is 'APPROVED' :-) It took approximately 7 weeks after the CO interview for the approval.

I am assuming that I would get some official email from the immigration department? Also - does APPROVED indicate that I have been granted a straight Resident visa as opposed to Job Search Visa?