For those going over on tourist visa
 

Hello

Just to quickly pop in and say that I recently posted my application for residency and was told its currently taking 18 months to process applications. Bit of a shock! But a basic work permit is taking 60 days, you can apply for both at the same time, so while you're waiting you can work. You might already know this, but I didn't! Just thought it might help someone!

LT

Re: For those going over on tourist visa
 

Is that here?? i.e NZ????:eek:

Re: For those going over on tourist visa
 

yup, NZ.

Re: For those going over on tourist visa
 

Just a thought and it would be interesting to know other people's views on this, do you think that this is a deliberate 'backlog' created to take some of the heat out of the housing market??? :sneaky:

Re: For those going over on tourist visa
 

Blimey, I don't know, I didn't really think about the motives, I just figured it was extremely busy this time of year. I don't know if other people have all the luck and get their visa sooner. Because I'm married to a Kiwi and we Kiwi kids, you'd think it stands to reason that I wouldn't meet too much of a problem, but it turns out I'm being treated the same as everyone else applying for a visa. I didn't know about the work permit, and that's pretty useful info, so at least they're doing something to make up for the long delay.

Re: For those going over on tourist visa
 

Bloody hell! So on the basis that a visitor visa would expire before residency was granted, one would need the work visa. But could you have one of these if you didn't work - ie if you were a stay at home mum?

Re: For those going over on tourist visa
 

Yes, you'd be given an open work permit. Your partner would be tied to the sponsoring employer.

Re: For those going over on tourist visa
 

Maybe you should drop it off in Christchurch. They were able to turn ours around in three weeks. It would have been a week but we needed the NZIS quack to sign off on the med report and that is a mandatory three week process.

Re: For those going over on tourist visa
 

Hubbie is a kiwi so no ties on him, and like Littletoe my PR would be submitted via the family category. But we always thought (like Littletoe) we'd just go when the timing suited us (me on a tourist visa) and sort out our PR application when in NZ.

But obviously 18 months is beyond the timeframe of the tourist visa, hence asking about a work visa, which interestingly NZIS also recommended to me since it's the quickest one for them to issue.

BUT I had always thought that this visa would be for someone planning on being employed and not for say (short-term) stay at home parents. The work visa seems inappropriate in this situation, deeming by the name at least. So my question is actually:

does the work permit visa simply allow me to work in NZ (at my choice), or require it in order for me/one to legally stay in the country before PR is granted?!

Anyone know? :)

Re: For those going over on tourist visa
 

That is kinda scary!! We are processing the work visa bit at the moment but 18 months for residency is madness. How does that affect things like medicals and police checks becoming out of date? Anyone know? It does state on the NZIS website that they have to still be valid at time of approval but if that is going to be 18 months down the line will they make us pay again for more?? :eek:

Re: For those going over on tourist visa
 

Hi

I am in the same situation , I applied for PR with my OH sponsoring me in Feb and was told the wait was 18 months so I have now applied for a work visa through the family stream processing time 60 days . I had to wait for my passport and docs to be returned from NZ immigration in Auckland before I could submit the next application and a week after doing this was appointed a case officer on my PR .He has now told me the PR will be processed by October 2007, I have sent extra documents and photos that they have asked for and am seeing how it goes .

Perhaps I have the wrong end of the stick but I thought the work visa would mean I was legal until the PR was processed am I wrong ? Immigration told me before I applied for the work visa that I would have to extend the visitors visa each time it expired at a cost of 80$ until the PR came through , now I am confused . I , like the rest of you thought this process would be easier and quicker here in NZ but the processing time in London is only 7 months !!!

Any ideas ?

Thanks Karen

Re: For those going over on tourist visa
 

Hi Me again

I never thought about the medicals etc but it seems very wrong that they would expect you to pay for more as the hold up is of their making and not your fault .But , life isn`t fair is it !!! and they can ask what they like .
Karen

Re: For those going over on tourist visa
 

Hi guys

Just to clarify - your documents such as police checks and medicals won't have to be renewed while they're lodged. Like you guys, mine will expire during the 18 months, in fact my police check has less than a month on it, but we were assured that once immigration had them, it didn't matter when they expired.

Secondly - a tourist visa CAN be extended if you don't want to work but need to stay, if you call immigration and explain the situation BUT I know that's the case for me (with hubby being a Kiwi) for others you might have to get a work permit, but even if you choose NOT to work it'll entitle you to be in the country. How are they going to know if you're working or not?

Sorry to send shivers of fear down you all! But I thought I better post this info because it really came as a shock to me, and it really takes talking to the RIGHT person to get info.

Hope this reassures some of you!

Nikki

Re: For those going over on tourist visa
 

Thanks for the update!! :thumbsup:

I have also been doing some investigating and although it may not be relevent for everyone I thought I would add it here.

I think the family route for residency is unfortunately put to the bottom of the pile and so I think 18 months is a worst case scenario, or there abouts. If someone had a job offer for example then as far as I am aware it would be given priority and processed much quicker. I think the best advice is that it is a very individual process and there is no way of knowing for sure how quickly/slowly things will take until you are wrapped up in it. :confused:. Afterall, many things can cause additional delays such as medical issues! :eek:

This aside, good luck everyone, hope things are speedy for you all! :D

Re: For those going over on tourist visa
 

Certainly a lot of delays can be avoided by sending all the right documents, and ensuring everything is filled in correctly. You might be right about the priority given to people with job offers, but certainly when I spoke to immigration, they said that 18 months was the standard for residency, at least they have other systems in place (such as extending tourist visas and issuing work permits). Incidentally, a work permit costs $280 and if you get a bank draft that will reduce the processing time.

I wish I'd done the paperwork in the UK now, then I wouldn't have that stress and wait time. Plus, I don't have my passport now, which is quite a valuable source of ID for banking, rentals, etc.