British Expats - Update: Visa approved

Hey everybody,

It's been a while since I posted on the forum, but I wanted to share that our visa was approved a few weeks ago, and reading through others timelines and experiences very much helped me throughout our application process, so I wanted to share ours too...

Original visa: 12-month WHV
Visa applied for: WTR LTSSL and Work Visa from Partnership

NZQA IQA -
Submitted: 02/09/15
Result: 18/11/15

Police Certificate -
Completed online form: 25/11/15
Certificates arrived: About one week later

Medicals -
Examination, chest x-ray and blood tests completed in one appointment and sent to INZ via e-Medical the next day

Visa application (Hamilton branch) -

Received: 15/02/16
Granted: 17/03/16 (expires Sept 2017)

Even though our original plan was to apply under the SMC, we decided to opt for WTR LTSSL in the end due to time restraints related to our WHV visa, as the current processing time at the Hamilton branch for SMC is 6-9 months according to their website, and we were unsure about my partners job substantially matching ANZSCO. The WTR option was also cheaper, but the down side is we don't have residency, however, we will apply in two years time if we meet the requirements or perhaps apply under SMC before then.

Overall, we are very happy to have had our time in NZ extended and are looking forward to spending the next few years here at least.

Thank you to all those who have helped and given advice, these boards and others experience have been very helpful.

:thumbsup: