kimoloop

My case is : I am Egyptian and living in New Zealand with a work visa and I am already employed as a software developer. I applied for Permanent Residency under the skilled migrant category. My application contains me as a main applicant, my wife and son as a secondary applicant.

I sent my files in mid December 2011, they asked for extra documents from work and they also asked for extra evidence about the partnership between me and my wife. I sent all the documents that they requested in the first week of January 2012, 3 weeks ago I went to the Immigration Office in queen st and they told me that my application is waiting for a case officer.

I have 2 questions:
1)Does the waiting period differ in other countries? i am saying this because i saw waiting periods in England and it only takes one month and they send back a reply approving the application. I also saw a waiting period for someone in India and he waited for 2 months and his visa got approved. So when should I expect the Immigration Office to reply to me with their decision.

2) I am originally from Egypt and I am currently living in Auckland. My wife and kid are still in Egypt. A friend of mine advised me that the Immigration office follow the case by case basis. They also highly regard Family Relationships . He told me to send an Email to the Immigration Office and to tell them that Egypt is not safe at all and everyday there are dangerous protests in the street.. there is no security or police and there is a lot of criminals walking the street. There is also a lot of conflicts between the army and the civilians (Egypt is under Military rule at the moment). My question is .. if i send them an Email about that would that help speed up the process? Especially when all of it is true.

Thanks

MrsFychan

all offices have their own time scales.
we had ours done in UK with my husband working in NZ and from start to finished it took 3 1/2 mths.

Until you are allocated a case officer I don't think you have anyway of chasing, someone may correct me, but as you say you are already employed you should go to near the top of the pile. My only suggestion would be to pop back to Queen Street and ask again

BEVS

May I ask why you didn't include your wife and child when you applied for the temporary work visa/permit ? You could have included them. Her for an open work permit under family stream and your child for a student visa.

Yes. Very much so. It's not the waiting as such. It's the in-depth checking of the application. My thought is that not having included your family on your temp work visa application has given NZ Immigration a pause for thought as to why not so they are further checking your family relationships.

Here is my personal opinion on this. It's not advice. It's what I would do if I was you.

I wouldn't send an email. It's not enough to show the serious worry you have for your family. Go to the Immigration Office in person & request to see an officer. Take what papers you can . Calmly explain the situation as you have to us and listen to the response.

It may be that you can belatedly apply for temp visas for your family whilst waiting for the PR application to go through. Or, Immigration may decide to prioritise the application in light of the Egypt situation.

Good luck.

kimoloop

Thanks MrsFychan for your valuable reply.
Thanks BEVs, you are the best as usual.
i did not include my family on my work permit because i came here under Silver Fern visa[by the way the SF thread in the forum helped me a lot ].
I think i will go for BEVS advice and visit the Immigration office.
do u guys recommend to make the visit now or wait for some time.

Thanks Guys.

BEVS

How could I forget that Kimoloop. Apologies.

I would say go now. The Silver Fern visa is a job search visa. You fulfilled this.

They should be able to offer to process some form of temp visas much more quickly for you. Let them know just how worried you are.

See this

I have followed the Egypt situation & it's not good at all.
I hope your family keep safe & you get them out of there for a new NZ life soon as possible.

Let us know.

kimoloop

I will visit them this week.
will let you know what happened.

Thanks BEVS

MrsFychan

Good luck and if needs be go into them weekly until you have your case ongoing, the sooner this is sorted the better

kimoloop

Hi Guys,
i was in a cafe in Fort street yesterday with some friends, one of them offered to come with me to the INZ office because he speak English better than me and he may support me in the conversation. Is that OK?

MrsFychan

can't see why not, I popped along with my husband a couple of times.

kimoloop

Thanks MrsFychan

i will visit them next week with my friend.
wish me luck

kimoloop

Hi Guys,

i have visited the immigration office today, i described my situation clearly but he told me that there is nothing he can do to speed up the process of the application and he advice me to write a letter to INZ with the reasons of why i want to speed up my application process.
I will write the letter and will send it to them on Monday.

Any advice?

Thanks

BEVS

Did you ask about temporary visas? Open work/family stream. Student. Visitor

kimoloop

NO, actully i dont want to start a new visa application[Time, Effort and money] wise.
I will send them this letter and see what will happened, Any advice regarding this letter BEVS?

kimoloop

Hi Guys,

i have decided to wait until the end of this month, may be my case get assigned a case officer then
Thanks you BEVS and MrsFychan for your valuable help, really appreciated.