moonie2011

Hi guys, has anyone recently been granted a LTBV? Can you tell me how long it took from submission to it being granted?
We are about to put our application in, we may have a buyer for our house and he needs to move in by the end of September, so we would need to book the removers by end of August ish, is 6 weeks for the visa being too ambitious?

ellenarosemary

There are several threads on here about that very same subject. One couple managed to get theirs in a month, but I think that was exceptional, most are normally around the 3 month mark. Depends really on how well you have done your LTBV paperwork and whether or not there are any queries. Good luck.

moonie2011

Hi I did do several search trying to answer my question before posting, I am hoping some recent applicants can give an idea of the current time, thanks though

jeffrey.dalton

We immigrated on LTBV back in November of 2011. (feels pretty recent)

Our application took about 4 months to approval. It ended up being delayed because one of the medical tests came back with something just a hair outside of normal. It took us a month to hear back from the INZ that this was the case and then we had to get an additional blood test which proved to be normal. We also had the INZ mail us a letter that turned out to have taken a full month to get to us and we never did find out why after it was routed through Japan for some reason (we were coming from the USA).

From other immigrants stories I have heard these kinds of strange anomalies can be really common and you just never know.

The good thing is we were told INZ processes LTBV separately from everything else in a central office. So there are dedicated people processing these applications and from what we have heard LTBV are few and far between so it is in a smaller pile of paper.

What made our move worlds easier was selling everything before we came. It sounds drastic (heck so is moving to another country) but it made the whole process easier. We only brought what we could check as luggage on the plane.

suspect zero

We did ours in 2010 posted application from uk on 1st may approved 17th June.
We were going for broke anyway having sold our houses, belongings were in storage ready to go and living at mother in laws.
I wouldn't have thought there to be many LTBV applications at the moment so you would assume the process to be quicker.
But as I have found out recently don't assume too much
P

j19fmm

Recent time scale we have been quoted is 3 months, but as ellenarosemary says it depends how the paperwork looks. Good luck

moonie2011

LTBV submitted in Wellington yesterday, will find out how long it takes soon

suspect zero

Good Luck
Hope all goes well
P

moonie2011

Well the dream is over, the CO has refused our business visa.
His reason is that the cash and ideas we have for modernising/revitalising the business, which the current elderly owners will not do, is not enough. He wants to see us putting in a restuarant or something that will change the motel!! The motel does not lend itself to extensions etc.
Re harlows comment "We pointed out for example that because my wife speaks Japanese, we could help cater for Japanese tourists at our motel and hence in a small way help to increase Japanese tourism" we tried similar being police officers that it would be advertised on England's federation website, the international police officers site and a police friendly hotel website in Canada, but that wasn't good enough for the CO either
Naturally we are devastated and now have to get back to living in blighty

j19fmm

Absolutely gutted for you, really thought you had it in the bag. Our application is still with Wellington and each time I open my emails I fear the worst. Thinking of you x

Pom_Chch

Can you or OH try and get a job offer before you move? That would then entitle you to a temp work visa. Only one of you would need a job and visa then the other one can come over on a partner visa. On a partner visa you are entitled to work doing any job or any hours. Once you're out here one or both of you could work and the other try and work on the business you had in mind? Or a different business venture?

I really hope it works out for you, I can totally understand your devastation.

BEVS

Very sorry to read this news Moonie. Must be totally gut wrenching to have been so close yet now so far away .

Am a bit peeved for you also. What has your immigration agent said about this & will he launch an appeal or try to negotiate with NZIS for you to refine your business plan. Did this agent connect you with a professional here within this industry that could have helped you put together a failsafe plan . Someone that would know what would improve an existing but rundown business.
TBH I'm not sure that suggesting networking ref police officers would have meant anything at all in terms of improving a business & may have been detrimental to the application. Just an opinion mind you.

With Harlow's wife speaking Japanese , that would have been seen as a positive as Japanese students and families do come to this Nelson area. Japanese is a subject choice in several schools here. Exchanges happen. There are business connections etc.

A restaurant cafe/bar - in the right area - would always improve business or attract more customers but that really depends on the motel's location and what existing such facilities are in the area already.

What motel is this? I live 30 minutes outside of Nelson.

simonsi

CO probably felt that was too small an additional market to tap to make any realistic change to the business level.

Have you turned around or revitalised a similar business before? If nbot then perhaps some professional consultancy in that area may boost the business plan and hence your application.

moonie2011

Hi Bevs, our lawyer is going to see if the local mp will lobby INZ on behalf of the elderly couple that are trying to sell the motel so they can retire. He wants to inform the MP that INZ decision has stopped half a million $'s coming into NZ, will endanger the furture of a profitable business and is stopping a kiwi couple retire. He is also going to ask if we can get another chance to refine our business plan

Our lawyer put us in touch with several motel owners and he also provided us with a copy of a previously accepted business plan.
Between our first and then final contact with the CO he moved the goal posts. Our lawyer spoke with him re the $30k investment originally and he never made any mention it was not going to be enough, then he refuses us saying it is not enough and still wont tell what is enough!!

We have spoken to several people who have done exactly the same as we were proposing

The motel is the courtesy court, golf road, Tahunanui. The property itself cannot house a restuarant and there are several good restuarants within walking distance who would not look favourably on that option

We did everything we could to please the CO after our first conversation with him but none of it was enough

moonie2011

Hi Simonsi, no we haven't, we are both police officers. We hoped that the managerial roles we have would equate to business experience, plus my OH was bought up in the hotel trade, parents owned several, but that wasn't enough for the CO despite some very good references