Inquiry About Essential Skills Work Visa Processing Queue

[raleigh119]

I am a registered nurse and together with a friend who is also a nurse, was hired by the same employer here in Wellington.

I submitted my work visa application online on 07 Mar 2017. My friend submitted his application on 10 Mar 2017. For all intents and purposes, our job title, job offer, working hours and salary are all identical. Our contracts are almost the same with the exception of our names (we will be working on the same department).

On 30 Mar 2017, my friend received an email from INZ and a call from his case officer asking for some documents. Today, 06 Apr 2017, he got his visa approval.

Mean while, I have never received a call or an email from INZ about my application. I already called them twice to get an update, however, I am just told that my application is on the queue.

So, my question is, what to them does "on the queue" mean? Because, I applied earlier than my friend and he already got his approval? I thought that when it means it is in queue, the applications are processed on a first come basis?

On top of this, both our contracts stated that we should be able to meet all the work requirements and conditions prior to 30 March 2017 - including the work visa, or otherwise our offer can be nullified. This is less of a problem now with him, and more of mine.

I am happy that he got his visa and that this is over for him, but at the same time confused and depressed that until now, not even a case officer has had a look into my application when I clearly applied at an earlier date.

[raleigh119]

I'm hoping that anyone probably who has the same experience with mine or any experienced forumer be able to give me a reply. I just want to know if there are any other factors that can play with regards to having your application numbered in the queue, aside from the date and time of your submission. My potential fear is that for some reason, my application has been "stuck" in the queue and is not moving.

[JandM]

When INZ talk about applications being 'in the queue', there is not just one nation-wide or even world-wide queue. Although applicants are told an INZ office to which they are to submit their application, their case may not end up being processed there at all. INZ send work to different offices depending on where officials have less work pending at the time. So, raleigh119, it doesn't help to think of your paperwork and your colleague's as being just two runners in a race. Although they are similar, and started out at more or less the same time, they are two bundles among thousands and thousands, and can have got swept right away from one another.

It may help to imagine a crowd of thousands all wanting to attend the same event in a stadium, with gates all round the perimeter. Security watch to see how quickly each gate is clearing, and channel new arrivals to the shortest queue. 'The next ten people, Gate 10, please. No, not you... wait a moment. Now, five more to Gate 6 and ten to Gate 3.' At each gate, the queue clears from the front, as you would expect, and everyone gets inside without fuss, but if someone looks across from Gate 10 to Gate 3, they might think, 'What happened there? That man was behind me just now, but now I think he's nearer the door than I am,' if at Gate 10 someone got to the entry with a forged ticket, or dropped all their belongings at the turnstile, and everyone waiting there got a few minutes' delay while the incident was sorted out.

[raleigh119]

Thanks JandM. At least it's clear now that our applications could have been sent to two different INZ offices and it does make sense that in other offices, the work-load might have been less - as compared to the Wellington INZ office. This is reassuring indeed; I was already under the impression that something might have been wrong with my application. Thank you again!

[qana]

Hi raleigh119, let me tell you my experience with essential skills work visa. I believe it will be helpful.
I applied for an essential work visa on 21/02/2017, because my current work visa was expiring on 30/03/2017. At INZ website it is mentioned that essential work visa application processing takes about 25 days on average. So, I applied 40 days from my visa expiring time to be sure that I will get the visa before the end of March. I didn't get any update until 28th of March so I called the INZ. It was not helpful. They do not provide any useful information, just saying that your case is in the que. I personally went to INZ office in CHCH and I didn't get any useful information. Then, I received an email with an interim visa that lets me to stay legally in NZ after 30th of March. But still I couldn't work as the interim visa condition was Visitor. Then I asked my employer to write a letter to send to INZ with the hope that seeing this letter they will process my case with priority. It was not helpful again. Starting April I stopped working following the interim visa conditions. I repeated the above mentioned methods. Again I didn't get any information about the state of my application or the time frame for processing that. I had very hard time. Then desperately, I emailed INZ. It was useful. Somebody replied me the next day mentioning that my message was forwarded to the case officer. After a few hours I received an email from the case officer asking for some extra documents. i replied back quickly with the documents. After that another waiting period of 20 days started. I called every day and received the same answer: It is in the que. on 28th of April (i.e., 66 days after my application) I emailed them again and described the situation that I was in: I couldn't work, had no income, and family situation. On 29th April they replied my email mentioning that they have forwarded my email to the case officer. On 30th of April my visa was approved.

Take home: Call centre is not helpful in this case. Email is helpful. Case officers are not perfect persons (actually, no human is perfect). You need a way to contact them through another channel, describe the situation and persuade them to do your case. We don't know really what is happening with our applications, so sometimes we need to be patient.

I had a hard time. So, I wrote this with the hope that it can help you and others in similar situations.

I am a registered nurse and together with a friend who is also a nurse, was hired by the same employer here in Wellington.

I submitted my work visa application online on 07 Mar 2017. My friend submitted his application on 10 Mar 2017. For all intents and purposes, our job title, job offer, working hours and salary are all identical. Our contracts are almost the same with the exception of our names (we will be working on the same department).

On 30 Mar 2017, my friend received an email from INZ and a call from his case officer asking for some documents. Today, 06 Apr 2017, he got his visa approval.

Mean while, I have never received a call or an email from INZ about my application. I already called them twice to get an update, however, I am just told that my application is on the queue.

So, my question is, what to them does "on the queue" mean? Because, I applied earlier than my friend and he already got his approval? I thought that when it means it is in queue, the applications are processed on a first come basis?

On top of this, both our contracts stated that we should be able to meet all the work requirements and conditions prior to 30 March 2017 - including the work visa, or otherwise our offer can be nullified. This is less of a problem now with him, and more of mine.

I am happy that he got his visa and that this is over for him, but at the same time confused and depressed that until now, not even a case officer has had a look into my application when I clearly applied at an earlier date.

[SunAndMoon]

Hello,

Could you please share the email where you sent your emails?

[qana]

I used an online query form from immigration online web page. I am trying to find out where it was but I cannot find it again. As I remember the page had the expression 'online query form' . Probably it is not active now. But I am not sure.

Hello,

Could you please share the email where you sent your emails?

[SunAndMoon]

I used an online query form from immigration online web page. I am trying to find out where it was but I cannot find it again. As I remember the page had the expression 'online query form' . Probably it is not active now. But I am not sure.

Thank you so much. I got it :-)

Good Night