National Security Check

[basemfityan]

Hi,

I contacted my CO a month ago and she told me that I am in the process of third party security check!
I lodged my application a year ago and we are under a SM category.

It seems that everything is freezing at this step!

Any advise regarding the time frame? Who I need to speak with or send an email?
My work visa will expire in October.

Thanks

[sabbaq]

Hi,

There's no standard or approximate timeline for the NSC, so a one year wait or more is not unusual. This is perhaps the only part of the NZ immig process that is totally confidential, so the CO will not share any details with the applicant.

You have no option but to wait it out and ask your CO to let you know when the NSC check is finalised, and s(h)e has proceeded to the next stage of assessment of your residence visa.

Good luck

Hi,

I contacted my CO a month ago and she told me that I am in the process of third party security check!
I lodged my application a year ago and we are under a SM category.

It seems that everything is freezing at this step!

Any advise regarding the time frame? Who I need to speak with or send an email?
My work visa will expire in October.

Thanks

[hmlamie]

I think it has been delayed, did you contact your CO and asked her about this delay? I am now in the same situation, which I am here in Christchurch and I applied already for the residence and my CO asked me and my wife to fill the 1209 National Security form. I don't know how it will go and how long it will take.

[Tchris]

Is NSC the last stage in residency application? Any other government department involved? we seems to get different information each time we call INZ call centre and CO not forthcoming with information.

[JandM]

There isn't information openly available about NSC, so what follows is quite a lot guesswork.

We think that applications from people who are nationals of, or have lived in, countries where there has been unrest and/or insitutionalized repression, get referred for these checks. NZ have a policy of not granting visas to individuals who have been personally responsible for any such issues. Therefore, they ask for a detailed employment history, and assurance that they haven't been in the military or other employment with the repressive forces. They have to wait for responses from the foreign regime, who do not give any priority to replying quickly, hence the long delays.

As when someone's medical is referred to an MA, the CO cannot grant a visa until after a favourable answer comes back.

However, the application still has to go through all the same checks as everyone else's - qualifications, work experience, partnership (if relevant). And there's no way to tell if a particular CO will have done all that part of the work while waiting for the NSC result, or whether some parts will still remain to be finalized.

[Tchris]

Thanks heaps JandM.

[breeze]

Contact your CO 2-3 months before your work visa expires and ask him/her about the status.

That's what I did. I asked my CO on the status and he advised me to hold off renewing my work visa as he was finalizing the Residency approval. I managed to save a few hundred dollars! But then again, every case is different so I'm not speaking across the board.