Help - points for age in ITA submission

[kismet76]

Hi all,
my husband and I were issued an ITA, which is going to expire on August 18th, for 135 points. We're amongst the lucky ones selected in April.

We were ready with all the documents needed for the submission back at the end of May, but for one thing: my husband's degree assessment by NZQA. We had an NZQA report stating that his degree was comparable to a 7 level + an 8 level degree, but we needed a 7 + a 9 level degree in order to achieve all the 135 points we had declared on the EOI.

Long story short, we applied to NZQA for a review, and we just recieved the amendment to that report, so NZQA now assessed his degree as a 7 + a 9 level one (yay!).

The problem now is that my husband, who is the main applicant, in the meantime has become 40 years old (on June 11th), so now we only have only 130 points again.

We actually wrote an email back at the end of May to our immigration officer, asking whether we could submit the ITA application anyway while we waited for the review of his degree assessment by NZQA (we were fairly certain that they were wrong), but we were told by the officer not to submit the application, because it would have been rejected.

Now, the thing is, we were right ever since the beginning, and because of a mistake by NZQA now we apparently can't submit the ITA application to INZ.

My first reaction now would be to write to the INZ officer and ask if we can submit the application now, since we were ready with everything long before June 11th (and all the documents are dated before June 11th), and none of this was our fault (we really had 135 points!), but I fear that the officer will reject our request anyway, telling us not to submit the ITA application because now we don't have 135 points because of my husband's age.

BUT THIS WOULD BE SO NOT FAIR!

So, what do you suggest? Do we write to the officer and then go for some kind of claim procedure if the officer says no, or do we apply anyway (explaining all the events in the ITA application), and then, when INZ analyzes the application, if they reject it, we start the claim procedure?

Thank you all
Kismet

[JandM]

You're putting these arguments here on the forum, when the only people who can pronounce on them are at INZ. Good luck!

[kismet76]

... I was simply looking for a suggestion about how to go ahead. I thought this was the place where we shared our experiences on immigration, so I was hoping that someone who had already been through this could help us with their experience...

Clearly I'm not expecting to receive the final answer from INZ on my issue here on the forum, I was just looking for help, opinions, etc.


Has anyone else ever found themselves in this situation?

Does anyone have any indication on what would be the best course of action for us?
This whole immigration process has taken a lot of time and money, and I really don't want to screw everything up just because I chose the wrong approach.

I do not particulary trust INZ or NZQA officers right now, since they have been defensive whenever we asked for explanations, and while I completely understand that they need to follow the rules they've been given, they have never really tried to look at the substance of things instead of just the form.

You all know very well that there are life choices at stake here, family decisions, the future of our children, even... I think you all can understand how much we want this dream to come true, and how frustrating this kind of situation can be.

[JandM]

Yes, of course, to all that you've just said. And my previous reply was not intended to dismiss all of that. With luck, someone may come forward with some new experience - I haven't seen any case quite like yours on the threads previously.

I do not particulary trust INZ or NZQA officers right now, since they have been defensive whenever we asked for explanations, and while I completely understand that they need to follow the rules they've been given, they have never really tried to look at the substance of things instead of just the form.

The officials who deal with ordinary approaches aren't given discretion to look beyond the rules. Explanations and interpretations aren't part of their job: if someone's situation doesn't fit neatly in the tick-box set-up, it doesn't. However, other people with non-standard situations have had some success in asking if the official can please involve a manager or supervisor.

[khaled]

I did not have similar situation like yours but I were expecting it to mine and I planned for my case earlier. as you can see on my signature I started with IQA as focal point (I reached 40 Years in December 16th) and when I got ITA letter there were a warning statement form INZ to submit my application before my birthday or I will loose points from 135 to 130. Really it was so difficult to complete every thing in due date even though I prepared IQA earlier. At that time (one week before my birth day) I missed the police certificate for two countries which I have working in before as getting them were very long process. (( Here I contacted INZ for permission and my request was accepted. They asked my to submit my application as is and I attached history of requesting those documents showing delays beyond my control for convenience )) later on after two weeks I sent the missed two documents and things goes smoothly to date.
My Advice to you as JandM said is to contact INZ and to describe every thing in detail and it would be better if you support your request with any attachments showing your attempts to get IQA revised. do not loose hope, keep on and Good luck.

[jawnbc]

If you can afford to, I would submit it ASAP. In your covering letter explain that this was delayed because NZQS erroneously assessed your partner's credential--otherwise you would have sent it earlier. That is, however, only what I would do. I'm not an expert.