My son was born in the U.S. but he has NZ citizenship by descent. He lives in the U.S. and is married to an American. They have three kids. Son and family are making the move to NZ, arriving on Jan 1st. They're applying for partner sponsored residency for my son's wife and kiddos. There has been one delay after another. The latest is that DIL's fingerprints had to be redone for the FBI police certificate - which is the last hurdle. They're hoping to receive it in a week or two. But obviously they won't be receiving their residency papers before arriving in NZ on Jan 1st.
NZ immigration told me that my daughter-in-law can apply for a partner-sponsored open work visa and student visas for the kids - that will allow them to be in NZ in time for the new school year at the end of January, which is what they're doing. The open work visa/student visas take less than 30 days to process. But they have to send in all the medical/police checks/passports etc. with the open work visa/student visas applications. Then they have to send in the same documents with the residency applications.
Question: As they'll need passports to come to NZ on Jan 1st - can they send in a certified copy of the passports for the residency application? If they wait until they're in NZ to apply for PR, their police checks and medicals will have been done more than three months prior to the application.
Hope someone has the answer. Thanks.