Response Time from D.C. Branch

[iluvmykiwi]

We mailed off for my partnership based residency visa in December, and it was received on December 11th. According to their website, they aim to have a 10 day turn around, and if not they will contact you within that time to let you know if they need anything else. Now, I wasn't really necessarily expecting a 10 day response, especially around the holidays, but I thought I would have heard something by now, even if it was for more information.

Should I call them up and request a status update? I think I'm nervous about bugging them and making that a bad mark against me, hehe. Thoughts?

[hiren]

Hi there,

I am planning to apply same for my wifey soon. Did you apply within NZ or overseas?
Please do keep updating the progress and i will share mine as soon as I apply for my wife.

Thanks,
Hiren

[Mara]

I applied in October and it took just under 3 weeks for the approval letter to arrive. I think the holidays has probably slowed things down a bit.
Good luck!

[iluvmykiwi]

Thank you for the encouragement, Mara!

And Hiren, I applied outside of NZ to Washington D.C. I'll post as soon as I hear anything.

[hiren]

HI iluvmykiwi,

Just wondering whether you had any progress in your application yet?

[iluvmykiwi]

Hi Hiren! Sorry, I didn't see this until now. Progress? Yes and no, lol.

After several e-mails and phone calls my husband was finally able to get some real help. It turned out that when we were told that partnership applications tok precedence that they were assuming that we were talking about temporary residency(?) like coming over on the partnership visitors or working visa. We also found out that they are currently behind on their visa processing. Also, the 10 business days before they get back to you with any kind of response only applies to certain visas, even though that is not specified anywhere on the embassy website, the VAC website, or INZ's website.

Since my husband has already received a job offer, and we have a dog that we had already started the 6 month process for export on, we were told to go ahead and apply for student visas for my two older sons, and a working/visiting partner' visa for myself and my youngest. We SHOULD have a response within 10 business days on those visas, and because we're applying from outside New Zealand, it was free. (The USA has a visa waiver program with NZ.) We're sitting at 5 or 6 business days right now. They have cashed our application servicing fees, but still have not updated our tracking information.

The ridiculous thing is that even though they have to open our case and look at the original information submitted in order to approve the second visas we've applied for, it could still be another 3 months before they do anything about our original residency visa applications. If you're going to look at the same information anyway, why not just take care of the original visa right then? But whatever. I'll just be happy to have my passport back with a visa inside. I'm anxious to get the moving part over with and settle down.

[iluvmykiwi]

Oh, and the partnership visitor/working visa is good for up to 2 years. The partnership residency visa has a 3 to 6 month turn around as things stand. But as others on here have shown, it seems to depend on what time of year you apply.

[iluvmykiwi]

Just found out that 3 out of 4 of our visas were approved. My nine-year-old son is being put on hold because of his Aspergers. We sent stacks of medical and school paperwork in showing that he would not be a burden on the system, including a statement from his last therapist. They are holding on to all of our passports until his gets approved. It could take up to another 5 weeks. We were told that he could apply for citizenship. The problem being that they have his passport and birth certificate, and that could take another 4 weeks.

At the very least they could send the passports of the other 2 boys back so that they can travel with my husband. I will stay with my son if I need to, that's not an issue. But don't hold the entire family hostage.