I've been selected out of the most recent EOI for a Skilled Migrant Visa (8 Jan - I have 175 points with a job offer) and just received the ITA by email from INZ.
I've been reading through all the threads on people's experiences with INZ and it seems everyone has really different lengths of time taken to be processed. But my future employer is really keen for me to start by April and I'm worried about having to book flights, etc, before visas come through. Or alternatively, it will be ridiculously expensive to book flights and accommodation at the very last minute if we wait til the visas arrive.
Is this plan below about right?
Medicals & x-rays - doing them this Thursday, we should get them back a week later, assuming nothing unexpected comes up (we're all fit and healthy, but you never know!).
Police certs - already applied, they should arrive next week.
All other supporting docs are in place & ready to go.
Aim to submit our application by the last week January.
INZ London say 4-6 weeks processing time - so possibly we could be approved in principle by end Feb??? (This doesn't match up people's experiences here though!)
Then how long does it take to get the actual visas in passports and for them to get to you, a couple of weeks? We're sending passports in with our application, so that we don't slow anything down.
Would be really good to know if we're being ridiculously optimistic… I think our application is straightforward as the job offer is in place and my work exp / qual points are easy to verify.
Thanks.