Partnership-based residency visa application - processing time

[freesoul]

Hi, I'm a New Zealand citizen and my husband has been here for a year. He currently holds a partnership-based work visa (granted in Dec 2014). Since we just completed the requirement of living together for 12 months, we have now submitted an application for resident visa under the partnership category. I know the processing time is around 6-9 months (Auckland central branch). But how long is it till a case officer is normally assigned? His work visa expires in exactly 6 months and we're wondering whether we're likely to get residence approved before then. When we talked to immigration NZ, the nice lady who answered the phone advised that we contact them at least a month before his work visa expires to check on the status of our residence application and work out whether or not to apply for another work visa (to be safe). Anyone know the current processing time for residence visas under partnership category (assuming all the paper work is okay and complete)? Thanks a lot!

[sheepland]

Hi, I applied in Christchurch and was transferred to Manukau branch in Auckland. Mine was assigned a CO in 2 weeks, she asked for more info and now it happens that I checked with her the status. She told me she can't tell me how long as they were waiting for NZ Police checks that had a backlog, delaying all processing times. But I feel yours will be assigned a CO quickly to since your husband had a previous partnership work visa (I too had one) but it's just a matter of waiting. Hope this helps

[freesoul]

Thank you Sheepland Hope everything goes well. 2 weeks is pretty quick indeed. Fingers crossed!