Hi there!
My parents are currently applying for residency, and waiting for a case officer to be assigned. As you are aware, the immigration law has changed last October so my parents' application got delayed a bit. We were estimating our application to be approved by the end of last year but now it may happen between July 2017 ~ May 2018. Unfortunately my mother's passport will expire in January 2018, and as far as I know a passport should not expire within 3 months(3 months + amount of days they will stay in NZ) after their application gets approved and my parents enter New Zealand.
We are thinking perhaps she should update her passport so she won't have to worry about her passport expiring while the application is being assessed. However, we are worried if she updates her passport soon it may interfere with her application because the application was submitted with her current passport number. If she updates her passport then she will have a new passport number.
Ill call the immigration office for advise but I also would like to hear what experts here say and what others have done in similar cases.
Thank you.