Partner of expat Kiwi (outside NZ) - Residence - Timeline/Progress Share Thread

[drewgoater]

Oh kiwis, that's great news for you! Hopefully that means we should get one next week though I know it's not an exact science...very interested to keep sharing our experiences, this is really helping my mindset Interesting to see what happens next and how long it takes - Good Luck! Drew.

[kiwis]

Manizaina21, sure, she asked for statements of support from friends and family (something an embassy staffer told us wasn't all that important so we didn't think we needed them, so heads up, include them with yours). She also asked for further explanation of how our finances are managed and shared (if all your accounts are joint accounts this probably won't matter for you). Best of luck on your application, hopefully some of our experiences will give you an idea of what to expect when you apply.

Drew, fingers crossed you get a CO in the next week also! It definitely helps reading other people's experiences, especially at a similar stage in the process. Good luck to you also!

[JandM]

drewgoater, when your application arrives, it gets checked over by clerks to see that it APPEARS (without verifying anything) that you have supplied evidence of what you have claimed about yourselves. Then it joins a date-order queue, waiting to get allocated to a CO. Every CO works about 100 cases in rotation. When one of the COs finalizes one or some of their cases and has room for some more, they are taken from the front of the waiting queue. Then they join the back of the CO's queue. When a file has worked its way to the front of the queue, it gets its turn for the CO's attention. S/He then starts to verify the evidence. Everything you sent will be checked. In many cases the CO will need to ask other people to reply to questions about the evidence, to check that it is true. The CO will send out queries, then your case will go to the back of the queue again, while s/he does everything possible on the next, and the next, and so on. When your file next comes to the front, the CO will see if any replies have come back so s/he can tick off any points as proved. This sequence goes on until every point is proved. If the CO needs any information or comment from you, s/he will ask, but otherwise, you won't hear from her/him. You don't get updates on the detail of what is happening.

I'm afraid you're going to be waiting longer than you imagined. It's not that your case is complicated that takes the time, but waiting for its turns for the CO's attention, and also, that the CO is waiting for replies from other people.

[drewgoater]

Thanks JandM for your time replying. I shall remain optimistic and hope that the people reply promptly Drew

[omaha17]

Hi,

07/12/16 Lodged at INZ Manukau Branch, infomed there would be a 1-3 month wait to be assigned a CO
02/03/17 First contact from CO, email asking for chronology of our relationship by the 6th March 2017
04/04/17 Email from CO Visa approved in principal.

Ours was processed 4 months - doesn’t seem so long now but at the time

[kiwis]

Thanks Omaha17, not too long at all, but the suspense is excruciating. 4 months to process was our hope before we learned of the backlog of applications they're processing.

[willow31]

Hi all! I am an expat kiwi and so my partner is applying for his residency visa. The application is showing online but no lodgement date on there as yet. We have been together 14 years and have a 5 year old son who already has his NZ passport. We'll be arriving in NZ mid December so if the visa hasn't gone through by then we'll have to apply for a temporary one while we wait....fingers crossed it doesn't come to that!!!

[afshinyazdi]

Hi

My application was recieved and lodged on 23/05/17.

I called INZ on 12/07/17 and they said i have has a CO assigned to my application on 11/07/17.

But i havent had any contact from him. I think thats a good sign??

Will keep you updated

Afshin

[kiwis]

Afshin, we got an email from our CO and her introduction said she had already done an initial assessment, perhaps you'll get an email from yours once they've done the assessment. It's Saturday in NZ now so I suppose no-one will be hearing from their CO's for the weekend. Our timelines are almost the same so far. Good luck!

[JandM]

COs do not necessarily introduce themselves when your case is allocated to them. You will only hear from them definitely if they have something to tell you, or if they require information. Not to hear from them isn't a sign of anything in particular. In any case, since your case only went to the CO the day before the call centre told you of it, it will most likely be some time before the CO sees it. New cases go to the back of the CO's rotating queue of cases (around 100). It will work its way up the queue, then will get its first turn for his/her attention. At that point, s/he will look at your information and send off the first set of queries required to verify your evidence, then your case will go to the back of the line again. Replies will go to your file wherever it is in the queue, and s/he won't see them till it has worked its way to the front again.