interim visa while awaiting for residency

[Zago]

Hi guys,

I am under a work to residence visa, working in NZ.
I already applied for the residency, but it seems it will take some months, and my current visa will expire within 3 weeks.
The agent that´s assessing my process sent me the following information:

While your residence visa is in process, you must remain on a valid temporary visa in the interim. For more information on how to proceed, I would advise that you contact our call centre on 09 914 4100 to advise you on the next appropriate steps.

I called INZ today and they told me the interim visa is issued only when applying for an extension of the current visa, which is not the case. They say that me and my partner have to apply for new work visas (fees, translations and medical exams again), otherwise we´ll be uncovered after the visa expires.

Did anyone experienced similar thing?

Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks

[BelgianKiwi]

Hi

Yes, unfortunately an interim visa is only given when you're on a temporary visa and applying for another temporary visa. Immigration does not give the interim visa when you apply for residence.

I applied for a second Essential Skills Visa on 19 Jan first visa was going to expire on 28 Jan) and got the interim visa on 23 Jan I think. Despite the fact that I had to wait an extra week for the translation of my home country's police check.

I still had PDF's of all my other translations, my boss quickly put out an ad for my position the weeks before while drafting everything I needed from them for the visa. The only thing that might take more time than the rest of the medical exam depending on how busy they are. But it's worth calling medical centres that do immigration medicals to see who has the earliest spot for you.

[JandM]

While your residence visa is in process, you must remain on a valid temporary visa in the interim.

I'm afraid you have misunderstood this sentence. "In the interim" means "in the meantime", that is, in the time between now and when processing of your residence application finishes. They are not talking about the Interim Visa here - it just happens to use that same word in its name.

Yes, you have to get new work visas. Quite likely, you will not need to provide new medical certificates, if it is less than 36 months since you supplied them before. A4.25 c here. https://www.immigration.govt.nz/opsm....htm?35154.htm

Don't worry that time is short until your existing visas run out - as long as you lodge the new applications while the old ones are still running, then at that point, INZ can issue interim visas to keep you legally in NZ while waiting for processing to be done.

[icpee]

I'm afraid you have misunderstood this sentence. "In the interim" means "in the meantime", that is, in the time between now and when processing of your residence application finishes. They are not talking about the Interim Visa here - it just happens to use that same word in its name.

Yes, you have to get new work visas. Quite likely, you will not need to provide new medical certificates, if it is less than 36 months since you supplied them before. A4.25 c here. https://www.immigration.govt.nz/opsm....htm?35154.htm

Don't worry that time is short until your existing visas run out - as long as you lodge the new applications while the old ones are still running, then at that point, INZ can issue interim visas to keep you legally in NZ while waiting for processing to be done.

HI JandM,

I am in a same situation as the original poster and i realise i am replying to an old message but i'd rather do that then post a whole new topic.

My partner got granted a 2 year New Zealand work visa when we were in South Africa. That work visa will expire in a few months (February 2020) and we're now at 12th November 2019.
I am currently working through to apply for a Residence Visa for my partner but understand this process will take months to complete.

How can i keep my partner in NZ with me until we hear back from her Residence Visa? When applying for Residence, our passports will be submitted with the application so how can we apply for the work visa extension when our passports are with INZ in the Residence Visa application.

Kind regards,

[lda]

I applied both partnership work visa and residence visa in case...

[JandM]

You don't have to send in your passports. You can use certified copies. https://www.immigration.govt.nz/know...-question-7058

[deverett]

What I'm interested to see is if there is any change to this given the long delays in the migrant visas at the moment. It seems unfair that an employer needs to jump through hoops and then people reapply for visas and pay the expense due to INZ not looking at applications in a reasonable time frame. If you had over 12 months on your work visa when you applied for residency it does seem harsh to enforce this rule. Luckily we have over a year left so hopefully they have 12 months to look at our SMC application before it's an issue but there must be people around that are beginning to have this problem now.

[Imran07]

I had to apply for extensions for my partner and I, it was approved within a week or two on the basis that the information provided is already with our residence application which has been with INZ for almost 13 months now. My partner had to redo her medical though, since it has been over 36 months since her last one. The extension was granted for 1 year with a clause stating it may be granted for another 6 months if required, but that would require a new work visa application.

[ag]

I had to apply for extensions for my partner and I, it was approved within a week or two on the basis that the information provided is already with our residence application which has been with INZ for almost 13 months now. My partner had to redo her medical though, since it has been over 36 months since her last one. The extension was granted for 1 year with a clause stating it may be granted for another 6 months if required, but that would require a new work visa application.

Hi Imran,
Thank you for your inputs. Just a few doubts on this.

Did you have to pay for the work visa again?
Or you just mailed them and requested for an extension without paying?

And, if you don't mind me asking. which visa are we talking here about?
Essential Skills or some other visa?

Kind Regards.

[Imran07]

Hi Imran,
Thank you for your inputs. Just a few doubts on this.

Did you have to pay for the work visa again?
Or you just mailed them and requested for an extension without paying?

And, if you don't mind me asking. which visa are we talking here about?
Essential Skills or some other visa?

Kind Regards.

Hey areddy, yes they were new essential skills applications submitted for an extension based on residency. Had to pay application fees x 2 + my LIA charges.