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Thread: Visitor visa questions

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Nov 2014
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    Default Visitor visa questions

    Asking on behalf of a friend who is a NZ resident and so his wife (he was the main applicant)

    He intends to call his mother-in-law for a period of 6 to 7 months. I understand that the max visitor visa is for up to 9 months.

    Just had a few questions:

    • Is the whole process online or offline and can they apply for her visa from NZ itself? Do they have to create a new login to apply for her visitor visa?
    • Can he be the sponsor or his wife? Does he (being the prime applicant for NZ resident) have a bigger influence on her application? (Both have full time employment)
    • Mother-in-law does not have any source of income currently. What sort of documents are required?
    • Since they are not sure about the duration of visa which will be granted, they do not want to risk booking the return ticket in advance however is it better to book the return ticket before applying for the visitor visa? They have already booked the departure ticket from the home country to NZ.
    • Is a medical test required regardless of the visa duration?
    • If the expected arrival is last week of Feb, how soon should they apply for her visa?
    • They will be buying travel insurance during her stay. Does it matter if it's purchased now or after the visa is granted.

  2. #2
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    Default

    Anyone?

  3. #3
    Join Date
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    Default

    I haven't seen anyone set out all the details about getting this kind of visa, so I'm just going on what it's possible to research from INZ, which you and your friend can also see online.

    The procedure for visitor visas can, I understand, vary slightly depending on which country the person is originally from, so it would be a good idea for your friend to look carefully at all the tabs on the INZ visitor visa factsheet page - here is the Criteria tab https://www.immigration.govt.nz/new-...-visa#criteria, but also see the Process one, which asks you to enter the country of origin.

    Hit on the button to see the Evidence required. Under the section about Funds or Sponsorship, there is another button to show you information about Acceptable Sponsors.

    About the return ticket, see the section about Onward Travel.

    Does anyone else have anything they can add?

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2018
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    Default

    Applying for a Visitor visa from offshore is actually not as easy as many people think as, unfortunately, many of INZ's offshore offices have very strict interpretations of the Visitor visa policy and tend to apply it quite harshly (as I've experienced in my practice as an LIA).

    [*]Is the whole process online or offline and can they apply for her visa from NZ itself? Do they have to create a new login to apply for her visitor visa? A Visitor visa can be applied for online. I'm not too sure if the 'apply on behalf' function extends to family and friends - I've only ever used it as an LIA applying on behalf of my clients.[*]Can he be the sponsor or his wife? Does he (being the prime applicant for NZ resident) have a bigger influence on her application? (Both have full time employment) Either your friend or his wife could be the sponsor - there's not really much benefit of one over the other, apart from the fact that it might look more straightforward to the IO assessing the application if the wife were the sponsor since it's her mother (I assume)[*]Mother-in-law does not have any source of income currently. What sort of documents are required? INZ will be looking for evidence that she has funds to support herself during her visit to NZ ($1,000 per month of stay) - 6 months worth of bank statements usually satisfy this criteria. If she's being sponsored, these will be the sponsors bank statements. [*]Since they are not sure about the duration of visa which will be granted, they do not want to risk booking the return ticket in advance however is it better to book the return ticket before applying for the visitor visa? They have already booked the departure ticket from the home country to NZ. A flight reservation that is to be confirmed upon payment (once the visa is issued) would be ok. Or the bank statements mentioned above showing that there is enough money to purchase an outward ticket. [*]Is a medical test required regardless of the visa duration? Chest x-ray is required for stays longer than 6 months if you're from or have visited countries where there is a high incidence of TB. Medicals are required for stays of 12 months or longer.[*]If the expected arrival is last week of Feb, how soon should they apply for her visa? In my recent experience, it's taking up to 1 month for INZ to process Visitor visa applications at the moment, but this can change from week to week - also keep in mind that INZ shuts down for up to 2 weeks over Christmas (usually from Christmas Eve) and even before and after Christmas, staffing levels can be very low as staff take long summer holidays so processing times tend to increase over this time. It would be safe to assume processing to take up to 2 months between December and February. [*]They will be buying travel insurance during her stay. Does it matter if it's purchased now or after the visa is granted. No evidence of insurance is required as part of the visa application assessment. [/LIST][/QUOTE]

    The main criteria to satisfy is the bona fide visitor requirements - INZ want to know that Visitor visa applicants are genuinely only coming to NZ for a short visit and don't intend to stay here permanently, or are at risk of being overstayers. Providing as much evidence of the life an applicant has to return home to is beneficial (evidence of a job to return to, a home they own, family they are close to, social or family committments or events they are scheduled to attend, mortgages or loans they need to service, etc.) This is the criteria that offshore offices are renowned for being very strict on.

  5. #5
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    Thanks a lot JandM and EGoodhue!

    If the visitor visa is for 6 months and later on an extension is needed, can they reapply from NZ itself and will a chest X-Ray needed owing to the extension of the stay?

  6. #6
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    The chest x-ray requirement at 6 months takes into account time already spent in NZ and future time intended to be spent in NZ - so if they initially apply for 6 month and then extend for 3 months, they will need to provide a chest X-ray when they apply for the extra 3 months.

  7. #7
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    Thanks.

    When my friend tries to apply online for his mother-in-law's visitor visa, it's asking for a RealMe login. Does he have to create a new login for her or use his own RealMe account?

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Famed View Post
    Thanks.

    When my friend tries to apply online for his mother-in-law's visitor visa, it's asking for a RealMe login. Does he have to create a new login for her or use his own RealMe account?
    I think this would be a question to ask the INZ call centre - I only know about applying on behalf of someone else in the capacity of their immigration adviser, I don't know about applying on behalf as a friend or family member.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Aug 2016
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    @EGoodhue Immigration Online now allows for on behalf applications as long as the Visitor Visa declaration form is used. My friend submitted her husband’s visit visa application online using her own RealMe account. The husband also allowed her to be allowed to check the status of his application

    https://www.immigration.govt.nz/docu...es/inz1224.pdf

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
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    37,824

    Default

    Thank you - that's helpful.

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