ITA Submission - Nov 2018

[JandM]

It sounds as though your idea of what happens during processing isn't accurate.

The CO's job is to verify every single piece of evidence you have submitted, often by checking with third parties, some of whom may feel no urgency about replying. The CO also has to consider if what you have said about yourself fits with every detail of the regulations.

While all that is going on, the CO is ALSO working about 100 other cases in rotation with yours. S/He takes the first file, reads any replies that have come in, ticks off anything that can now be ticked off, and sends out any further queries that have arisen, then puts that file to the back, takes the next case and does the same - and so on, and so on. Whatever replies come in go to the relevant file, wherever it is in the CO's rotating queue. The CO won't see and deal with those replies until that file has once again worked its way to the front of the queue for its next turn for his/her attention. It's only when the CO looks at your case and ALL the queries have been answered and ALL points ticked off that s/he can recommend an outcome. So you see, your mental picture of a CO who ought to be dealing with your affairs the moment you have replied to him/her is very wide of the mark.

[sbranca]

It must be kept in mind that there is very high demand for immigration to NZ, and it’s a small country. Yes, there is a lot of process involved but we all have to go through it. A few get special treatment for special reasons, but only a few. Anyone going into this process needs to steel themselves for a long run, and be confident that it’s worth the trouble. If it doesn’t take so long, it’s a pleasant surprise.

[Suryz.lee]

Looking positive that you will have your passport back very soon. Congrats on getting that visa letter. 😁

Got my passport back on the 8th August

All done and dusted.

[Digger75]

Got my passport back on the 8th August

All done and dusted.

Woop woop! Congratulations! 👍🍾

[EGoodhue]

I very curious, how many application does Immigration officer assess per day? and step to next application?

I haven't got any response from Immigration Officer sine 17th May 2019 and call to INZ call centre to check my application, they always says "Your application is still with Immigration Officer. I couldn't tell you which steps your application is".

Just guess, if they processing around 2 ~ 3 case per day, 65days = around 130 ~ 195 cases that they can look over.

I have seen some thread that each immigration officer now handling around 100 ~ 120 application.

Not even requested any further documents just silence. Now I can just think "what a incompetent people they are"

Plz, anybody give me strong sedative to escape from this shiity situations?

An Immigration Officer processing SMC applications has around 40-60 applications in their caseload at any one time. And they won't be checking every one of those 40-60 every day. An SMC Immigration Officer's caseload is generally divided into 'Actionable' (meaning that the next applicable step in the end-to-end process can be taken by the Immigration Officer) and 'Non Actionable' (meaning that the Immigration Officer needs something else to happen before they can move the application forward in the process). An SMC application generally flicks between 'Actionable' and 'Non Actionable' depending upon the type of information/evidence that is coming into the Immigration Officer via emails or mail on a daily basis. For example, when the Immigration Officer is first allocate the application file, they are required to do an Initial Assessment - that is, checking every single piece of paper on the application file for accuracy/finding any evidence relating to points claimed that might be missing/seeing what sort of verification needs to happen. A file is 'Actionable' at this Initial Assessment step, but becomes 'Non Actionable' when the Immigration Officer send out a request for more or missing documents to the client/sends a questionnaire to the client's employer for verification, or perhaps the medical needs to be assessed by the Medical Assessor or the NSC result is still pending. Any of these things will mean that an Immigration Officer can't do anything further on that file and it goes into the 'Non Actionable' section of their caseload, to wait for the info/evidence/documents they need to come back. Once that info/evidence/documents come back, the file becomes 'Actionable' again, and on and on it goes until the Immigration Officer has absolutely everything they need to be able to make a final assessment and decision. A long case summary is then written up and the file is put forward for a quality check/2PC. The whole process of a file going between being 'Actionable' and 'Non Actionable' can take up to a couple of months before an Immigration Officer can have everything they need to be able to make their final assessment and decision.

[jeof]

Hi JandM,

I just want to share my situation here and need your friendly advice . My SMC lodgement date was in 9th of November last year and was allocated 17th of April 2019. Given that I was allocated for 4 months now, this CO didn't get in touch with me or my LIA (though I understand) not until the last week of July when we sent a receipt and support letter from my employer for my salary increased. We received his response through email and informed us that he's still working for the initial assessment of my application and that's all.

Now here's the point, I've been asking my previous and current employers if they received any verification from INZ for the last four months and none of them do. I understand the CO work and the rotation but lately it really feels like there's something strange. I'm trying to be calm as much as possible and don't want to send bunch of questions to this CO and just let him do his work but is this really normal for not sending any verification/questionnaire to employers for 4 months now or will they do this every last stage of initial assessment?

Cheers

[Yanshi]

Hi JandM,

I just want to share my situation here and need your friendly advice . My SMC lodgement date was in 9th of November last year and was allocated 17th of April 2019. Given that I was allocated for 4 months now, this CO didn't get in touch with me or my LIA (though I understand) not until the last week of July when we sent a receipt and support letter from my employer for my salary increased. We received his response through email and informed us that he's still working for the initial assessment of my application and that's all.

Now here's the point, I've been asking my previous and current employers if they received any verification from INZ for the last four months and none of them do. I understand the CO work and the rotation but lately it really feels like there's something strange. I'm trying to be calm as much as possible and don't want to send bunch of questions to this CO and just let him do his work but is this really normal for not sending any verification/questionnaire to employers for 4 months now or will they do this every last stage of initial assessment?

Cheers

Hi Jeof,
I am not an expert but hope my situation will help you. I have lodged application in Dec and got CO for my application in May. He has completed initial assessment but STILL my employer hasn't been contacted yet. Though it sounds strange but feels it's not only the CO allocation been slowed down by INZ BUT processing of application even after CO allocation has slowed down as well.
As employment verification is an essential part of SMC application and even after 4-5 months after CO allocation and employment verification yet to be done indicates the slowness in application processing by CO.

[Yanco]

It sounds like they even halted processing applications that were already assigned to a CO but do not meet their internal criteria for speed processing and CO's are currently only working on applications where the applicant meets these criteria.

[ladge]

It sounds like they even halted processing applications that were already assigned to a CO but do not meet their internal criteria for speed processing and CO's are currently only working on applications where the applicant meets these criteria.

I have noticed that too, Yanco. It's sad because you worked hard for you to be able to get the salary so that you can apply for SMC residency visa. You honeslty fill up the visa form and sent immediately all the documents needed. You are sure that you are eligible to the criteria set by INZ. Then, INZ did not tell the public that they will drag down the processing of visa in order to stick to their target. Many families' lives and plans were put on hold because of this decision of INZ. You could have done another way to get your residency. INZ should have just informed the public before that once they have enough application in reaching their target residency approval, they could just close it temporarily so that families or individuals will not file anymore and will just wait for another round of opening up of SMC visa. Unlike now, many are kept in the dark. It is so frustrating!

[Imran07]

It sounds like they even halted processing applications that were already assigned to a CO but do not meet their internal criteria for speed processing and CO's are currently only working on applications where the applicant meets these criteria.

I'm in a similar situation. Mine was lodged in October. CO was assigned in March and asked for tax documents / questionnaire to the employer. My LIA called on Monday and it is still under process, the CO had also once mentioned that she only received the allocation in March. Which seems quite a long time, so they're definitely working based on an internal criteria.