Declined Visitor Visa (Insufficient evidence of employment, financial commitments, international travel, purpose of travel)

[Lens]

I realise that the forum is about people moving to New Zealand rather than for short visits, but I’m at a loss where else to look for information.

A friend from South Africa (not a visa waiver country) is planning to visit for 12 days at the end of March, but her visitor visa application has been declined as not a bona fide applicant. She is single, 49 years old, has a live-in 24 yo son, and a one day a week 19 yo daughter. She is in full-time permanent employment as bookkeeper managing the financial team at a local school. Air tickets have been pre-purchased. $3k is available for the visit (shown by bank statement), there is a letter of employment from the school and most accommodation (hotels, motels and Airbnbs) and activities have been pre-purchased (e.g. Tongariro, Hobbiton, Waitomo, Kapiti Island, local flights, Coastal Pacific train, Interislander ferry, Weta Workshops).

INZ cites four reasons for declining the application;
• You have not provided sufficient evidence to demonstrate strong employment in your home country.
• You have not provided sufficient evidence to demonstrate strong financial commitments in your home country.
• You have not provided sufficient evidence of international travel to demonstrate a history of compliance with immigration requirements.
• You have not provided adequate evidence to support your purpose of travel to New Zealand.

INZ also says that they don’t believe that requiring a bond or issuing a limited visa would make any difference.

International travel history is awkward as she has not travelled internationally in about 18 years. For the other three reasons I can only assume that the application was ‘thin’ on details. I’ve searched the forum and found some references to documentation for a Visitor Visa, but not enough to give a newbie enough of a guide to the sorts of evidence that have been successful for others.

Anybody is able to speak about their own experiences or point me toward resources to guide the content of the next application?

PS: This post is not related to posts I've made previously about partner visas. This is purely a 12-day visit as a tourist and to see some friends.

[khaled_eid]

I have the same issue with my our friend,mayINZ decline may be all female visitor visa.
The just list generic reasons, I do not recommend that she applies again as it will be refused whatsoever supporting documents

[Lens]

I certainly hope it's not the case that INZ is doing a blanket refusal. My experience has been that they are tough, but generally fair.

It seems that the online process may be a little misleading to the uninitiated - it take the applicant through a series of steps and tick boxes which create the impression that the applicant has provided all the necessary information. Right at the end of the application process, just before payment, there is a statement to the effect that INZ will (or may?) request further information if needed. Which implies that if insufficient information has been provided (remembering that INZ provides scant information on what is required), that it will be requested. Instead you get $211 of 'instant death'.

She is applying again, but is this time including a covering letter with a lot of information and supporting documentation on her job, her business, her family connections, her house, her (pre-paid) itinerary, etc. It seems over the top, but hey ...

Will update this thread on the outcome.

[khaled_eid]

I certainly hope it's not the case that INZ is doing a blanket refusal. My experience has been that they are tough, but generally fair.

It seems that the online process may be a little misleading to the uninitiated - it take the applicant through a series of steps and tick boxes which create the impression that the applicant has provided all the necessary information. Right at the end of the application process, just before payment, there is a statement to the effect that INZ will (or may?) request further information if needed. Which implies that if insufficient information has been provided (remembering that INZ provides scant information on what is required), that it will be requested. Instead you get $211 of 'instant death'.

She is applying again, but is this time including a covering letter with a lot of information and supporting documentation on her job, her business, her family connections, her house, her (pre-paid) itinerary, etc. It seems over the top, but hey ...

Will update this thread on the outcome.

I did not say blanket refusal but there is a reason behind which they do not say. We applied again and the visa refused for the same reasons they list in the first letter and I guess most likely that that you will get refer to my previous post.
They are not tough I believe it is targeted against some nationalities by looking to the approval statistic

[cakes88]

I did not say blanket refusal but there is a reason behind which they do not say. We applied again and the visa refused for the same reasons they list in the first letter and I guess most likely that that you will get refer to my previous post.
They are not tough I believe it is targeted against some nationalities by looking to the approval statistic

Try to request your personal information with INZ and you might get the answer there. You'll get comprehensive information regarding your visa process and even the internal CO comments regarding concerns. I've tried this method and find out why one of my visa got declined and the next one got approved. I think by doing this you can get more understanding regarding your declined visa and do better preparation for your next application.

[Lens]

Thanks - I had no idea that you could do that.

[khaled_eid]

Try to request your personal information with INZ and you might get the answer there. You'll get comprehensive information regarding your visa process and even the internal CO comments regarding concerns. I've tried this method and find out why one of my visa got declined and the next one got approved. I think by doing this you can get more understanding regarding your declined visa and do better preparation for your next application.

Thanks for that but how to request this ? does it provide more detailed information that what provided in the generic declined one ?

[cakes88]

Thanks for that but how to request this ? does it provide more detailed information that what provided in the generic declined one ?

just go here:
https://www.immigration.govt.nz/cont...st-information

I'll say it might provide better information or might not however, it's worth a try and you don't need to pay anyway.

[Lens]

An update - my friend is required to complete INZ1200 - https://www.immigration.govt.nz/docu...es/inz1200.pdf. This is in response to her second visa application (a 12-day stay in New Zealand, pre-paid travel and accommodation/activities).

I am struggling to understand the need for this level of interrogation. Religion, ethnicity, any other nationalities/citizenship, family details (parents, siblings, children - alive or living), life-time employment and education history, all travel ever, explain period of unemployment, have you ever been employed by a government, have you been employed by a politician, life-time political associations and affiliations, ever associated with law enforcement or intelligence, ever employed in a prison or detention centre, ever witnessed or participated in ill-treatment of anyone, military service history, what age were you when armed conflict ended in your country (she is from Zimbabwe, originally Rhodesia).

I understand that INZ has a duty of responsibility to protect our borders from the potential for someone to arrive without the intention of leaving, but this? I am aghast at the draconian nature of the response. I feel that this is utterly unreasonable, and no matter what the outcome, I'm going to rattle as many cages as I can once this is over. I am appalled that we would treat someone in this way.

If anyone has an thoughts that may be useful, I would appreciate hearing them.

[EGoodhue]

So sorry to hear that your friend is having these struggles - unfortunately, I am very familiar with such issues as I deal with INZ on a daily basis as a licensed adviser, and I am shocked at the downturn in level of customer service the organisation is extending to all clients lately. The instructions about who needs to complete the INZ1200 form are unfortunately "restricted", meaning that they are not publicly available and known only to INZ themselves. Yes, this is incredibly unfair but it is what it is I'm afraid. I've had South African clients who have been asked to complete the INZ1200 form recently, when up until a few months ago, this wasn't required for South Africans - only other nationalities considered "high risk" (again, a list of such nationalities is "restricted").

The treatment of applicants by the offshore offices (namely the two branches of INZ based in India) is terrible, and the decline rates for visa applications for very straightforward and obvious visits are through the roof. The offshore offices behave like the "Wild West", where they make their own rules up as they go and to complain leads to an attitude of 'so what? what are you going to do about it?'. But please do go ahead and rattle as many cages as you can, as you've mentioned - the more people who speak up about the unnacceptable attitude of INZ's offshore branches, the more chance that something may be done to improve it (I live in hope!).