I'm not 100% sure; my LIA is handling all communication with the CO. That being said, I believe that SMC is handled at Manukau -- certainly onshore applications, anyway.
Work to Residence (Accredited Employer).
While I could have waited until December 2020 to apply for residence via the WTR pathway, we made the decision to rather not wait and apply now via the SMC pathway, since I exceed the minimum points threshold. Thing is, immigration departments the world over can change their rules at a moment's notice (they answer to their electorate, not to the migrants they serve), and I would prefer to not be in a situation where all residence pathways become unavailable to me due to some policy change.
I required gaining employment onshore before applying under SMC, as I would not have met the minimum points threshold otherwise.
Latest update: case officer has completed her verification, application has progressed to 2PC.
I already have lodgement date! Yahoo! ☺️☺️ One step at a time and we will all reach there. Will wait for CO now! 🙏🙏
Just sharing my timeline here as well..
EOI selected: Jan 23
ITA received: Jan 24
ITA lodged: March 28
Branch: Manukau
Application number appeared online: April 10
Payment deduction & email received for item on its way: April 16
Welcome. Thank you.
SMC applications that were lodged on 7 November 2018 are currently being allocated to CO's - so it's probably another 4-5 month wait for those of you that lodged in March, as INZ have confirmed that the volume of SMC applications lodged in November 2018 was higher than average, so will take longer for them to work through them.