:confused: Resident to Permanent Resident

[Silent]

Hi Everyone,

My resident visa has a travel condition which is expiring on May 1. I am planning to send a courier with the Permanent Resident Application on May 2.
I am planning to travel overseas for a family celebration on 4th June, so basically I have one month in between.

If I write a cover letter & attach a copy of my travel ticket itinerary and a family invitation card to the Case Officer, requesting to process on an urgent basis.
Do you think they will consider that on an urgent basis and expedite the process? Has anyone been through that kind of situation before? Thanks in advance.

JandM, ChrisMwn, Egoodhue your comments will be appreciated.

[JandM]

In the past, people have mentioned that INZ were prepared to co-operate if there was an urgent reason for the person to need their PR, to be able to travel and have the right to re-enter the country. However, the way things are at the moment, with backlogs in many areas, I don't think it's safe to rely on this happening.

You would be able to apply for a 12-month Variation of Travel Conditions without waiting for the two-year anniversary of your original Residence visa https://www.immigration.govt.nz/docu...es/inz1176.pdf - i.e. you could do it now - also telling INZ that you have this trip planned, which would mean there wouldn't be the anxious wait in the last month.

[Kelerei]

The information to apply for a variation of travel conditions on your Resident Visa can be found here.

According to the INZ fees and decision time finder, the time taken to get either a variation of travel conditions, or a Permanent Resident Visa, is currently being quoted at 33 days. Given this timeframe, you should not expect to receive your passport back before you travel on June 4th if you apply for a Permanent Resident Visa on or after May 2nd (by my calculation, your passport will likely be returned to you the day after you depart!). However, if you apply for a variation of travel conditions with a degree of urgency (read: next business day), you should be granted this (if deemed eligible for a one year variation) and should receive your passport back sufficiently in advance of your departure date. With a one year variation of travel conditions granted, you would then be able to leave New Zealand and return as a resident for your planned trip, and can then safely defer your Permanent Resident Visa application to whenever you return.