Yes, I also just noticed the "on hand" document sates "Tendered at INZ, but not necessarily accepted for processing" So I guess that's all applications sent in, but before they are actually lodged (aka some will be missing documents or so and not get lodged)?

Covid makes sense. I am still however shocked that the backlog for a work visa is much longer than a residency one.
I lodged my work visa August 8th, it's not even assigned an officer yet, lodged my residency visa last friday September 24th. We shall see.

On another note, would it look bad if I withdrew the work visa and simply waited for the residency one to come through? I am currently on a student visa (not expiring anytime soon). It might be faster to get processed anyway by the looks of it.