RV to PRV application

[lydialand0103]

Hi, team, I am about to travel overseas to celebrate my baby’s 100 day (10th of sep) on the 7th of sep, my prv was applied at the end of July, and the money was deducted from my account on the following day and I received an confirmation from immigration on 1st of aug. I’m a bit worried I may not get my prv before 7th. But I already booked my trip and families are waiting for us...
Is that okay if I travel overseas without getting the PRV ?
Anyone has the similar situation before please advise

[Kelerei]

I seem to recall someone on this forum in a similar situation as you, who had his Permanent Resident Visa granted while offshore. Can't find the thread right now, but JandM will probably come along shortly and link to it.

Some facts from the ops manual:

• If you have valid travel conditions covering your trip abroad, you have nothing to worry about: your Resident Visa will remain valid. See RA1.1
• If your travel conditions will expire before you leave, or while you are offshore, your Resident Visa will be deemed to expire the instant you are outside New Zealand with expired travel conditions. This has the following consequences:
  
  • You may still be granted a Permanent Resident Visa, and if INZ determines you are not eligible for one (and you ticked the box on the form indicating your consent to be assessed against other instructions), you may be granted a second or subsequent Resident Visa instead. See RV2.5(a), RV2.25 and RV4.10.
  • You will not be able to enter New Zealand as a resident unless you have been granted a Permanent Resident Visa or a second or subsequent Resident Visa. I have no idea what the consequences are if you try to enter New Zealand before either a Permanent Resident Visa or a second or subsequent Resident Visa is granted to you, but common sense suggests it would be unwise to try.

[JandM]

Here is the nearest I can find to what Kelerei half-remembers. https://www.enz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=55325 We never got to hear the end of the story, though - when the OP's PR actually did come through.

You have the absolute right to travel without having received your PR visa. That will not be a problem. Coming back to NZ at the end of your visit to your families is when you will need to show the airline, then Immigration at the airport of arrival, that you have permission to enter the country, and (as I assume your travel conditions that came with Residence have expired) that will mean the PR visa you have already applied for.

These days, with an eVisa being what is normally issued, there is no reason why it can't be printed out from an email wherever in the world you are while on holiday, so your location wouldn't make any difference to the processing and grant of PR. (People who don't apply till after they are already abroad sometimes have to send their application to a different INZ branch, but that doesn't affect your case.) If I were in your position, though, I'd be happier if I already had the PR visa to hand before setting out, because, with the present backlogs etc. at INZ, there are no guarantees of when the grant will happen (i.e. that it would be before your planned return). If you don't have proof of permission for re-entry, airlines are not allowed to let you board. So it's possible you would have to postpone your return flight. On that old thread, someone at INZ had specifically told the applicant that the visa would be issued before he needed it for the return journey. If you could get that assurance, it would remove some of the tension.