Originally Posted by
mad_wild
I was worried I would need to send my passport off to somewhere to get the visa issued and wait till I receive it back to travel, glad to hear that it's issued as an eVisa.
If this is your primary concern, I can answer this from my own experience (INZ wanted to sight my partner's passport as she got it renewed while our SMC application was in process).
The short version: you
may be asked to send your passport off to INZ to get your visa issued, but you'll probably get a six month window to do this in.
The long version:
If INZ decides that they want to sight your passport prior to issuing your Resident Visa, they will wait until the decision is made to approve your application (and said decision has passed the second person check). At this point, you will receive an "Approved in principle" letter from INZ, telling you that your Resident Visa will be granted subject to you submitting your original passport to INZ (and any other requirements stipulated in the AIP letter, but I haven't ever heard of any other requirements for SMC besides pre-purchasing ESOL tuition if you included a partner that does not meet English language requirements). INZ allowed us six months to meet the conditions stipulated in our AIP letter.
If you want more information on the AIP process, take a look at
R5.45 in the operational manual.
For the record, INZ issues all visas as eVisas nowadays. You can still choose to have a physical label in your passport, but this is a
separate application that can only be made once your eVisa is granted, and it will set you back $130.