Temporary Visa Prioritisation

[jupiter_1990]

Yeahh horrible, seriously
I have got an amazing job, good company and pay, but NOOOOOOOO use.. useless
I am begging immigration to just change my Variation of conditions on my Work Visa, i have applied for VOC on my essential skills work visa
Sadly the company is big and NZX as well but not accredited.

[EGoodhue]

Thanks - I'll give it another week or so and then do as you suggest. The Immigration Manager, who originally declined my prioritisation request, hasn't replied to my follow-up - but I'll give it some time and hopefully the delay means they are considering it. Who knows. It's going to be a very nervous wait from here. My wife had her contract terminated recently, due to the COVID-19 situation, so we'll both be out of work in a couple of weeks. Kicking myself for handing in my notice too early now....but I was going off past experience where both my previous visa applications were prioritised due to the high salary threshold. I had no reason to expect the same wouldn't be the case this time round.

Do you have insight into the queue lengths for work visas please Erin?

Let me see what I can find out about the actual processing times for work visas at the moment - I'll post here when I find out.

[EGoodhue]

Unfortunately my follow-up request has also been declined. I'm a bit unsure what 'compelling personal circumstances' mean to INZ if being unemployed, no income to pay for food, bills etc. and having a good job to go don't count. Hopefully we'll go to Alert Level 1, next week, which will increase the processing capacity at INZ and help speed things up a bit.

I wonder when INZ will start to make use of the new legislation to help them process what must be many thousands of VOC and new ESV applications for onshore folks affected by COVID-19?

I've also recently asked for a definition of what "compelling personal circumstances" means, as I've made requests based on people having serious issues with their mental health recently as a result of the uncertainty around their visa situation, and these have also been denied

Based on a recent update from INZ, 97% of all INZ staff are now working - so processing capacity is about as good as we can expect it to be for a while now.

Perhaps another few weeks before the Minister reveals what he plans to do with his new powers.....

[flatironjoe]

I had applied for escalation based on meeting the new priority criteria as well (I got a pay rise that put me over the threshold). It was denied, but after some back-and-forth, they let me know that while I didn't meet the criteria for escalation, my case was being marked for prioritised processing. So it seems they consider that differently than "escalation"? Good news is I got my first contact from a CO today (my employer was also contacted), so they are allocating and starting to process applications to some degree at least!

[genegeney]

Thanks Erin. Would definitely be useful to know the timelines at the moment. Appreciate your help!

[genegeney]

Let me see what I can find out about the actual processing times for work visas at the moment - I'll post here when I find out.

Any joy Erin?

[EGoodhue]

Just heard back this morning - they are allocating Talent (Accredited Employer) work visa application to case officers that were lodged in "early March". So looks like a backlog of about 3 months...sorry There is a chance that volumes of applications lodged in April and May were very low, given the lockdown situation, and allocations for these months applications may go faster.

[genegeney]

Just heard back this morning - they are allocating Talent (Accredited Employer) work visa application to case officers that were lodged in "early March". So looks like a backlog of about 3 months...sorry There is a chance that volumes of applications lodged in April and May were very low, given the lockdown situation, and allocations for these months applications may go faster.

Thanks Erin. I guess, from the overall backlog, they're prioritising onshore applications anyway? And, as you say, it's likely there's a reduced volume of new applications once the lockdown kicked in. So it may not be months away from my application being allocated. Visas are mega stressful eh? It's the lack of knowing that's the hard thing to deal with. Being here, with financial commitments and a job to go to, but not being able to start it until I get a magic piece of paper, is real fun

[ag]

My friends SMC application is passed on to 2nd person check today. Lodged in Jan 2020. Salary above 106k. CO allotted before lockdown. Case picked up two weeks ago, 15 mails in 15 days, rigorous follow up and the end is near.

INZ can be efficient if they want to be. Just that their priorities are different at the moment.

[mad_wild]

My friends SMC application is passed on to 2nd person check today. Lodged in Jan 2020. Salary above 106k. CO allotted before lockdown. Case picked up two weeks ago, 15 mails in 15 days, rigorous follow up and the end is near.

INZ can be efficient if they want to be. Just that their priorities are different at the moment.

To be honest, I am very much surprised how many people earn over $106k, makes me think maybe I should consider a career change while waiting for my SMC to get processed