Temporary Visa Prioritisation

[genegeney]

I'm currently on an ESV but have accepted a role with an accredited employer. I've given notice to my current employer and submitted a Talent application a week ago.

Before COVID-19, it was possible to have a temporary visa application prioritised (by emailing INZ) due to registration being required and/or a salary above $106K. Now, having requested INZ to prioritise my Talent visa application against that criteria, they have declined. Being an on-shore applicant gets me higher priority than off-shore applicants - is this done automatically by the queing system or do I need to request that?

It'll be really frustrating if I have a period of unemployment despite having a job to go to. Anything else I can do? The new role is different to my current one, so no chance of a VOC.

[EGoodhue]

You'll be automatically put in the right queue, no need to do anything. Disappointing to hear of yet another request for escalation being denied - I haven't heard of any being granted recently, it seems they are being very strict since post-lockdown.

[genegeney]

You'll be automatically put in the right queue, no need to do anything. Disappointing to hear of yet another request for escalation being denied - I haven't heard of any being granted recently, it seems they are being very strict since post-lockdown.

OK thanks. Yes, bit odd on the prioritisation front - I’ve gone back to them on ‘compelling personal circumstances’ in that both my wife and I will be out of work, once my notice period is finished, with no income to pay bills/buy food. I have a good job to go to once the Talent visa gets issued. Hopefully that’s good enough. Worse case, we may end up having to leave NZ if our small savings pot runs low. That’d be absolutely devastating having only moved here recently and having a good well-paid job to go to.

[EGoodhue]

If it comes close to the end of your notice period and you still don't have the new visa (like within a week of you finishing up at your current job), you could ask your new employer if they could submit a letter of support to the employment visa escalations email address, outlining that they really need you to start asap for the purpose of business continuity and planning. I've heard of people having some success with this approach at moving the application along to finalisation in the past (not all and it's not guaranteed, as the criteria for escalation seem to be made up on the spot by the person answering the email at the time!) so it's worth a shot.

[genegeney]

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?

[genegeney]

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?

[jupiter_1990]

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 am in the same boat..
I have requested for prioritization based on high salary, DENIED
Now customer care suggested me, to send email to Employment Visa Escalations, directly from the company HR. (He said it might help)
In in the first email response, they mentioned that they will only respond once per application, But trying my luck this time, with the company sending an escalation that we need XXX person immediately to join our company
Fingers crossed

[ag]

This is nuts. I thought earning above 106K is enough to get the visa application prioritised.

So, what is the new criteria to get prioritised?

[genegeney]

It got both my ESV applications prioritised previously. Now, the criteria is:

- Compelling personal circumstances.
- Humanitarian reasons.
- National interest.

My compelling circumstances weren't deemed compelling enough unfortunately.

[genegeney]

I am in the same boat..
I have requested for prioritization based on high salary, DENIED
Now customer care suggested me, to send email to Employment Visa Escalations, directly from the company HR. (He said it might help)
In in the first email response, they mentioned that they will only respond once per application, But trying my luck this time, with the company sending an escalation that we need XXX person immediately to join our company
Fingers crossed

Horrible isn't it? Are you also applying for a Talent (Accredited Employer) work visa? Good luck and please let me know how you get on.