Getting pregnant while applying for resident visa

[Jess&Jack]

Hi Danica,
Congratulations on your pregnancy! I was pregnant during my residency application (partner based though) and had no issues. I gave them a statement from my midwife and also put it into our timeline. I know applications are processing a bit slow at this time but my application was processed in 4 months (this was in 2018) so I'm pretty sure it had little to no affect. They never asked for anything medical wise from me. My daughter was born a month before I got residency but I made sure to tell my CO and she was very sweet about it.

[danica06]

Thanks for the answers everyone. We are on 2PC now. The first time our CO contacted us is to inform us that she is our CO and she did an initial assessment and made a decision that day and our application is on 2PC at the moment. Not sure what is happening on 2PC. Is it still possible that while on 2PC, they will request us new set of medical?

[Kelerei]

Is it still possible that while on 2PC, they will request us new set of medical?

Technically, it's possible. At this point in your application, the Immigration Officer has written up a case summary and recommended a decision, and your application is now awaiting its turn to be checked by a Technical Adviser. Once your application makes its way to the front of the 2PC queue, the Technical Adviser will be checking that the Immigration Officer has checked every part of the application and that the rationale to approve or decline your application is robust and in line with instructions. If the Technical Adviser identifies anything that hasn't been checked properly (which could include, but isn't limited to, acceptable standard of health), or if there are flaws in the Immigration Officer's recommendation, your application will be sent back to the Immigration Officer for remedial work.

Realistically, unless the Immigration Officer has really made a hash of her assessment of whether or not you are of an acceptable standard of health, it's unlikely.

[Kelerei]

While I'm here, some notes on what your child's immigration status will be when your child is born. Since it's safe to assume that neither you nor your partner are New Zealand citizens (given that you stated earlier that both of you are applying for Skilled Migrant Category Resident Visas), it all depends on whether the child is born before or after you are granted a residence-class visa:

If your child is born before your application is approved, your child will be automatically deemed to hold a temporary entry class visa; the type and duration being dependent on the temporary entry class visa held by you and your partner. It's recommended, but not strictly necessary, that you request confirmation of your child's immigration status from INZ (no fee is charged for this). You'll probably want to contact INZ and have the child added to the SMC application in progress: if this doesn't happen for whatever reason, you'll need to make a separate application for a Dependent Child Resident Visa (which can only be done once either you or your partner hold a residence class visa). Either way, you'll need to obtain a passport for the child (from one or both of your countries of origin) in order for the child to be granted a residence class visa.

If your child is born after your application is approved (i.e. either of you hold residence class visas at the time of birth), things are a lot more straightforward. The child will be considered a New Zealand citizen by birth per Section 6(1)(b)(ii) of the Citizenship Act 1977 and cannot hold a visa for New Zealand (it's legally prohibited, and would be superfluous anyway even if it were permissible); instead, you'll be able to apply for a New Zealand passport for the child. Depending on the citizenship laws of your countries of origin, you may also be able to register the child as a citizen by descent of those countries.