pr declined

[rajmer]

Hello,

I tried to submit my application at vfs ahmedabad, india on 10/july/2020 but the branch was close due to lockdown. so i sent my application to Auckland inz branch. they received on 10/august/2020. so my file got submitted 1 month late. i spent only 185 days in my 2nd year of resident visa. because of inz received my file 1 month late my 2nd years spent days come to 185days-1month=155days and pr got declined. now i guess i have only option to go to tribunal. any comments?

my details

This application for a Permanent Resident Visa was made on 10 August 2020. This means that in the 24 months immediately preceding this application, you spent the following amount of time in New Zealand:

09/08/2018 - 09/08/2019 = 245 days

10/08/2019 - 10/08/2020 = 154 days

Further to this, we also noted that you had not provided permission for Immigration New Zealand to assess your eligibility for a Variation of Travel Conditions or Second or Subsequent Resident Visa. Upon requesting confirmation of whether you wished to give consideration to providing permission for Immigration New Zealand to assess your eligibility for one of the above types of residence class visas instead, you indicated that you wished for us to continue with our assessment of this application of a Permanent Resident Visa. This is in accordance with comments received from you via email on 13 January 2021.

We accepted your request for this assessment of your application for a Permanent Resident Visa to

continue, and we accordingly sent you a letter of concern on 13 January 2021 to give you an

opportunity to respond to our concerns regarding your eligibility for a Permanent Resident Visa. We asked that you respond by 27 January 2021. We received comments in response to our concerns via email on 13 January 2021; however you have not provided any evidence to show that you meet the requirements set out in RV2.5(c) and RV2.5.1. You have also not provided permission for Immigration New Zealand to assess your eligibility for a variation of travel conditions or a second or subsequent resident visa. We have

therefore not assessed your eligibility for either of these two alternative options. Your application

for a permanent resident visa has therefore been declined on the basis that you have not spent

sufficient time in New Zealand to meet the requirements set out in RV2.5(c) and RV2.5.1.

first email

This application for a Permanent Resident Visa was made on 10 August 2020. This means that in the 24 months immediately preceding this application, you have spent the following amount of time in

New Zealand:

10/08/2018 - 10/08/2019 = 245 days

10/08/2019 - 10/08/2020 = 154 days

As you have not spent 184 days or more in each of the 12-month portions of the 24 months immediately preceding this application in New Zealand, you do not appear to meet the requirement set out in RV2.5(c) and RV2.5.1.

Further to this, we note have noted that you have not provided permission for Immigration New Zealand to assess your eligibility for a Variation of Travel Conditions or Second or Subsequent Resident Visa. Upon requesting confirmation of whether you may wish to give consideration to providing permission for Immigration New Zealand to assess your eligibility for one of the above types of residence class visas instead, you have indicated that you wish for us to continue with our assessment of this application of a Permanent Resident Visa. This is in accordance with comments received from you via email on 13 January 2021.

We have accepted your request for this assessment of your application for a Permanent Resident Visa and we are accordingly therefore sending you this letter to give you an opportunity to give you an opportunity to respond to our concerns regarding your eligibility for a Permanent Resident Visa.

As the issues detailed above may affect the outcome of your application, we are bringing them to your attention out of fairness to you. We have not made a decision on your application at this stage. This letter gives you the opportunity to make any comments and submit any additional evidence or information in relation to these issues.

resident visa

The start date of your visa is: 10 July 2018

The number of times you may enter New Zealand using this visa is: Multiple The last date you may travel and re-enter to New Zealand is: 10 July 2020 Visa expiry date: Indefinite

The conditions of your visa: Visa is invalid if holder is outside NZ with expired travel conditions. Please apply for transfer of this visa when the passport expires

[Kelerei]

Eligibility is calculated as of the date that your application was lodged with INZ, so on the face of it, INZ's decision to decline appears to be correct.

There are two possible options that I know of:

• Apply for a Second or Subsequent Resident Visa, if you meet the criteria. Note that you could have been granted this in place of a Permanent Resident Visa with your earlier application, but you did not give INZ permission to assess your eligibility in this regard.
• Appeal to the Immigration and Protection Tribunal. You will be far from guaranteed from success however, as I consider it likely that the Tribunal will confirm that INZ's decision to decline was correct under immigration instructions, and as such the best outcome you can hope for is for the Tribunal to find that there are exceptional circumstances to warrant a recommendation to the Minister of Immigration that consideration be given to the grant of a Permanent Resident Visa as an exception to instructions, and the bar for such a finding to be made is set extremely high.

If neither option succeeds, you will need to apply for a new Resident Visa as if it is your first time applying.

If you go for the Second or Subsequent Resident Visa, note the travel conditions that will be applied (which may not give you long to return to New Zealand):

• If you were eligible for a Permanent Resident Visa when your Resident Visa expired, your travel conditions will be valid for 24 months from the date your visa expired.
• If you were not eligible for a Permanent Resident Visa when your Resident Visa expired, your travel conditions will be granted for the time period your travel conditions would have been valid for, if you'd applied for a variation of travel conditions at the time your previous Resident Visa expired.
• In both cases above, if you make an application for a Second or Subsequent Resident Visa after the date that the new travel conditions would expire, INZ has no discretion but to decline the application.

[rajmer]

this situation only happened because of covid 19 pandemic, if ahmedabad branch was functioning on 10/july/2020 my file would have submitted to that day.

i got 61a(2) resident visa which will expire on 11 september 2021.

i hope tribunal will understand how covid-19 affected everyone’s life.

does inz have power to grant pr in this situation or they only follow immigration instructions?

[newarrival]

Isn't the main issue that you haven't spent enough time in New Zealand? Regardless of the branch being functioning or not?
When I read through your first post, there were several comments about you not giving authorization for INZ to assess the possibility of variation of travel conditions or the issuing of a second/ subsequent resident visa. Wouldn't that have solved your actual problem- giving you the chance of re- entering New Zealand to start the process of spending enough time here ?

I might be completely wrong and have misunderstood the whole situation, but these were my impressions.

[Kelerei]

does inz have power to grant pr in this situation or they only follow immigration instructions?

All residence class visa applications where immigration instruction are not met must always be declined; INZ has no discretion to do otherwise (R5.55.1).

[rajmer]

Isn't the main issue that you haven't spent enough time in New Zealand? Regardless of the branch being functioning or not?
When I read through your first post, there were several comments about you not giving authorization for INZ to assess the possibility of variation of travel conditions or the issuing of a second/ subsequent resident visa. Wouldn't that have solved your actual problem- giving you the chance of re- entering New Zealand to start the process of spending enough time here ?

I might be completely wrong and have misunderstood the whole situation, but these were my impressions.

i have spent only 185 days in second year. cause ahmedabad branch was not functioning i need to send my file to the Auckland branch and it took 1 month to reach New Zealand. so in 2nd year my days spent in New Zealand came to 185-30=155days (cause inz counts 2 years backwards when they receive application)

this situation happen because ahmedabad branch was not functioning because of covid-19.

[Kelerei]

Something that I just remembered: if you were offshore and your Resident Visa expired between 2 February 2020 and 11 September 2020, you have been granted a second or subsequent Resident Visa (with travel conditions valid to 11 September 2021) by special direction.

If you have been granted such a second or subsequent Resident Visa, you may use this visa to enter New Zealand and thus to demonstrate a commitment to New Zealand for use in a future Permanent Resident Visa application.