transfer of visa

[desilva]

Hello, I urgently need to travel due to sickness in family. I need to transfer my residence e-visa on my new passport. Are INZ officer still processing such requests? Apparently I need to post my document to INZ's Auckland address. However, I am not sure if they are processing visa transfers on new passports under level 3. Any help is much appreciated. Thanks.

[Kelerei]

The standard procedure is documented here. In a nutshell: you complete the INZ 1023 form and send that with both your old and new passports to INZ. Certified copies will do if you want an eVisa linked to your new passport, but you'll have to provide the original if you want a physical label (for reasons that I hope are obvious).

I do not know how the lockdowns have impacted the processing of such applications; your best bet is to ask INZ directly. Before the recent lockdowns, this was a very quick process (usually within days, and no more than 2 weeks in 90% of the cases). What I can tell you is that your application may well be redirected to another branch: I had a new visa label issued in June 2021 which was handled by the Palmerston North branch.

[desilva]

The standard procedure is documented here. In a nutshell: you complete the INZ 1023 form and send that with both your old and new passports to INZ. Certified copies will do if you want an eVisa linked to your new passport, but you'll have to provide the original if you want a physical label (for reasons that I hope are obvious).

I do not know how the lockdowns have impacted the processing of such applications; your best bet is to ask INZ directly. Before the recent lockdowns, this was a very quick process (usually within days, and no more than 2 weeks in 90% of the cases). What I can tell you is that your application may well be redirected to another branch: I had a new visa label issued in June 2021 which was handled by the Palmerston North branch.

Thanks a lot for the answer. I also have another question - since applications for visas applied from overseas are currently on hold, Thus, if worst case scenario, if I get stuck overseas (no flights, no MIQ spot, positive Covid) and my travel conditions to travel back to NZ expires, will INZ be able to extend my travel conditions while I am overseas?

[Kelerei]

Thanks a lot for the answer. I also have another question - since applications for visas applied from overseas are currently on hold, Thus, if worst case scenario, if I get stuck overseas (no flights, no MIQ spot, positive Covid) and my travel conditions to travel back to NZ expires, will INZ be able to extend my travel conditions while I am overseas?

I can't find any information on whether these are being processed offshore. I would imagine they would be (since the applicant would already be able to re-enter New Zealand without requesting a border exemption), but don't take my assumption as fact -- best to confirm with INZ themselves.

Remember that you would need to meet the standard criteria to be granted a variation of travel conditions (RV3), and prolonged absence may affect your eligibility. There have been some automatic extensions to travel conditions granted to offshore holders of residence class visas; do not assume that there will be further such automatic extensions or that any future automatic extension will positively affect you.

EDIT: While I was searching for information of processing offshore applications variation of travel conditions, I found this "Visa processing under COVID-19 restrictions" resource that answers your original question. The lodgement team is working during Alert Level 3, and they will redirect applications to offices outside the Auckland region if they see fit (and, per my own experience, the office in Palmy can handle visa transfers). So yes, you can submit your visa transfer application as per normal, but you should definitely expect processing delays.

[tgsmikema]

I had the same problem, send in my passport by courier to 20 Fairfax ave, Auckland. Since I can't find a JP under level 3, so I posted my original passport. It's been 2 weeks and I haven't heard anything.

[tgsmikema]

Hello, I urgently need to travel due to sickness in family. I need to transfer my residence e-visa on my new passport. Are INZ officer still processing such requests? Apparently I need to post my document to INZ's Auckland address. However, I am not sure if they are processing visa transfers on new passports under level 3. Any help is much appreciated. Thanks.

Hi, I rang INZ today, and asked them to send my passport back while waiting for the application, cause I need it for urgent travel, they said can post it back to me and I can still use the old passport to travel, and the application will keep going in the background, when they finish processing the transfer, email will be sent to you. Don't know if that helps.