Family Emergency / Travelling while awaiting PR possible?

[Babaloni]

Hi there

I am asking on behalf of a friend.

Sadly her mother had a stroke last night and she might have to travel urgently to Switzerland. She is awaiting Permanent Residency (Application received by Immigration beginning of March).

She called Immigration and they told her that there is no possibility for her to travel right now, until she receives PR.

I can hardly believe this is true. Does anybody have more information, that would be very much appreciated.

Thank you

[Kelerei]

Hi there

I am asking on behalf of a friend.

Sadly her mother had a stroke last night and she might have to travel urgently to Switzerland. She is awaiting Permanent Residency (Application received by Immigration beginning of March).

She called Immigration and they told her that there is no possibility for her to travel right now, until she receives PR.

I can hardly believe this is true. Does anybody have more information, that would be very much appreciated.

Thank you

The call centre agent's response was not entirely correct, but there is definitely some truth in it. There will be no problem for your friend to depart New Zealand. Returning to New Zealand, on the other hand... this is where the issue lies (and this is what the call centre person probably meant to say).

Assuming that your friend has a Resident Visa with expired travel conditions (which is usually the case when one applies for a Permanent Resident Visa), said Resident Visa will expire as soon as your friend departs from New Zealand. This will make it impossible to return to New Zealand until the Permanent Resident Visa is granted, given the current border restrictions. It's possible for the Permanent Resident Visa to be granted offshore, but this would mean waiting offshore for the outcome.

In your friend's place, I would attempt to get the Permanent Resident Visa application prioritised on humanitarian grounds. I don't know how one would go about it for a Permanent Resident Visa, but there is a well-known process for employer specific visa applications documented here (a lot of people on this forum used that process in attempts to get their Resident from Work and Skilled Migrant Category applications processed). Perhaps call the call centre again and enquire if there's any steps that can be taken for the application to be prioritised, given the situation.

[Babaloni]

Thank you very much for your quick answer and clarification.
Much appreciated.

The call centre agent's response was not entirely correct, but there is definitely some truth in it. There will be no problem for your friend to depart New Zealand. Returning to New Zealand, on the other hand... this is where the issue lies (and this is what the call centre person probably meant to say).

Assuming that your friend has a Resident Visa with expired travel conditions (which is usually the case when one applies for a Permanent Resident Visa), said Resident Visa will expire as soon as your friend departs from New Zealand. This will make it impossible to return to New Zealand until the Permanent Resident Visa is granted, given the current border restrictions. It's possible for the Permanent Resident Visa to be granted offshore, but this would mean waiting offshore for the outcome.

In your friend's place, I would attempt to get the Permanent Resident Visa application prioritised on humanitarian grounds. I don't know how one would go about it for a Permanent Resident Visa, but there is a well-known process for employer specific visa applications documented here (a lot of people on this forum used that process in attempts to get their Resident from Work and Skilled Migrant Category applications processed). Perhaps call the call centre again and enquire if there's any steps that can be taken for the application to be prioritised, given the situation.

[manutd]

I have heard that INZ can grant you variation of travel conditions in case you need to leave the country while your PR application is underway (specially in emergency cases).....I dont know how true is that...seniors might help....

but there might be possibility of getting variation of travel conditions...