Tips for Managing Immigration Department Delays
As you may have seen recent news reports about delays in visa processing by Immigration New Zealand (INZ). This delay is particularly affecting visitor, student and partnership applications, which can cause tremendous stress and anxiety.
Some of our clients also had this unfortunate experience, so we hope to share you some tips to help you through the process.
Apply plenty of time ahead but don’t make any financial commitments yet, like paying for air ticket, accommodation or even tuition fee. If possible, please negotiate with school for a conditional offer without paying any fee or deposit as most schools in New Zealand are aware of this delay. If applying for visitor or partnership, just show that you have access to enough funds to pay for your journey and maintenance whilst in NZ.
Read the requirements on INZ website carefully and prepare your supporting documents accordingly. This will help speeding up the processing when your application gets assigned to an officer where decision can be made without request for further documentation or information.
A few useful things to check would be: are all the documents in English? If not, have they been translated by a certified translator? Have you provided enough evidence to show the purpose of your visit/trip to NZ? Have you answered all the questions on the form?
It is best to seek opinion and advice from an experienced lawyer or immigration adviser about the requirements. We can help you with some simple questions for free.
If you’ve submitted the application and it took too long to process and you’ve had new plan, or you feel the circumstance is not right, then don’t hesitate to withdraw the application and submit at a later time, rather than stressing yourself waiting for an outcome. This won’t affect your future applications. You can and should only do this if you’re still overseas.
Visa application shouldn’t be a stressful process if you’re well informed and have sought the right advice.
