[Phil & Ali Smith]

Hi all,

Has anybody done this ?:uhoh

Taken their ITA & all the relevant documents to NZ House in London.

We only have 18 days to get the application in (4 months is nearly up), and we've been waiting for NZQA since 2nd January to verify Phils qualifications.

We've just received an automatic email from NZIS, reminding us that our application must be received by the date they stated on the ITA. It also says that if you are awaiting any documents that you should send what you have anyway, and they'll give you a further month to get the rest sorted. I would be happier if I could send it all together, but I really don't want to miss the deadline.

I thought I'd leave it a while longer and take the paperwork to London and make a day of it. Just wondered whether they will accept it "over the counter" so to speak.

Anybody know !

Ali

[speckythecky]

Just tell them that you are a courier and ask for a signature on a piece of paper. They wouldn't know any different

[wiki]

I took OH's partnership application down in person and it was very easy.

NZ House is on Haymarket (about three minute walk from Piccadilly Tube station).

You just go into reception and ask to see NZ Immigration and they let you through to a stairway and NZIS has their own office on the first floor. Inside are three glassed off desks where staff will check through your application.

They check the medicals are all initialled properly, that the vital documents are in place and that you've filled out the application forms correctly.

Also, if you take in your original documents and photocopies, they will initial the copies as true so you can take your originals back (saves you going to JP or magistrate for that!)

The only thing we left was OH's passport - I got all of our original birth certs, my passport, car insurance, lease etc back which is in my mind much better than trusting it to the post.

The employee I saw was friendly and reassuring and since she was from Chch we had a jolly good catch up on life in the UK.

NZIS is open from 10am-4pm each day and when you go upstairs you get a number (like in Argos) and there are chairs to wait on and lots of pamphlets to read. I was the first one in and it took about 15 minutes for her to check everything.

Good luck

[zardell]

Ditto what Wiki said !!

We got there at 10am and were out by 10.20am

Very good service and extremely helpful staff.

Julie

xx

[alan999]

I'm going down on Monday having just got all the medicals back for the rest of my family.
Calling off at Uni on the way down to get a sig off No2 son and aim to be down around 11.00.

Will let you know how things go.

Alan

[Helsandfamily]

HI,

We did this today :raebanana ( I'm so relieved to get it done) it was really easy and we were in and out just as wiki said earlier. we made a day of it too and visited a few museums, the kids had a blast.

Good luck for monday!!:yes

Hels

[Aydon]

I did this - much less stressful than sending them in the post! They were very helpful and photocopies everything they needed (Although tbh that was only passports as we had already made copies of everythign else).

We also went to NZIS in London to get our "Blue stickers" rather than send our passports in the post. Although I needed my passport at the time as I was working in Germany, we would have done it anyway. It's an extra couple of hundred quid all in and if you are serious about moving to NZ then that is a small price to pay to not have to worry about the possibility of it getting lost in the post. NOTE: Royal Mail the other day disclosed that a certain amount of passports get lost in the post. The resulting figures were approximately 99.98% got through okay.

1. How would you feel if you were the 0.002%? Works out to be around 23,000.

2. If I were to stand up and say that our servers would have an uptime of 99.98% I would be laughed out the office. "5 9s" is the order of the day nowadays (99.999%) which seems large until you look at it in actual figures. However you look at it, suddenly £200 is nothing - well, that's how we thought of it anyway :)

*EDIT* - We travelled from Cardiff each time.

[alan999]

Is there anywhere to park close to NZ House?

[StevieD]

In London??? Don't make me laugh :laugh Better off tubing it.

[zardell]

Is there anywhere to park close to NZ House?

Have PM'd you.

Julie

xx

[Aydon]

We parked in Ruislip and Tubed it in - very easy to get to and from and loads of parking on the side roads. We chose Ruislip as we could park outside a friend's house, but really it wouldn;t have mattered if we didn;t know anyone there.

[alan999]

Just got back from NZ House. Drove straight in, parked 100 yards away down a side street. It should have been pay and display but the machine wasn't working and it had a sign on saying as much but I could park free but had to return every 4 hours to see if it was fixed. Sorry for any inconvenience!!!

Walked in 9.00, only opened at 10.00. There were already some waiting but I walked out to get a coffee and went back at 9.50. By this time all the seats were taken. They opened and we all trouped upstairs into the reception area. There is a ticket issuing machine with a red button for temp visa and blue for residence. Most were for temp, I was the second for residence.

Then the officers took their seats, one desk for red and one for blue then the "next please" order was flashed up on a screen. The temps rattled through but ressies took a lot longer. The chap in front took 25mins, I took 35 mins. There is only one desk so if you are behind say six there will be a long wait.

All my docs were looked at, without comment. The medicals checked and all the photos from the passports, application and medicals checked again. It was really just to make sure everything was there. He then cross- referenced the application with my work visa one and gave me the option of either leaving the passports or taking them away, to be returned later. Then a pleasant surprise, he told me the cost of the application had been reduced to £525 from £585.

He gave me the receipt, explained what happens next and that was it.

So very straightforward. Just another 5 weeks or so to wait.

Alan

[joey + susie]

Myself boyf are looking to do the same thing next monday. Day trip up to London with the forms, just waiting for the medicals to come back.

Is it right that you don't take the actual xrays with you - as long as they were okay?

And does anyone know how long it might be before we get our visa sorted. Have just got a job offer so will be handing in that info at the same time? Do we just wait now for the PR or WTR, and when do I hand my notice in at work!

Susie

[alan999]

Hi, I was told PR could be granted within 4/5 weeks of a completed ITA being submitted if there aren't any issues. It is normally a temp work visa that is used in conjuntion with an ITA. I had to apply for one because there was a chance PR wouldn't happen in time and it took 10 days. It helps if the work is on the long term shortage list. No need for x-rays if there isn't a problem.

A WTR visa can also be got quickly but you would need to wait for 2 years before applying for PR and there is also a minimum wage, $45,000. On the flip side it isn't reliant on points.

[joey + susie]

thanks alan999. my job is on the long term shortage list and having just received my job offer the salary issue won't be a problem. So I guess I am off to London on Monday, then waiting a couple of weeks before handing in my notice at my UK job. Looks like I might be able to start work in mid-May!

Now there seems like an endless list of things to sort out!

[bagpussr]

Hi all,

I took our ITA to NZ House yesterday and agree with everyone else who has posted. Hopefully won't be tooooooooo long now before a decision. My job offer starts in June and Denise and I hope to move out during May. So fingers and toes crossed.

Regards Russ