[Belmont Babes]

Hi All

Well it has done nothing but rain all day so I have been in the Study getting all the documents ready for ITA. I can't believe I have been sat here for 4 hours copying and sorting. One question please:

I quote from NZIS info "The Migrant Levy cannot be included in the same cheque as the application fee. You cannot pay the Migrant Levy in advance by cheque."

So, how do you pay and when? Thank you:nice1

[wiki]

When they give you PR they send you the Migrant Levy bill.

The reason you can't put it on the same cheque is that they won't cash it until they've given you PR - and they want the rest of your money before that!

I guess they won't take a dated cheque because I think they are only valid for six months? and it might take longer than that for your case to be processed.

If you want to speed things along, you can give them a debit/credit card number to take the migrant levy payment from

[Belmont Babes]

Thanks Wiki. Should I just send in application fee and forget about Levy for now then if I don't want to include credit/debit card numbers?

[CjChris]

Hi, butting in here....yes, just don't worry about Migrant Levy at this point unless, as suggested, you send credit card number on the form. The levy fee is easily sent to them when they approve you in principal (and PR will be fully granted when they get your money and then put stickers in your passports).

How's it feeling getting this close to the end of the whole crazy process?? :cheers

I recall seeing that stack of papers for the ITA and thinking....wow, feels like I've written my master's thesis all over again!! (I included a short letter of explanation for each section of the documents I sent, in addition to a longer covering letter. I think I ended up with 18 sections total for the four of us).

What a process..our life history on paper, going in the mail! :uhoh

Good luck to you.

Christine :nice1

[Belmont Babes]

Hi Christine

It feels soooo good to be getting towards the end of this mammoth process. We still await one letter from EWRB and a house sale. We are changing agents next week. EWRB letter left us 6 weeks ago and we may still have to wait at least another 4 weeks for return. We are going on vacation shortly and I am looking forward to having a rest from anything to do with migration. I'm sure I will still be thinking about it each day but won't be able to action anything. When is your exact date?

[CjChris]

We bought tickets yesterday!!!!!! We fly to NZ on Sept 18 from the states.

By the way, you probably know, don't you, that you can send in your ITA without that one letter? I'm pretty sure all you need to do is offer explanation for why it's not there in the covering letter, and tell them you'll forward it to them ASAP.

Yes, you need a holiday! You'll be amazed at how wonderful it feels to have this ITA out of your hands. Whew!!!!

[Belmont Babes]

Do you think I can? I emailed NZIS and they said that they would return ITA without it. It must depend who you get to speak to. Well done on the purchase of the tickets. How exciting....which airline?

[CjChris]

Do you think I can? I emailed NZIS and they said that they would return ITA without it. It must depend who you get to speak to. Well done on the purchase of the tickets. How exciting....which airline?

Hmm...Well, maybe since the new rules went into effect in Dec, you can't, but when I contacted NZIS about several (not just ONE) pieces of missing evidence from my ITA submission, I was told to send it on! It took me a few weeks after submission to complete my file, but I did, and thankfully things worked out OK (but we were not subject to the Dec rules because we got our ITA before they went into effect).

Who did you hear from at NZIS? Hollie Viscoe was the person whom I corresponded with until I was assigned a case officer. If she told you this, it is probably correct.

Anyway, have you done any follow-ups regarding this letter and why it's taking so long?

RE: flights.

Our flights are with Air NZ. :)

[Belmont Babes]

Yes Hollie is the one I have had email contact with. It must be the new Dec rule then. Yes I have chased EWRB and they were nice but said that it is a very busy time for them and it will take longer than usual. I really wanted to mail ITA before our holiday so that I could relax knowing I had done all the necessary. As it is, it is complete but for the EWRB missing letter! I feel proud that I have got so much done today.

[StevieD]

Natalie, don't forget you can eke out your stay by a further 6 months by holding back the Migrant Levy payment if you need to, could come in handy....

Steve

[Belmont Babes]

God thanks Steve, completely forgot about that. Should I not send back migrant levy form at all then? And when they ask for it just delay it if need be?

[pinkpiggy]

We didn't return the migrant levy form - partly because our Credit Card would have expired before it needed paying. It really doesn't take very long once you are approved. In fact we were able to just send them an email with details and it was paid that way. Mind you, we only PR about a week before we flew and only picked our passports up 2 days before. Phew. Glad to hear it's all going quite smoothly for you.

FYI, we had a document missing and they just wrote to us asking for it and giving us about a month to forward it.

[Belmont Babes]

I am debating on taking it to London and pleading with them to accept it as I have made a special journey (especially with the bomb on Friday in Haymarket) and I will send the other letter as soon as possible.

[pinkpiggy]

I imagine they tell people not to submit the ITA without all the documents enclosed as a standard reply - it's what they have to say. I too would be tempted submit it without it. They are usually very good and will give you extra time to submit a missing document. At the end of the day, what's the worst that can happen? They can refuse to accept it and all you've lost is a bit of time.