[Justine+Ben]

Hello,

My husband and I are applying for PR. We both need our passports (for work etc.) and we were wondering whether its possible to send off a photocopied/certified copy of our passport rather than the real thing? Obviously I realize that NZ immigration would eventually require the actual passport to put the visa inside it, but as we have no indication of how long they can take (and we live outside of UK), is there any way around sending the passports off so early?

Has anyone ever sent only their birth certificates or other ID instead?

Any advice would be great!

Justine

[janrzm]

hi

we used our birth certificate & a certified copy of our passport.

[migratory birds]

Hi Justine,

When you submit your ITA, you need only submit a certified copy of the photo page of your passport.

I believe it is a copy of the passport that you must send - a copy of a birth certificate is not an acceptable alternative (although that's part of the application, as I recall, they still need that passport info as well).

If you are approved for a WTR (work to residency) or PR (permanant residency) visa, you will need to send your passports off and be without them for a short time (most likely to London branch NZIS from Canada) to have the visa placed in them.

After the interview, you'll recieve word of their decision (WTR or PR), you then have six months to send your passport to them for placement of the visas - so you can decide when that window without a passport time might be and send them at that time.

We were without ours for only about a week - this was with overnight courier service US -> London and regular courier service London -> US. You can pay extra to have them ship it back expedited/overnight if you need the turn around time to be a couple days shorter.
___________________________
EOI Nov 2005
ITA submitted April 2006
PR granted Nov 2006
Blue stickers April 2007
Visited Nov 2007
Now deciding if it's the move for us...

[shakyle2906]

We applied for PR once over here in NZ last year.

We sent off the originals, as we were ok to be without them at that stage. I do know though that we could have sent in certified copies if we had needed to, but guess sending the originals also speeded the process up, we had everything back in less than 2wks, blue stickers and all............

Sharon

[Justine+Ben]

Migratory birds, were you able to get your passport certified while you were in the US then? I thought it had to be done in your country of citizenship (which is the UK for us) and we thought getting it certified could be difficult in Canada.

For my NZQA application they specify that qualifications etc. must be certified in the country of citizenship so I just presumed the PR application would be the same.

[migratory birds]

I was, and still am, in the US when I submitted it (and didn't need to do an NZQA eval) so I can't answer that question for you!

[IanW99]

Migratory birds, were you able to get your passport certified while you were in the US then? I thought it had to be done in your country of citizenship (which is the UK for us) and we thought getting it certified could be difficult in Canada.

For my NZQA application they specify that qualifications etc. must be certified in the country of citizenship so I just presumed the PR application would be the same.

From the guide to applying for residence:-

• Certified copies are photocopies that have been
stamped or endorsed by a person who confirms that
the copy is a true copy of the original. The person
who certifies the copy must be authorised to do so
by law in your home country or in New Zealand (eg.
a Justice of the Peace, Notary Public, lawyer or Court
official).

Ian

[migratory birds]

"The person who certifies the copy must be authorised to do so by law in your home country or in New Zealand (eg. a Justice of the Peace, Notary Public, lawyer or Court official)."

I wonder if this is assuming people are applying within NZ or from their home countries.

Perhaps someone who has applied from a country other than NZ or their home country can answer your question directly but...

It may be safe to say that if you have copies signed by a Canadian notary public or other official who can act in that capacity that you would be fine.

When you receive your ITA, you'll recieve contact info for the immigration officer assigned to your case...you can hold your query until then.

[Jo Jo]

When I applied for PR in London, I had to submit a copy of my husband's New Zealand passport (as he was sponsoring me) and we his copy certified in London.

[Justine+Ben]

Thanks everyone, I'll check with the immigration officer assigned to my case when I receive my ITA. After all, who knows how long that could take!:uhoh

[skibumwa]

If you need your passports for travel, just get certified copies. Most police departments will do that for you.
Cheers!

John

[Can_he]

We just went through the application process for a family of 5 having a job offer in New Zealand. The short of it, yes certified copies are ok but eventually they need the passport to stamp depending on which avenue you take - visa or residence (We sent all 5 passports).
We opted for the residence which must go through London, England for my job offer is permenant and the same medical and police certificates were required for the visa (Talent). The visa process must be processed through Ottawa, Canada no matter if it is less than 12 months or greater.
We were informed a 1-3 wk approval process for our application since it was classified as a priority. It is very important when dealing with the immigration offices to correspond by email as everything is in writting and as we found out their were errors on their part as far as defining which office (Ottawa or London) approves visas and/or residence.
Best of Luck!

[CJ22]

NZIS in the UK also say they will return the passports 'once they've had sight of them', so I guess that means they'll return them straight away.