[Smiler]

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10497146

As more New Zealand residents quit the country, wannabe Kiwis say the key obstacle to calling Aotearoa home is the Immigration Service.
Long delays, missing documents and a lack of general knowledge among immigration officers were just some of the things residency applicants who spoke to the Herald complained of.
Singaporean entertainer William David accused the service of incompetence and described his experience as "a nightmare you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy".
"They lost my medical documents and made me go through the entire process three times.
"My case manager didn't know where Singapore was, arguing that it is a small village and not a country, and he also said he couldn't view the DVDs I submitted to support my application because he didn't have a DVD player," said Mr David, who is applying for residency under the talent visa category.

[JandM]

That's dreadful - poor man.

[CJ22]

Hmm, we'll see. I'll sick my future employer on them if they mess me about. Money talks, and if a major Kiwi company starts complaining about NZIS gettng in the way of them hiring in the people they need with bad processes...

[peebles16]

Maybe they just didn't fancy his type of entertainment on DVD :)

Karenx

[migratory birds]

My only glitch with them was after I'd submitted my ITA packet....and didn't hear from them for quite awhile so I sent an email to my case officer.

It bounced back to me saying he was no longer there.

I contacted NZIS and very quickly my case had been assigned to someone else who was amazingly efficient, knowledgeable, positive...and what more can I say? I've got PR.

But I did wonder, if I hadn't contacted NZIS after the email bounced back to me, how long would my application have sat in some stack somewhere.

That's why, when the question arises about waiting longer than expected, I encourage folks to contact NZIS to see what's going on.

[Flo jo]

Sorry to hear you didn't have a good experience with NZIS. They have been fantastic to us & today we had a telephone call that our passports are ready to pick up from the office with our PR stickers in. Hooray. Anytime we needed anything we used to go to the office to see them & they would deal with it straightaway with loads of apologies. Amazing! I used to work for the British govt & there is no way would anyone get the same service in the UK. We only came here on the end of October 07 on tourist visas & my hubbie accepted a job in November so NZIS could not have looked after us more. My advice if you hit a wall is to go to see them if possible!!!

[benandclare]

Sorry to hear you didn't have a good experience with NZIS. They have been fantastic to us & today we had a telephone call that our passports are ready to pick up from the office with our PR stickers in. Hooray. Anytime we needed anything we used to go to the office to see them & they would deal with it straightaway with loads of apologies. Amazing! I used to work for the British govt & there is no way would anyone get the same service in the UK. We only came here on the end of October 07 on tourist visas & my hubbie accepted a job in November so NZIS could not have looked after us more. My advice if you hit a wall is to go to see them if possible!!!


Hey :raebanana :raebanana :raebanana :raebanana time

[Potato]

I do wonder how well they read some of the evidence sent to them. I was asked to answer some questions which were answered already within what I sent them. Not too much of a hassle I suppose.
My biggest gripe is the cost. $1400, for what exactly? My case was easy and quick, I had PR within 3 weeks of sending off my ITA. They must be having some lavish staff parties.

[Nathan]

Well, they let me in. How competent can they be?!!

Cheers!:cheers

[BlueDevil]

Compared to US immigration which assumes you are a pedophile terrorist until grudgingly proved otherwise, they are pretty good. I am an American and there are many good things about the U.S.A, but our immigration service is a blight on our nation and our relationship with the world and does untold damage. Its not just a rant; I never had to deal with them for myself, but the teaching hospital I worked at in the US had horrific experiences trying to get highly qualified residents (physicians training in subspecialties) from other countries.

NZ immigration was pretty decent to us. The forms are long and repetitive, the fees high, some questions unclear, our London officer was relatively humorless, but for a civil service organization they were much more efficient than any I have seen. Remember that immigration officers are never rewarded for customer service as far as I am aware; but they are heavily penalized if they let someone in who causes problems. I a sure there are some bad/slow/disorganized eggs in the basket, but in general, from my own and others experience I think they are pretty good.

[migratory birds]

Please don't get me wrong...overall I had a very good experience with NZIS - from the very user friendly NZIS website at the beginning to an awesome case officer at the end who was reachable and wonderful to talk with about questions I had about the immigration process.

I've worked with the American immigration service when we adopted a child from overseas and they were for the most part mystery people who were only contactable by letter and when we did see them in person, they had pretty flat affects as they went thru the moves to approve her visa. Not difficult but not congratulatory about the new baby and there was that feeling of being in the same boat as contraban smugglers and arms dealers when we dealt with immigration in LA!

[Kiwi-In-Texas]

I have to agree with what you have said about US Immigration, having experienced it for myself...I am sure my husband will get his New Zealand PR a lot quicker and with a lot less hassle.
We have found the NZ Consulate in Washington, DC very helpful whenever we have needed to phone them.