[Smelly Cat]

Have just checked the NZIS web site and processing time for London without job offers, and they have finally updated the dates, but it’s now looking like 8 weeks before you get assigned a CO.

My question is has anyone experiences a long delay in their application being received and then being lodged, ours was received 23rd Sep and they took the payment then but we didn’t get lodged until the 15th of October a whole 3 weeks later.....

Joust wondered if anyone else has experienced the same sort of delay.

Not doing well at this whole waiting game!

Fi

[TJH]

Not sure why that happened with you guys. We had our payment taken and were lodged within three days of London getting the ITA.

Good to finally see that the London processing times have been updated, although it was not an update in our favor. We were hoping to have the CO and interview done before the holidays, but 8 weeks puts us getting a CO the week before Christmas.

[JandL]

We have just been given our interview date, ITA returned August. We were not informed that we even had a CO before this, apparently a quiet response is a good response :).

[willow]

thankyou for alerting me to the new dates on the processing times page of the nzi london. i had been checking almost daily and i had given up over the last week as the dates were so far behind.

with the new dates it would seem that we will be allocated a CO within the next two weeks. of course there is the christmas shut down coming, so i am not expecting too much before end of january, but they may surprise me!!

our ita was lodged and payment taken on the 19th september. we didn't experience any delay, so i can't help you with that one.

there are a few of us coming up to getting a CO shortly, so good luck to everyone and keep us posted!

willow

[tyhapus]

Hi all

We had our ITA DHL'd on the 7th October but the lodged date is the 14th October. I guess we might our case officer by Christmas!! sigh ....

[TheJezzers]

Hi, We to have found we sent our ITA into the London office, and it was not lodged until 4 weeks later from arrival in their office. Received and lodged 4 weeks on some ones desk WHY?
Just longer to wait. The agony.:uhoh
Now 8 weeks, from leaving our address. But only 4 weeks from the lodge date.
regards Di.

[tyhapus]

Jezzers! One day after us .. who will hear first?

Is there ANYTHING we can do to get this thing sped up?

Will we hear by Christmas?

Grrrrrrrrrrr!

[tyhapus]

Actually it's 4 way race

US (lodged 14th October)
Jezzers (15th October)
JandL (17th October)
TJH (17th October)

(all without job offers I presume?)

Where's your money folks?

[TJH]

Our ITA Lodged date was actually 23 Oct (17 Oct was when we mailed it back). So it looks like you all have a little lead on us.

Based on the current London NZIS posted processing times I think any of us will be lucky to have an interview prior to the Christmas break. You never know though - maybe there will be a big push to clear open files prior to the holidays.

[Smelly Cat]

A race.... ummmm not good a running!!! LOL

I hope they do push them though before xmas as would be a lovely present for us all.

Good luck everyone!!!

[TheJezzers]

:clap

Good luck to all.:raebanana We will keep you posted.
(We have no job offer.)

[JandL]

Only a 3 way race I'm afraid. I did the interview over the phone today, should find out the result in 2 weeks!! Hope you all get in before xmas.

[tyhapus]

How's everyone doing?

Looks like Smelly's got the job offer so a potential lead?

I thought you were no good at running!!

[willow]

just like all of you we are waiting a response after submitting our ITA in September 08, no job offer. we still haven't heard a thing. could do with a bit of encouragement, now feeling as though everyone else who submitted in september has heard (probably not the case at all!).

this stage is such a drag. hopefully our medicals are all ok. we have an agent working for us, so hopefully for all the cash we have forked out all our paper work should be ok and not causing a hold up!

good luck to everyone. i bet you october lot have all got pr before i have even had an interview!

willow

[TJH]

You probably already have a case officer right now.

According to the London office website's timelines you should have been given a case officer around 14 NOV. From reading other people's experiences, you really don't receive word about this until you get contacted for an interview.

From looking at other people's timelines, it seems that it takes around 1-3 weeks from when you get a CO to when you get an interview. I guess they are reviewing your file during that time.

I love the waiting to hear something part of this:uhoh

[tyhapus]

Keep smiling everyone. Christmas is coming !

[TheJezzers]

Hi everyone,
We are still waiting, but no news could be good news I think. We should hear something soon I hope. Just keep looking ahead and have a drink of beer and Christmas will soon be here.
Goodluck
regards Di.:cheers

[JandL]

We got our PR through the very next day after the phone interview which we were well chuffed about. The last wait when you are told nothing is like pulling teeth, checking emails, phone, mail and the website every 30 mins until something is seen!!

[Smelly Cat]

It’s so nice to see that we are not all alone.... although now I’m not running after getting a job offer which is good as I’m sure my legs couldn’t carry me any further!!

Its still the waiting game as they now say to make sure I get the start date I have might be good to fill out a Work Visa, but the funny thing is they then said as they have all my document I just need to note the reference down, so to me it seems pointless as they are going to have to look at our ITA to potentially give us a work visa so why not just look at out ITA and give us PR!!!!!!

Oh the fun..... so please the drinking season is round the corner!

Fi

[willow]

Hi

I keep reading about people logging onto the NZIS website to check their status and wondered if I can do that also, or is it only our agent who can do that. I know that when you do your lodging etc yourself then you have to get a user name etc for the site, we haven't done that because our agent has sorted everything.

hopefully I can still get onto the site

[TJH]

I am pretty sure your agent has your username and password. The EOI is typically lodged via this system (at least thats how I did it) so if they did that part of the process for you they likely have that info.

[TJH]

To all those out there waiting....

Looks like London again updated the processing times. Looks like the wait is getting longer. We are up to 10 weeks now.

http://www.immigration.govt.nz/branch/londonbranchhome/tipsandprocessingtimes/skilledmigrantprocessingtimes.htm

[willow]

hi TJH
i checked the processing times web page last night and it still said at that point that on week commencing 14th november they were processing applications received upto 21 september 08. now today as you noted the waiting time is increasing!

perhaps they are slowing down for christmas early! it is disappointing as i felt sure it was our turn any time now. I now am very doubtful that we will hear anything before 2009.

I think i will stop checking the processing times page on the nzi london site as it is making me more impatient than ever.

[TheJezzers]

I can't belive it. So disappointed with the whole INZ site. Have immigration gone on a go slow or have the staff just left for their holidays leaving only a few to man the desks. The waiting goes on........and on...........
But then they say no news is good news.
Keep smiling everyone. :) Christmas will soon be here.:cheers

[tyhapus]

Just wanted to say that tomorrow wil be the end of week seven since we "lodged" our ITA.

Surely we must get our CO soon?!!!

[JandL]

It took 12 weeks for my interview to come through and the site says they taking longer now. I think it will be mid Jan before yours comes through tyhapus. (without a job offer?)
I think Willow might just nip in before xmas tho!

[tyhapus]

Well no job offer, you're probably right.

What happens when the medical runs out?

[tyhapus]

Save you all looking ..

"As an example, for the week ending 28 November 2008 we are allocating files lodged up to and including 21 September 2008."

So .. 9 weeks??? ish ..

[2371]

Hi there

Has anyone ever heard or experienced first-hand that the ITA has been turned down despite having delivered all the documents (NZQA etc), th police clearance and a good health report? Or is it safe to say that the NZIS mainly checks the originality of the submitted documents?

We have just received the ITA (took just 3 weeks from EOI selected to the decision successful status instead of the mentioned 3 months) and will do the health check in mid-January.

So the ITA filing will be in the second half of January. Given our plan to move over in July/Aug ’09 and my notice time of 5 months!?, I would need to give notice latest end of February. Hence I try to assess my risk if I give notice before having the final answer….

Thanks your thoughts.

[JandL]

The medicals and police checks have to be in date when they are lodged, I can't remember how long they are valid for once they have them in hand, but its a fairly long time (ie more than long enough to cover your waiting times). However, as they say, they can ask you for a new medical at any time, theres another thread with this question in somewhere about, do a quick search.

@2371: Its all a risk, only you can decide upon :). 5 months should be long enough to get your ITA complete without issue. I've already got my PR in my passport and have yet to tell my boss, I will wait until my house is sold and cash is in hand!

[IanW99]

Well no job offer, you're probably right.

What happens when the medical runs out?

As said by JandL, your medical needed to be valid (less than 3 months old) when submitted, once accepted it remains valid for 2 years. Of course they may request more medical checks at any time.

Ian

[IanW99]

...
@2371: Its all a risk, only you can decide upon :). 5 months should be long enough to get your ITA complete without issue. I've already got my PR in my passport and have yet to tell my boss, I will wait until my house is sold and cash is in hand!

Just a little clarification, you of course only have 4 months to get your ITA complete and submitted.

Ian

[TJH]

We are not tempting fate with our application. We are not selling the house, vehicles, quitting jobs, or anything like that until we have our passports back in hand with blue stickers.

I think you would be very hard pressed to have the whole process done in the timeframe you are looking at. Especially since it looks like the processing times are getting longer, not shorter.

I guess it comes down to how much risk you are willing to take.

[TheJezzers]

Hi all I have some great news, we have a case officer. Wow I can't belive it this morning we recieved an email from a lovely lady called Angela telling us that she was our case officer and could we just send in some more blood results for my son who has slightly raised liver results.
I just need to know if we need to go back to our Immigration doctor or if our normal doctor will do?
I just can't belive something is happening WOW.......
So everyone just keep checking your emails.......
regards Di:raebanana

[TJH]

TheJezzers - Did you have a job offer?

[tyhapus]

Jezzers . wow!!

Congratulations - have a banana (yellow for progress) :raebanana

You lodged about the same time as us - so the job offer question is really pertinent.

I'm getting excited again now ..

[tyhapus]

Actually just read your back-posts and see, like us, you have no job offer.

And, like us, you're in IT!!!

Good luck with next stages ..

[Smelly Cat]

Hi all I have some great news, we have a case officer. Wow I can't belive it this morning we recieved an email from a lovely lady called Angela telling us that she was our case officer and could we just send in some more blood results for my son who has slightly raised liver results.
I just need to know if we need to go back to our Immigration doctor or if our normal doctor will do?
I just can't belive something is happening WOW.......
So everyone just keep checking your emails.......
regards Di:raebanana


We have the same CO and she has been fab, even with my silly questions. I also had to have extra bloods done, and in the end went back to the same doctor who did the medicals as my own GP was being funny. They were really quick too, had bloods taken on Friday morning and the Practice manager at the GP surgery emailed the results back this morning.

Fingers crossed still for every one...

[sherman]

Hi All-

Just curious, how were people contacted by their case officer for the interview i.e. phone, email...?

My wife and I will be out of the country come Monday and don't want to miss this. Our application was lodged Sept 17th and we're crossing our fingers that we'll get contacted soon.

Thanks!
M+B

[JandL]

I was contacted by email.

[TheJezzers]

Thankyou everyone, But we still have a little way to go. I have my sons blood liver results to be redone, he is booked in for Thursday then we have to wait for those results. Hopefully they have returned to normal because he had the flu last time and the doctor said this is what raised his results. We then might have the interview. This is exciting. good luck to everyone we will keep you informed.
regards Di. Without a job offer and a house to sell. :laugh

[willow]

hi

after feeling really out of the loop in terms of when we would hear anything about our ITA processing/Case officer allocation time line I rang our agent to see if they could shed any light on the long wait. i was told that unless there is anything wrong with the information they have (needing more tests/paperwork etc) then I will be unlikely to hear anything until the case officer contacts me or my agent for an interview. so, i think that must be working on the basis of no news is good news! if that is the case and in light of The Jeezers having a case officer looking at their file now even though they lodged 3-4 weeks after us I am hoping (really hoping!!) that we are well down the process and we will be contacted for an interview soon.

our agent will not say a time frame other than as it says on the NZIS London website that it is up to 3 months to be allocated a case officer and up to 4 months before a decision is made. Well, our 3 months will be up on 22/12/08, so perhaps for christmas we will get a case officer in our stocking after all! the thought of waiting a further 4 months for a decision is just as frustrating, but from the posts i have read the decision is much much quicker than that.

perhaps for christmas i shoud ask for some patience as my supply has almost run out!!

[TheJezzers]

Hi Willow, We were contacted because of our son needing another blood test. He had slightly raise liver levels because of the flu. I think your agents are right. no news can be good news so just keep looking for that email about an interview. good luck.
regards Di.:)

[tyhapus]

Any news anyone????!

[Smelly Cat]

Well we had the telephone interview last Thursday so just waiting now to see what they are going to give us.... getting scared as we should be in the Sky this time in three weeks and still no passports!!!

Hope you all start having some news soon.

Fi

[TheJezzers]

Hi all, have sent my sons blood test back everything is normal now so we just have to wait. Good luck everyone.
regards Di.:yes

[tyhapus]

Well don Jezzers on the blood tests and fingers crossed Smellies on the interview results!!

[TheJezzers]

:raebanana Hi all, We are going to have an interview on the phone tomorrow. This is really moving fast now I can't belive it. Will keep you in the know about the results. How is everyone else doing?
regards Di

[willow]

good luck with the interview tomorrow.

I am even more baffled by the NZIS in London now, we lodged our ITA 3 weeks before you also with no job offer and we have not heard a dicky bird!

our agent insists that no news is good news, but in your case with your sons blood tests it was, new is good news, as it was go go go after that! I have a feeling that the CO on our case has narcolepsy and keeps nodding off half way through our paper work! Thats if we even have a CO by now. There is obviously no definate system for working through the lodged ITA's that any of us have ever heard of before. It makes me wonder if a CO picks up cases and if someone with a more urgent ITA eg with a job offer comes along, then ours will be put down while that is processed. I am sure they are doing their best to get us through the system.

Any way Jezzers the speed at which you have moved gives me hope and I will watch this space for news and before long you will have those dancing bananas a blue stickers I am very sure! Good luck for the interview.

[JandL]

If you are using an agent, perhaps they give out agent cases to certain people who know the agent already. I'm certain you already have your CO, hang on in there Willow!

[tyhapus]

Good luck for the interview Jezzers!

[Smelly Cat]

Update - We are off to London on Tuesday to go pick up our passports....YAY we have just booked accommodation and fly the 28th just in time to celebrate New Year....

YAY

Hope all others plans are still coming on.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year everyone.

[tyhapus]

Congratulations!!!

For info I contacted the NZIS in London about the issue of the non-primary candidate getting a job offer. I would be interested in hearing views on the respionse - of particular interest is the additional six weeks to look at October lodged applications. One view is that this is a stock answer in line with the "4 months" to get a CO published on the web site. Confused and sick of waiting (as usual).

As I said thoughts appreciated and I hope this is helpful.


"If a secondary applicant receives a job offer, your application will be prioritized over the other second tier applications but will not be consider a first tier unless you (as a principal applicant) obtain a job offer. This will mean that it will go in front of the queue of the second tier application that are just about to be allocated to a Visa Officer for assessment.

For second tier applications that were lodged on the second week of October, the allocation will be happening in about six more weeks."


Discuss!!!

[BadlyDrawnGirl]

"If a secondary applicant receives a job offer, your application will be prioritized over the other second tier applications but will not be consider a first tier unless you (as a principal applicant) obtain a job offer. This will mean that it will go in front of the queue of the second tier application that are just about to be allocated to a Visa Officer for assessment.
This just confuses me even more, because my OH has a job offer, yet we still have not received any news, while other second-tier applicants who were selected on the same date as us, without ANY job offers (some even with lower points than us), have already been approved.

What gives?

[tyhapus]

Any news anyone?

Reading from my earlier post it looks like end of Jan now ..

sigh ..

[TheJezzers]

Hi everyone had our interview on 12 december but still no news. Emailed case officer on christmas eve but she told us she had been off with the flu and her buddy has not checked her result yet to ok it. So still waiting.
How come some people find out the next day and we have to wait for what seems like a life time over the christmas period. If she knew why couldn't she just give us a clue. Plus she said that we might be given WTR instead od PR. This will be totally no good for us because of our 2 older kids who are just about to finish their courses in the summer at college. To be told to reapply as students and go back to college more expense that we don't need. also with a house to sell and schooling would have to be paid for for the other kids. this just seems to much for us to cope with. So please I hope they give us PR.
Sorry to moan I just need some happy news. :wah

Also new fees are coming out on the 12 Jan09 check out the increases on the NZ IM web site.

[willow]

Jeezers

I am really confused now! why would they offer you WTR instead of PR? I thought if you applied for WTR that is what they offered you and likewise if you applied for PR they processed your application on that basis.

Like you we are getting frustrated by the wait. Even more frustrating is the fact that we haven't heard a thing and looking at some replies i have had people who lodged their ITA to London at the same time or just after us without job offers have heard something.

Our agent is in just chill and wait mode. I am in get on that phone agent and find out what is happening mode personally!

[tyhapus]

Sounds like its a pretty frustrating time for us all, one way or another.

On the WTR question they sometimes offer this if they feel that PR might not be quite right and they want to see how you settle in NZ.

Hang in there everyone ..

PS When we do all get to NZ shall we all arrange to meet up and get drunk?!!!

[JandL]

Jeezers
I am really confused now! why would they offer you WTR instead of PR? I

Willow, go with your agents advice, chill :). It seems like the wait is forever, but it will be your turn soon.

If INZ believe you may have some difficulty settling into NZ they may offer you a WTR instead of a PR. This gives you an opportunity to prove you can settle, after which they will grant you a PR. We have had a discussion on the forums for the name of this WTR as its not the same WTR you get when you apply straight for that, its more like a PR->WTR. Think of it as another hurdle (get a job) before getting PR.

[tyhapus]

Hi Willow

Any news anyone?

[willow]

Still no news! It is driving me mad now. I was on the verge of phoning our agent today to ask them to check if we were any further down the process. But, then I stopped myself as it is the first few days back after the long break and I know things will have ground to a hault.

We are still well within the time scale as stated on the London website, but even just the news we had a CO would be good. I am sure if we had submitted out ITA ourselves we could log onto the site a somehow track the lodged ITA. As our agent is the first point of contact we are unable to do this as they have all the passwords etc. I am still presuming that no news is good news, but that is wearing pretty thin now!!

Has anyone else heard? There must be others on this forum who submitted their ITA to London with no job offer in September 08-if so, have you heard anything?

keep in touch

[JandL]

We didn't hear through the website at all that we had a CO, don't think they even bother updating it so having access to it would make no difference, just give you something else to keep refreshing over and over and over :).

[TheJezzers]

Still no news after our interveiw 4 weeks ago. Has everyone at nz im got the flu? This is driving me crazy.
But I know we will all get there in the end, keep looking forward everyone.:)
Think happy thoughts. Good luck:clap

[tyhapus]

Hang in there all, it's got to happen for us all soon

[TheJezzers]

The Jezzers have PR. Here we come NZ. We just have to sell our house, hopefully we will get to NZ by the middle of the year.:bluebanana:bluebanana:bluebanana:bluebanana

[JandL]

Yey the Jezzers!! Have some blue people. :bluebanana :bluebanana :bluebanana

[TJH]

That is great news that you finally got your PR. It is also great news for the rest of us as it proves that there is actually someone working at the London office right now :)

[JandM]

:nice1:bluebanana:clap

[tyhapus]

Wooo HOOO!!!!

[Mrs Pony]

Why is it that some people get the PR a month or so after the lodged date (no job) and others have to wait longer?!

Like Tyhapus ... you lodged on 14 Oct but you don't have PR yet? But then The Jezzers lodged 15 Oct and they got theirs already...

Does it depend on the branch you send your ITA to? I know if you have to send more thing that will take longer.... but is there anything else?

We're hoping that it doesn't take too long for us (OH is getting more and more anxious as the minutes pass).

[JandL]

I'm sure there are lots of things, maybe your degree/documentation being from a university/source that replies quickly when confirming information. Maybe if you supply small amounts of evidence for something they spend longer checking it is legit. The difference offices obviously have different case loads so thats one obvious reason for slow-down, London is quite quick from what I have read compared to other offices (including NZ!).

In a word (or a few), we will never know.

[Mrs Pony]

haha... well.. ok... thanks I think .. :)

We sent ours to London... so hopefully it will go fast!

[willow]

i know what you mean about different people sending their ITA to the same office getting PR over a different time scale.

we lodged our ITA on 22/9/08 to London with no job offer and we still have heard not a thing! we used a very reputable agent, so all of our stuff is in A1 order, so I can't even blame lack of information for the long long long wait! others lodged a month or more after us and have gone through. our agent says no news is good news eg so far they have not needed any further info, but i think ours keeps getting put back of the pile when someone with a job offer comes through.

I can't work out why some people go through quickly and others like us are still hanging on in there. I read the posts of the people who have zoomed through and it gives me hope that it will be us soon. it is also good to hear that the wheels/cogs inside NZIS London are still turning!

Its becoming a drag though and i wish we could know how far we are through the process and also if we have PR.

our spooky friend who predicted the dates of both our babies says we will hear on 14/1/09 - he will be introuble if we don't!!

[willow]

Today I heard from our case officer! So, we did have one after all, I think he/she were a bit shy!

anyway, 2 out of 4 medicals refered to Medical Assessor, which is as expected as i have an underactive thyroid and son has dyslexi. hopefully that won't cause too many problems and we should be really ready to rumble very soon........watch this space!:clap

[TJH]

Today I heard from our case officer! So, we did have one after all, I think he/she were a bit shy!

anyway, 2 out of 4 medicals refered to Medical Assessor, which is as expected as i have an underactive thyroid and son has dyslexi. hopefully that won't cause too many problems and we should be really ready to rumble very soon........watch this space!:clap

Well your friend was only 2 days off on their prediction of when you would hear something. Pretty close in my book - he needs to predict dates for the rest of us!

Good to hear that you finally heard something. Did your CO say how long they had been assigned to your ITA?