[Yorkie]

Hi All

Can anybody help ? We were selected out of the pool on 1st Sept.
We aren't in too much of a rush to go as it gives us more time to sort things like out like the house etc.
We would like to have another holiday in NZ ( before we get PR ) but the problem is we don't know what the latest we will be able to go is before we have our visas back.
Another problem is when we are invited to apply we have to send our passports....How long do they keep them ?? and when we get them back do we have another chance to visit under a holiday visa or would it automatically trigger our residency status ????

Ideally we would like to have our holiday March 2005 BUT will we be able to visit on a holiday visa then and will we have our passports ??

Hope this makes sense and would appreciate any help.

[MelissaLG]

Wow, Yorkie, you raise a great question. I wish I knew the answer. I think that this is one issue that you probably should raise with NZIS to make sure you get the answer from the horse's mouth, so to speak. If you do, let us know what you find out.

I realize from your post that I have a similar problem. Assuming everything is okay with our EOI, we expect to get an invitation to apply around Dec 15 (selected in the Sep 15 draw). But we plan to enter NZ in early January. :eek I guess that means we'd better hold on to our passports until we enter NZ and then send them in. But we are thinking of entering on student visas so we are legal to stay until residency hopefully comes through, so that just throws a wrench in everything! :wah I guess I will have to send in the passport soon to get the student visa, then enter on student visa, then send in passport again as part of the residency application. I cannot help but thinking that NZIS will look less favorably on my residency application if I am on a student visa, but what can I do?

arrrggghhhh.

Melissa

[Loulou]

Hi

I think this is how it works, but dont take my word for it lol

If you have been selected it takes them a while to validate your claims, says on my letter up to 8 weeks but they have selected an awful lot of peeps in the past month or so.

If they like the look of you they then ask you to send all your stuff in, ie medicals, police checks passports etc, you have a max of 4 months to do this ( I get the impression that certified copies are fine), then they have another look and then invite you for PR (fingers crossed, they can still change there minds).

Looking at this timescale, you could be ready to go in 6 months may be 8, it all depends on how busy they are.

But you might want to ring NZIS to confrim all of this.

Good Luck

[Radders]

Hi, I know you live in York, so it's not easy, but I handed my application in at NZ House, they were able to take a photo copy of my passport, and hand it back.
When my acceptance came back I was asked to either send it in to get the visas or pop in again.
So I had my passport for the whole time my application was being processed.

[Moorf]

We are taking all our docs for the official invitation to apply with us on our 6 month "holiday" to nz - have been advised that we can present our passports whilst in NZ to a local immigration office :-)

[Yorkie]

Hi, I know you live in York, so it's not easy, but I handed my application in at NZ House, they were able to take a photo copy of my passport, and hand it back.
When my acceptance came back I was asked to either send it in to get the visas or pop in again.
So I had my passport for the whole time my application was being processed.

Thanks Radders I might just do that

[Yorkie]

Hi

I think this is how it works, but dont take my word for it lol

If you have been selected it takes them a while to validate your claims, says on my letter up to 8 weeks but they have selected an awful lot of peeps in the past month or so.

If they like the look of you they then ask you to send all your stuff in, ie medicals, police checks passports etc, you have a max of 4 months to do this ( I get the impression that certified copies are fine), then they have another look and then invite you for PR (fingers crossed, they can still change there minds).

Looking at this timescale, you could be ready to go in 6 months may be 8, it all depends on how busy they are.

But you might want to ring NZIS to confrim all of this.

Good Luck

Thanks very much for the advice you have no idea how much it has helped.
Thanks