[TimAck]

Hi we're applying for a partnership visa for my fiancee via NZ House in London. Just wondering if anyone has any experience how long it takes and what sort of communication you get from them. A few days after we lodged the application (about a month ago) we got a letter back saying the OH's brith certificate was the wrong one (apparently you can have 'full' birth cerificate and a shorter one). We sent the full birth certificate to NZ house a few days later be have heard nothing since.

[JandM]

It's one of those annoying situations where it takes as long as it takes, so no-one can actually predict for your individual case, I'm afraid. And it's not easy to live through, because there is no inessential communication - they only get in touch if they need to ask for more information about some aspect of your case. Some people have only heard that they've been assigned a CO, and then the eventual answer! Try to regard it as quite positive that you don't hear, as no contact means they haven't found any potential problems.

[lin]

I feel your pain TimAck - we sent off my partnership application about 3 weeks ago & have heard nothing back. I'm hoping thats a good thing. I know its not long but it doesn't stop me stressing about it! :roll

[lin]

oh, can I ask, did you get an acknowledgement letter from them at all?

[TimAck]

We got a letter saying we needed to send a full birth certificate of OH but that was it.

Was hoping to book flights for early Nov...

[lin]

hmm, then I'm sticking with the 'no news is good news' - the website says they will send an acknowledgment letter within 14 days and as I haven't received anything I'm in panic mode, especially as OH left yesterday (he starts his new job next week) and isn't here to calm me down. :(

Fingers crossed for us both then!

[TimAck]

Yes, good luck to you and fingers crossed!!

[Kitten Witten]

Hello there,

I have very recently had my PR partnership visa approved through the London Office and this was my experience:

Wed 13th May - Dropped off application in person (keen I know) :)

Tue 26th May - Received acknowlegdement email that my file was with file clerk awaiting assignment to CO, which would be within 4 weeks of the 13th May.

Tue 9th June - Had email; this was just my CO introducing himself, telling me my case looked “mostly in order” and that he had sent off for my OH’s NZ police check which should take 4-5 weeks and he would be in touch with me once he had further news.

Tue 30th June - Received letter giving me permanent residence approval in principle (so only 3 weeks from acknowledgement email!)
Tue 30th June – Evening. Broke out the champers with OH and got hideously tipsy

Thu 3rd July - Sent off passport and migrant levy fee and since then had a bit of a disaster with passport not being passed onto my CO and Royal Mail insisting it was delivered but not being able to tell me who signed for it even though it was sent recorded delivery. So 1 week of not knowing where it was and being told by my very huffy and quite rude CO at INZ that it wasn’t there and being told by Royal Mail that they couldn’t do anything about finding out who signed for it until 22nd July. Finally CO confirmed last week it had been at INZ all along just nobody and bothered to give it to him :mad:

When he told me this I had actually been ringing him to get my passport number off him so I could cancel it, get a new one, cancel bank card etc. as I wasn’t prepared to believe Royal Mail as they had put the Aluminium Institute (who share the same building and whom I rang!!!) on one of the 3 receipts they gave me for the package. Been a complete nightmare. But apart from this major last blip and my CO being rather rude when I was being polite to him it’s been really good.

Today – Migrant levy fee taken out of bank account, hoping passport makes it back more safely back to me than it travelled to NZ House!

I would say two things:

Other posters are right if you aren’t hearing much (after knowing your application got there safely) then you are pretty safe to assume they are busy processing stuff and no news is generally good news. They are probably processing your NZ police check and working their way through relationship evidence. From other people on here I think they tend to contact you fairly sharpish if they want more relationship evidence, if there's a prob with the medical or you’ve missed something vital. One final thing is if you book flights for Nov don't forget to try this if you are flying with just AirNZ:

http://www.emigratenz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=26010

so you can get some money off (I wish I had).

And lin I would say give it another week and then contact them to ask if they received it fine, I know it's a pricey call but probably worth it just to check they received it ok. But bear in mind there has been two (several days long) London postal strikes very recently so your acknowledgement letter could very easily just be delayed....and some other people on here just seem to have received their first correspondece from their CO without the general acknowledgement letter at all so try not to worry for another week :) That way by them you might even have a CO not just an acknowledgement.



Good luck to you both! :nice1

[Kitten Witten]

Forgot to say, general guidance on timeframe for partnership through London Office is 1-3 months from the date of allocation to visa officer:

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

Not sure if you knew that as it sounds like they didn't send you a proper acknowledgement letter.

Hope that helps too :nice1

[TimAck]

Thanks KittenWitten, useful stuff. Will hang on another week before chasing them up. Just want to make sure they received the 2nd birth certificate of, was recorded delivery so I know it's been delivered to them but just not heard anything back so slightly worried.

[lin]

Thanks KittenWitten, that helped calm me down :) - I didn't realise there had been a postal strike in London. I really hope its all being processed and I'm just being overly anxious & impatient.

OH has just texted me & arrived in Auckland & heading for his ChCh connection - now just waiting on his call...

[Kitten Witten]

No worries guys, glad to help. I really sympathise I just wanted to know everything was alright all of the time too; the waiting is definitely one of the hardest bits!!! :)

[JandM]

And lin I would say give it another week and then contact them to ask if they received it fine, I know it's a pricey call but probably worth it just to check they received it ok.If you're talking about phoning NZ House from within the UK, you don't need to use the £1-a-minute number from their website (09 060 100100) - 01304 716199, which is what is given for ringing from abroad, gets you through to the same people, and is an ordinary national rate number.

[lin]

If you're talking about phoning NZ House from within the UK, you don't need to use the £1-a-minute number from their website (09 060 100100) - 01304 716199, which is what is given for ringing from abroad, gets you through to the same people, and is an ordinary national rate number.

Thanks JandM

[JandM]

:nice1

[RTNZ]

That's interesting - if one applies for partner-based PR in London, the processing time is 1 to 3 months, but applying directly in Christchuch (as I will) the processing time is 12+ months. ?

[lin]

TimAck - just to let you know I got my letter advising that a CO has been assigned. :)

Letter is saying decision will be made 10-12 weeks after my application is allocated!! I don't think I can wait that long with OH 12000 miles away already... :(

hoping the medical stuff doesn't delay it either... ah so not good at waiting...




edited to correct typo

[sophiedb]

Ugg, that's a long wait :(

I want to submit mine in October (as will have most up-to-date medical info to go with it, then), but 10-12 weeks PLUS medical assessor time.. yack, hubby's not going to like that!

[Kitten Witten]

Hi lin,

Just wanted to say don't panic too much, my letter also said 10-12 weeks and as previously mentioned I got my approval in principle letter exactly 3 weeks later. Bless you though, can't be easy when you're so far way from your OH.

Fingers crossed for you :)

[lin]

thanks ladies - I'm just stressing when I shouldn't as I've no control over it. Think i might treat myself to a glass of Baileys (beats warm milk before bed!) ;)

[sophiedb]

Baileys and hot chocolate!

Trust me, is YUMMY :)

[TimAck]

Hi Lin, KittenWitten, et al,

I've just got back from a weeks holiday in Cornwall to find a letter from INZ. We now have a case officer! The letter also says a decision will be made in 10 to 12 weeks. I know it's risky but I'm toying with the idea of booking flights 1st week in November. I'm keen to book before prices start going up.

T

[jo1966]

Hi, we booked our flights when we accepted an offer on our house - which was a bit rash in hindsight but lucky the house sale is going through. We made sure that we could change them should the need arise without it costing too much.
Jo

[Kitten Witten]

Hi TimAck,

:nice1 Congrats on your OH getting a CO!

If I was in your position I would go for it, but it very much is a personal choice as there is obviously a risk involved in the timing.

We booked our flights to Chch at the end of May for late Nov before we had approval knowing that there would have to be a massive delay to cause any problems for us. And with the contingency that we could cancel and only lose £150 each - which was just a standard clause with AirNZ booked all the way, then have to buy some very expensive tickets! We felt the risk was minimal compared to the gain of hopefully everything being well and getting flights at not massively inflated prices.

In your case you have about 13-14 weeks (correct me if I am wrong?!) before you want to fly so it is a bit riskier. The things that would make me go ahead and book it is INZ do prioritise partnership applications from partners of expats (presumably because they want the Kiwis to be able to move back quicky!) over those where the sponsor already lives in NZ. But I am also assuming that your OH does not foresee having any medical probs from the medical? If she does then I wouldn't book flights until you have approval as medical probs can cause huge delays but I think your CO might have mentioned this (ours said 'your file looks mostly in order so I expect it to be processed within 10-12 weeks - it only took 3) but I could easily be wrong so be careful on that front of there are any potential issues.

Finally as you know once your OH gets approval they will need to send off the migrant levy fee and their passport to get their blue visa stickers in - but she could ring the CO and ask if she can pop over and do this in one day (lots of forumites seem to have arranged this without any probs); if you do this by post they're supposed to process it in one week so you are looking at 1.5 weeks - they send it back by registered post - but I personally had massive probelms with mine going AWOL when I sent it in so it took 3...

Good luck with whatever you decide :nice1

[Flutterby]

if you are in a really big hurry you can apply for temporary WORK visa using the partnership category (without needing a job offer) and then finish your wait in NZ, if you have already put in your PR application you can even use the same medical for it.
I applied for the temp visa 1st as the application from within NZ is cheaper and the temp visa is processed a lot quicker (was quoted 2-4weeks) i got mine approved the day after i handed the application in! Also as we have a child i was able to avoid putting her through a medical by applying for citizenship by decent, As we intend to get her a kiwi passport soon anyway this also saves us money in the long run.

[lin]

Hey TimAck - that's good news, sounds like the same letter I got.

I booked my flight (for Sept) a while back but was probably a bit optimistic with the timeframes, so will have to change it now but that doesn't bother me so much. Only nervous if they refer me to the MA which will push out the timeline more.

Flutterby, hadn't thought about a temporary work visa - might look into that some more.

Sophiedb - bailey's & hot choccie, hmm hadn't heard that before but might just have to try it! :p

[TimAck]

Update!!!!

The wait was driving my OH insane so she sent the CO a 'hey-hows-it-going' email and heard back that she has been approved and a approval in principle letter will be going out next week.

Hoping to book flights to Chch for the 2nd week of November.

[JandM]

Congratulations! :nice1:clap:bluebanana

[kara_m]

Update!!!!

The wait was driving my OH insane so she sent the CO a 'hey-hows-it-going' email and heard back that she has been approved and a approval in principle letter will be going out next week.

Hoping to book flights to Chch for the 2nd week of November.

congratulations on the good news hopefully you will be getting that letter very soon!
i just submitted my partnership application at nz house yesterday, hopefully mine will have a time line like yours i hope i dont hit any hurdles!

[lin]

that's great news Tim!

Have to admit, I'm a little jealous (but pleased for you guys!). My CO emailed me to tell me he was referring me to the Medical Assessor. :( Hoping to hear back next week.

Now you can relax a bit & get those flights sorted! :nice1

[TimAck]

Sorry to hear that Lin. I do hope it's nothing too serious.

We booked flights last night, flying to Christchurch on 9 November.

Now 2 and a half months to shut down life in London.

[lin]

Thanks Tim.

Great you got those flights sorted - its nice to have a deadline to work towards! :nice1 :raebanana

[Kitten Witten]

:bluebanana:bluebanana:bluebanana
Congrats to you and your OH, TimAck. You'll land in Chch a few weeks before us!

And sorry to hear you've been referred to MA, Lin. Hope all it all works out soon :)

[TimAck]

Cheers guys. it's definitely a load off getting the visa and flights sorted.

Now just have to sort out shipping, a lodger, job, etc, etc...