Family Stream
Within New Zealand’s Immigration Programme, priority is given to residence applications under certain categories in preference to applications under other categories.
Priority Family Applications
Partnership/Dependent Child applications
Within 14 days of your application being received by Shanghai Branch the application will be allocated to a visa officer and you will receive an acknowledgement letter.
The current processing time frame for partnership and dependent child applications is six to twelve months.
Non-Priority Family Applications
Parent/Adult Sibling applications
Within 14 days of your application being received by Shanghai Branch you will receive an acknowledgement letter.
The application will normally be allocated to a visa officer within eighteen months of being accepted and may take up to two years to be processed.
Medical and chest X-ray certificates
In November 2005 Immigration New Zealand introduced new guidelines concerning the medical status of people applying for visas and permits to visit, study, work, or live in New Zealand.
If you have an existing medical condition or there are questions arising from the Medical and Chest X-ray Certificate (INZ 1007) that you have submitted with your application for a residence visa, we are required to refer your documents to an independent medical assessor for their opinion on your health.
Certificates referred to an assessor can take six weeks to return to us. Following this you may be asked to provide additional information in the form of specialist reports clarifying the nature and prognosis of your condition.
Please be aware that no decision can be made on the outcome of your residence visa application until all questions regarding your medical status have been resolved.
Skilled migrant processing times
Skilled migrant applicants with job offers
Once your application is accepted for consideration your case will be allocated to a visa officer within three months. If you have supplied all the documentation requested when you were invited to apply for residence, the processing time may take up to nine months.
Processing times may vary depending on whether further documentation is required or if there are any medical conditions or character issues that need assessment.
Skilled migrant applicants without job offers
Once your application is accepted for consideration your case will be allocated to a visa officer within six months. If you have supplied all the documentation requested when you were invited to apply for residence, the processing time may take up to 12-18 months.
Processing times may vary depending on whether further documentation is required or if there are any medical conditions or character issues that need assessment.
Please note that as you are applying for residence without a skilled job offer from a New Zealand employer, it may be necessary to perform a settlement and contribution interview. These can take time to plan and while we endeavour to complete these interviews and follow-up assessment within our timeframes, they can take longer to finalise.
Important note for all applicants
If you have been sent an Invitation to Apply (ITA) and you choose to apply, please be sure to send us all the documentation we request on the document check sheet attached to the front of the ITA. We can not fully assess the application until we have all the documentation.
Things that may delay your application
- An existing medical condition (please provide a report from your specialist clarifying the history and prognosis of the condition).
- A criminal conviction listed on your police certificate (please give a written account outlining the circumstances surrounding the offence).
- Work references that do not list your position and the start and end dates of your employment.
- Any custody issues surrounding children that may be included with a residence application.
- Verification work that we may need to carry out from time to time.
- The time needed to get an appointment to see a Panel Doctor – these doctors can be booked up weeks ahead.
Temporary visa applications
We understand how important it is to you that we process your application as quickly as possible.
We will receipt all applications and lodge them into our computer system within 24 hours. If you have supplied us with your email address, you will receive notification that we have received your application.
If your application includes full and accurate documentation, and there are no complications arising (eg health referrals), we will meet the following standards:
- work visa (Essential Skills, AIP, Partnership) – 30 working days
- work visa specific purpose – 30 working days
- work visa specific (tour leaders) – five working days
- visitor visa (ADS applications) – three working days
- visitor visa (FAO groups) – five working days
- visitor visa (groups) – 10 working days
- visitor visa (general) – 15 working days
- visitor visa (business) – 10 working days
- visitor visa (partnership) – 30 working days
- student visa – 20 working days
- RRV – three working days
- replacement visas – three working days
- working holiday visas – five working days.
Where we cannot process applications within these timeframes, you will be contacted by phone or email.