Please note that applications with offers of skilled employment in New Zealand are given priority and therefore timeframes will differ depending on whether you have a job offer or not.
Skilled Migrant applicants with job offers
The Pool draw, which would potentially allocate your Expression of Interest (EOI) to the London branch, takes place every two weeks.
A visa officer will make an initial assessment of your Expression of Interest (EOI) within 10 working days of the Pool draw. Your visa officer will then contact you, either inviting you to apply for residence or requesting further information.
Once the pre-populated application form is returned to the London branch, your visa officer will generally take between three weeks and three months to make a final decision on your application. Processing times largely depend on whether you have supplied your visa officer with everything they have requested in your Invitation to Apply, or if there any any other issues (such as medical conditions) that we need to follow up on.
Skilled migrant applicants without job offers
The Pool draw, which would potentially allocate your EOI to the London branch, takes place every two weeks.
Your Expression of Interest (EOI) will be assessed within one month of being selected from the pool. We will then contact you, either inviting you to apply for residence or requesting further information.
Please note that if you have been selected and later obtain an offer of skilled employment you should fax this to us (+44 207 973 0370) and we will prioritise assessment of your EOI.
Once the pre-populated application form is returned to the London branch it should be allocated to a visa officer within four months. As an example, for the week ending 04 December 2009 we are allocating applications submitted up to and including 07 August 2009.
Please note that if it is necessary to perform a face to face interview with you the allocation timeframe above may not be applicable. You should refer to the News page of our website for further details of the upcoming interview trips to South Africa.
After your application has been allocated to an officer they will generally take between one and three months to make a final decision on your application. Processing times largely depend on whether you have supplied your visa officer with everything they have requested in your Invitation to Apply, or if there are any other issues (such as medical conditions) we need to follow up on.
Please note that allocation of your file may be delayed by other circumstances, such as the timeframes for our next interviewing trips to countries outside the United Kingdom. We need to interview the applicants associated with applications received with no offer of skilled employment. This is a large undertaking, and we will be completing the interviewing as we have the resources to do so. If you find yourself in this situation please be patient – we aim to finalise your application within nine months of receiving it.
Important note for all applicants
If we send you 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.
Applicants with offers of skilled employment will continue to have priority. If you obtain an offer of skilled employment, all you need to do is to fax a copy of the full offer to (+44) 207 973 0370 with the title "Skilled Migrant Offer of Skilled Employment" and your Expression of Interest number. We will then ensure that your case is allocated to a case officer for immediate assessment.
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.
- The time needed to get a UK police certificate – this can take up to six weeks to be processed, so start planning to secure these early in the process.
- Verification work that we may need to carry out from time to time.
- The time needed to get an appointment to see some of the UK Panel Doctors – these doctors can be booked up weeks ahead.