2021 Resident Visa Q&A with Immigration New Zealand

Licensed Immigration Advisers were once again invited to a webinar with INZ yesterday regarding the 2021 Resident Visa applications. This was supposed to be a Q&A for us advisers to ask questions and gain clarity around the requirements and process, but as usual, that’s not how it played out.

Firstly, the immigration managers spoke for 35 minutes about the application process and told us exactly the same things they’ve told us previously. Then they addressed some of the ‘common’ questions that were submitted as part of the registration process for the webinar. In my opinion they just chose the easiest questions they could find and answered those. At the end, for 10 minutes, they took questions from the attendees and again seem to only pick the ‘easy’ questions.

All-in-all they never told us a tremendous amount more, but there were a few take aways from the session:

• INZ are expecting around 15,000 applications in the first phase from 1st December 2021. They have asked that applicants don’t all rush to get there applications in on the 1st December. Even if you only submit a week or two later, their intention is still to process applications as quickly as possible.
• An important thing to note and it’s mentioned in the new instructions, if you are not eligible to apply in phase 1 and you do, your application will be declined.
• Having said that, it has been confirmed that the applications for phase 1 and phase 2 will be slightly different. The reason for this is that phase 1 will require your SMC number as part of the application and won’t request payment. Whereas all phase 2 applications will be required to pay for their application on lodgment.
• As normal, INZ have not planned this out very well meaning it will be a battle to get applications submitted on the 1st December anyway if you are using a LIA or attorney. As with all applications been done on behalf of somebody else, a declaration form needs to be completed by the applicants giving their permission. INZ have confirmed they will only make this form available from the 1st December.
• INZ will have 3 offices processing the 2021RV applications and they have still not finalised the processing order.

These were all the general points worth noting, further to these thought there were some gems of information that are quite important:

• To be assessed you MUST be in NZ. This is a question I have been asked numerous times and INZ have confirmed that if you leave NZ after submitting your application, it will not be assessed until your return.
• INZ are looking at option for visas post-application but they have made it clear that at this point in time it is up to the applicant to make sure their visa is current and they remain lawful. Having said that, INZ have confirmed though that after your application has been submitted you do not need to remain on an eligible visa, you just need to stay lawful.
• More good news is that a secondary applicant on an SMC visa can apply on their own right if they are eligible, it does not have to be the principal applicant.
• Standard partnership requirements apply but there is potential for deferrals if the couple have not lived together for the required 12 months.
• 25 year olds who are eligible to apply as dependents will have to submit their own application. This can be done at the same time as the parent application and there is no additional fee.

Last but not least, there were some answers to the most common questions currently asked of LIA’s:

• A limited medical will be required for anybody included in an application if there previous medical was issued more than 36 months prior to the application date. INZ have also confirmed that as from next week, all panel physicians in Auckland and Hamilton will be performing immigration medicals.
• Police certificates from overseas countries will not be required and INZ will request NZ police certificates as normal. National security checks will still occur as normal.
• Standard residence documents will be required including passports, birth certificates, photos as well as proof of partnership and dependency where required.

So as I said, not a lot of information was given out but there are still a couple of important point in there.