Patience & Persistence
This is a bit of a shorter post for the week, partly because the subject matter involves a very particular application that demonstrates how patience and persistence can often be crucial in the visa process, but also because we are about to head off on a long weekend for Easter (so five days of work being squashed in to four).
We have recently assisted a client to secure a Visitor Visa, wherein the process took nearly 12 months to complete and crossed three applications (not including the two they filed themselves, which failed). There is quite the backstory to the applicant and one worthy of its own post, but to keep it brief, the applicant was the partner to a New Zealand Resident Visa holder, however they had not lived together for very long (only a few weeks), and there were cultural and age gaps that INZ were not particularly happy with. To add to the mix, the applicant was coming from a country that INZ deems very high risk (of not leaving) and so the odds were stacked up well against our client.
We knew all of this upfront of course and we advised the client, who came to us after their two earlier declines. We outlined the risks, challenges and of course the potential bun-fight (sorry its Easter) that was about to be undertaken. However we didn’t anticipate that it would be a year long process with the need for three applications.
Persistence…
Knowing when to keep pushing ahead in the visa process is a tricky thing, but there are times when giving up, just isn’t an option.
When we took this case on it was clear there were issues, and in fact we were almost anticipating the first decline. Sometimes that isn’t a bad thing to expect because a decline can open the door to challenge INZ more specifically. That is precisely what happened and of course we went again, but the second attempt also failed, which had us somewhat perplexed. This is where things become more challenging because for many it would signal the end. However in the second decline there were a number of issues present in the way INZ managed the application and that allowed us to find another hole to wedge another application in to. However in this case, INZ were willing to accept their failures and we didn’t have to physically refile the application, they simply created a new application to be processed by someone further up the food chain.
That new officer asked all the right questions and gave us a chance to present the information that we wanted to, looking at the application in the way it should have been all along. That application was approved and our client will be heading here shortly to reunite with his partner.
Of course that doesn’t mean that every application should be approved and of course there are applications that INZ decide to decline and rightly so. However for our clients, where we know that the outcome should be positive, regardless of the obstacles in the way, we push and push until eventually common sense wins in the end.
As it happens, we have received another very positive piece of news for a different client this afternoon, but that is for another day. For now we will celebrate the victory above, as will our client.
A short post this week, but some good news to lead in to the Easter holiday break. No matter where you are or how you celebrate, enjoy the time off (if you have some) and have an enjoyable and safe long weekend.
Until next week.
