Visa Application Anxiety
We have all been there…you have prepared something that needs to be sent somewhere and as you get ready to finally send it away (or click submit), the palms go sweaty, the heart starts racing and you second-guess every aspect of the thing you are about to do. I am fairly sure visa applicants feel exactly the same, but with higher degrees of anxiety, followed by waves of paranoia. Did I get it right? are the documents in order? Did INZ receive the application? If you have every been in that situation, this post is for you.
As advisers we still feel this sense of anxiety at the click of the submit button or at least, I should say a good adviser does. The difference is we know what we are doing, so in reality, it is a fleeting moment, before we remember we have this under control. I have done this long enough to remember the days when all applications were couriered to INZ and everything was done in hard copy. There were often times when sealed courier bags were being furiously torn open for a last minute double check, before the driver arrived and your application disappeared out of sight. Then you had the nervous wait until INZ received it, unpacked it and decided if you did in fact get it right.
The funny thing is that despite INZ’s move to everything being online that same (or at least similar) sense of anxiety still exists, except you can now usually follow up and add things in, where they might not have made it on the first button click. Things are definitely easier and perhaps a little less stressful, in the digital age, yet ironically the potential for things to go wrong with that submission process (for those inexperienced with INZ) has stayed about the same. I would suggest that in fact the more digital things become, the greater the risks of things going virtually astray.
I encountered such a situation last week, which illustrated just how nerve-wracking this process can be, but also how easy it is for things to get complicated very quickly if you rely entirely on INZ’s automated systems to tell you what is going on.
In this particular scenario, the client contacted me, having realized that he was now unlawfully in New Zealand, only by a number of weeks. His explanation which was a very credible one, is that he had lodged a Resident Visa application under partnership back in October 2022 and that INZ had advised him that he didn’t need to worry as he would be allowed to stay lawfully on an interim Visa.
First thing - interim Visas aren’t given to you, if you are waiting on a Resident Visa to be processed, they are only issued if you have lodged a new temporary Visa and that application hasn’t been decided. I suspect the INZ call centre, might have got that bit muddled up - however that mix up meant we had to sort out a new Visa and in a hurry - we managed that in four days.
However the bit that stuck out for me, was the fact that they had a Resident Visa application under partnership process that hadn’t been touched for 15 odd months…they never take that long. What makes it even stranger is they had an automated email from INZ’s systems confirming that application had been lodged and advising them to wait until being contacted by a case officer - which they had duly done.
We did what always do and checked this out, and it turns out the Resident Visa was never lodged and didn’t exist. That means 15 months of waiting for a decision on an application that wasn’t actually there.
A horrible situation for anyone to be in, and at no fault of the clients, who rightly assumed that INZ were on top of it all. This was compounded by information from the call centre that oddly confirmed the application was in process.
It happens more than you might think and there are some really easy ways to avoid it, that are also just good common sense things to do, when you are at the stage of submitting your application. Things that I do all the time, even if it is just to quell my paranoia.
You should be nervous
When it comes to INZ’s systems, you have every right to be nervous (they very rarely work properly) so double-checking is good practice.
Check, then check again.
Whenever we lodge any application with Immigration New Zealand, we do two things…we first wait for the email confirmation and fee receipt and then confirm with INZ over the phone that the application is in the system. As a part of that we request the lodgement date, and relevant application numbers, which we then record.
INZ of course will send an automated email as part of the submission process, but as the clients above experienced, this isn’t always proof of life for your application being in the system. Following submission and knowing the approximate timeframes for applications to be processed we will routinely follow up anyway. We dont anticipate progress necessarily but again its all part of keeping a track record of events. We will usually request that INZ confirms at what stage the application is at, rather than just ask for an update. Along the way, if we believe an application isn’t progressing at it should, we then might need to follow up further.
A lot of this has nothing to do with getting the application processed more quickly but just making sure that it stays on track and is processed the way it should be. This is really important with INZ’s new $50 million dollar and counting, processing system, which has, in the past, lost applications, put them in the wrong queue or failed to update correctly. If that system doesn’t update, then case officers aren’t triggered to do anything - meaning the application literally sits on a digital shelf, gathering digital dust.
A healthy does of paranoia, keeps you on your toes and your application moving forward and I attribute a lot of my success in this industry and for my clients on having a mild case of obsessive compulsive disorder, leading me to check, check again and then check once more for good measure. I still only turn the lights on and off once.
Are we there yet?
Waiting for a Visa can be nerve-wracking but sometimes a really long wait, might mean something has gone amiss.
If it feels like its taking too long, it probably is…
INZ is notoriously bad and giving anything that resembles a realistic timeframe for processing and really its not their fault. When you handle thousands of applications a day, where some can be processed in a day and others might take several months, the averages are irrelevant to most people and usually change every week. That then leads to a lot of frustration and one of the hardest parts of my job is managing client’s expectations when it comes to how long INZ will take to do what they need to do and to approve the Visa. Given we lodge decision ready applications, ours tend to move relatively swiftly and not because of who we are but how we file the application. However even then, we are constantly thinking about those timeframes and when things take longer than you think they should (usually a gut feel) we then go on the hunt.
The problem for most applicants who are attempting this on their own (ready my DIY Visas post) is that they have very limited options when it comes to finding out what is going on and why the application might be taking so long. INZ being made aware of this frustration upgraded their $50 million system to include “status changes”. The problem is that just because your application moves through one of these stages, doesn’t solve the problem if the movement occurs over weeks and months.
Calling the call centre for an update wont get you too far, and possibly make you unlawful or tell you that your application that doens’t exist is moving along steadily.
However even with these limited options you can still a few things to make sure you are on the right track.
Be realistic about the processing time - if you file your application on Friday, dont start chasing INZ on Monday. There is a process that INZ goes through and so your application will take time to move through the various stages.
When you call the contact centre, ask them each time you call, to confirm the date of lodgement, and application number. Request details on last action taken or update on the file.
Also ask to confirm if any further information has been requested of you…sometimes these requests don’t get sent out and INZ might be waiting for you, while you are waiting for them.
Keep a track of your calls to the call centre and an eye on the standard processing times (available on the website, for what they are worth). If things seem to be taking too long, then raise that with the call centre on your next call.
Note down the date and time of your follow ups and also the name of the person you spoke to. INZ records these details as well and so its handy information to have if something goes wrong.
Of course, if you have someone assisting you with the process, then they can shoulder this for you and do the chasing, hunting and badgering on your behalf - sometimes even just having that part of the process in the hands of someone else, can make your life a lot easier.
The Visa application process is one that can make even the most stoic of people, weak at the knees, but if you approach it logically and do some double checking along the way, you can keep the nerves at bay and avoid a few sleepless nights or blown light switches.
Until next week.
