Step 27: Submit Residence Application

I’ll never forget the day the huge packet of resident visa application forms arrived from Immigration NZ. Our EOI had been chosen from the pool. Along with the pre-populated application forms, a cover letter listed all the evidence we’d need to return with our application—essentially everything we’d claimed points for in our EOI, as well as evidence of our health, character, and English language ability. Since we were dealing with an entirely new immigration department (Residence), we would have to include just about everything we’d sent in for our previous visas. Because we saved all the evidence we’d gathered in Step 12 and Step 18, we simply needed to put it all together. Everything we submitted was original documents; they were later returned with our passports.

It was a really big stack of papers. To organise all of it and ensure we had everything in order, I purchased an expandable slot file folder and sorted everything as follows:

• Checklist, Application, Fee, Additional Details Forms. Immigration NZ provided a handy checklist of documents we needed to provide. I included this, along with the pre-populated residence application (completed with the information we’d included on our online EOI), the form with our credit card details to pay the application fee, and Additional Details Forms (INZ 1134) for each family member. Again, we needed recent passport-sized photos for everyone.
• Birth Certificates. Original, certified copies for each family member.
• Passports. All four of ‘em.
• Medical Certificates. While our medical certificates were in the NZimed electronic system, we included hard copies of each. These were the same ones we’d already submitted as it had been less than 24 months since submitting our last visa applications.
• Police Certificates. Again, these were the same as previously submitted as it had been less than 24 months since our last applications.
• Employment Agreement. Hard copy of Michael’s signed, current employment agreement.
• Work Experience. Detailed information of Michael’s skilled work experience, including detailed CV, letters from previous employers confirming dates and positions held, as well as letters of commendation. Also included were copies of payslips and past contracts.
• Evidence of Partnership. All the evidence we provided in Step 18 proving our partnership was stable and genuine.
• Qualifications. Original or certified copies of high school and college course transcripts along with original/certified diplomas. You might also need to include any New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) reports, as applicable.
• Evidence of Future Growth Area. Michael claimed points for this category as he works in information communications technology. As evidence, he included a letter from his current employer, on company letterhead, outlining his current ICT position, including start date and nature of work.

Again, this list is based on the evidence we needed to support the points we claimed. You or another applicant may be asked to provide different or additional evidence, such as a full or provisional occupational registration and proof of your relationship to family living in New Zealand. Perhaps you’ll need evidence that you, your partner, and any children over 16 speak English. (Form INZ 1060 fully explains the many ways to show you and your family meet this requirement.)

Once we had all our evidence collected in our file, we headed back to Queen Street in Auckland and slipped the entire bundle into the “Residence” slot at the immigration office. Residence application…check!