Kia ora,

Immigration New Zealand will prioritise processing of eligible 2021 Resident Visa applications from those separated from offshore partners and/or dependent children. These measures will benefit those affected by the decision to extend the 2021 Resident Visa processing timeframe from 12 to 18 months.

You may have employees who have been separated from family by COVID-19 restrictions. Please pass on this information to any who may be eligible for prioritisation. 

Prioritisation criteria

Criteria for prioritisation includes:

• the family member must be overseas
• the relationship must have been established before COVID-19 restrictions were introduced in 2020
• the application is at the Under assessment or a later stage.

Applications may progress to the Under assessment stage only after police, character and other key checks are completed. These checks must be completed before we can action any requests for urgent processing.

Prioritisation process

Eligible applicants can email requests to: EmploymentVisaEscalations@mbie.govt.nz

Please include in the email:

• full name and date of birth
• the details of anyone included in the application, like a partner or dependent child 
• passport number 
• application number 
• INZ client number, if known
• an explanation of why the processing of the application should be escalated.

Ngā mihi,
Immigration New Zealand