Photo by Miles Holden
Immigration New Zealand has announced they will prioritise processing of eligible 2021 Resident Visa applications for those applicants that have been separated from their partners and/or dependent children who are currently offshore.
For applicants who would like to reunite with their families, certain criteria need to be met to have their 2021 Resident Visa application prioritised.
Prioritisation criteria
The criteria for prioritisation include:
- The family member must be overseas
- The relationship must have been established before COVID-19 restrictions were introduced in 2020
- The application is at ‘Under assessment’ or at a later stage
Requests for prioritisation can only be actioned for urgent processing when the application reaches the ‘under assessment’ stage as key checks including identity, character and possible health checks must be done before the requests.
If you are eligible for priority processing but your application has not yet reached the ‘under assessment’ stage, you can still request prioritisation and this will be allocated for assessment once it reaches the ‘under assessment’ stage.
If you have any questions regarding this announcement or have any immigration enquiries, please contactArno Nothnagel, our NZ Immigration Director, here.