Jan 24

Since sending our ITA we have been checking the NZIS website everyday to see if there has been any movement.

Our ITA was received on the 15th Jan 2007 and the NZIS website was also updated to say so the same day.

The next day they sent a letter, which we received today saying that they have accepted our application for consideration. I presume it is a standard letter sent to all applicants. We now no longer use our EOI number as we have been allocated an Application Number. Maybe I should tattoo it to my arm for good luck?

It also says that it will take about four months before we are allocated a case officer who will then process the application. Once allocated it will take another one to three months to do the actual processing. We are obviously hoping to catch the SA interviews which we think are going to be around April / May. This means they only have 2.5 to 3 months to process it. So we are holding thumbs that they will push to get as many SA applications ready for interview.

They also say that if there are any medical, character or other issues that need clarifying, then things could take longer. Let’s hope that is not the case.

When we got our ITA package to fill in there was a discrepancy with how much the application fee is : the cover letter said GBP 525 and the checklist said GBP 585. So we authorised GBP 585.

They sent us a receipt with today’s letter and whoo hoo it was only GBP 525 (a cool R864 less than expected, we will keep that for drinks when we get our blue stickers ).

Please excuse me now, I need to go and check the NZIS website for the 50th time today to see if there is any change since 2 minutes ago……….Eish