RETURN OF DOCUMENTS FOR ITA

[k-k]

Hi Jento

You just go to the reception at NZ House and say you are there to hand in your ITA, they will then get someone from NZIS to come and take you up to their department (which is one floor up). You take a number and wait your turn to see an advisor. They'll quickly look through your documents to check that they correspond with the checklist and give you a receipt for them. Just say then that you would like your passports back.

I went on a Thursday just after lunchtime and it was deserted. The advisor told me it tends to quieten down towards the end of the week.

According to the letter we got, once they receive the passports and deduct the migrant levy (we did fill in the migrant levy form giving our credit card details and submitted it with the ITA) the blue sticker will be put in the passport and returned to us. Then it's all systems go. Mind you I read somewhere on the forums that it can take upto 4 weeks to get the passport plus sticker back. It's just one long round of waiting!

Good luck
k-k

[jento]

hi k-k
so they do need to have the passports sent to them at some point then? - they just use the certified copies to get over the first hurdle - but they won't issue blue sticker without actual passports - is that right? or will they only need to see passports when i visit nz house to drop off documents?
sorry - bit slow on the uptake this afternoon!
jento

[MotherBear]

I would assume they'd need the passports to put the blue residency stickers in.

[k-k]

Yes they do need the actual passport to put the sticker in. We were in the same position as you in that we wanted to go away just after handing in the ITA so we opted to get the passports back then send them in to have the sticker put in the passport once we knew we were going to get PR.

In your original post you said you wanted to go away at Christmas, if you wanted to hand in your ITA in the next month or so you may be faced with a 2 month wait before they even look at your documents (if you've no job offer).

I think all the passport or certified copy is used for initially is to prove you are who you say you are, it's just a means of confirming your identity.

k-k