Sending in passports

[Cord72]

I am leery to send my actual passport around the world in order to submit EOI or WV applications. This is because my family of 4 has already made travel plans for 3 month stay (and hopefully stick) for September 2006. Do they return by courier or regular post? I'm sure I read somewhere in the depths of immigration.govt.nz but I can't find it now.

Alternately I guess we'd wait til arrival to find work (hopefully) and apply for WV in person? I know the risks there, but am quite sure my wife can get work as a licensed hairstylist from the USA.

What is the timeline anyone out there has experienced with getting these docs back?

Thanks - Cord

[MotherBear]

There?s been a couple of links on here previously about timings where return of passports are concerned. The responses were a bit of a mixed bag, but you can submit certified copies if need be, although obviously, when PR is granted, NZIS will need the originals to put the coveted blue stickers in. There's a link here and there's another one which I can't find at the mo due to limits on the search facility.

What you say about travelling to NZ and then looking for work is what quite a lot of people are doing if they can't get into NZ any other way. It's often much easier to get a job once you are there because employers can meet you face to face and are also encouraged that you have made the trip to NZ to look for work.

[Cord72]

Great Stuff thanks for the threads! and your input is appreciated. Having friends to stay with also helps the decision to do it this way. Taking the whole family of 4 is the big step!

There is a process for extending the VV time from 3 to 9 months, as I have read. And I don't even plan to get a VV, as USA is not necc, right?

[selchie]

I'd recommend sending them a certified copy of your passport, just to reduce the headache of getting the original back. When I sent ours in with the PR application, I mentioned in the cover letter that we needed them in 3 months. After waiting a while, I pestered them, and eventually got all our originals back in time. But waiting was no fun. So far as I could tell, they just mailed them back without any fancy mail categories.

[Cord72]

That is exactly what I don't want to happen. If I buggered up my trip to NZ I could sleep at night. But the whole family has to start with a leg to Montego Bay Jamaica for sister in laws wedding. And I cant miss that without hearing the never-end of it!

Cord