NEW DELHI STUDENT VISA NEWSLETTER

December 2008

Kia Ora, Namaste,

This newsletter offers an update on the student visa front including information on how you can help us provide an even better service in processing student visa applications.

The key areas covered in this newsletter are:

q       Student team and contact details

q       Processing times

q       Partner of a student

q       Escalation process

q       Submission of documents

student team

The student team, responsible for assessing the visa applications of students intending to join the Feb. 2009 semester in NZ is:

¨       Asmita Singh (part – time)

¨       Garima Gupta (from 5 January 09)

¨       Gurpreet Singh Chhatwal (Support Officer)

¨       Harit Kapahi

¨       Pankaj Malhotra

¨       Rohit Menon

¨       Sanjit Walia

¨       Shiva Rawat Singh

¨       Simranjit Singh Garkal

¨       Supriya Banerjee

Communication with the student team

All communication from New Zealand Education Providers and student agents pertaining to generic queries on student visa applications, including the evidence of payment of tuition fee and extension letters for students, should be directed to the e-mail id NZISNDStudent@dol.govt.nz only.

We request that you ensure this process is followed.

We can be contacted for general queries from 9 am to 12 pm (Monday to Friday).

Rakhi Gupta is the Technical Advisor. Tanuva Majumdar is the Immigration Manager for the Students Team.

Our contact details are:

Phone number:  +91 11 42596300

Fax number:      +91 11 42596301

E-mail format: firstname.lastname@dol.govt.nz

e-mail is our preferred mode of communication

processing times:

The processing time may differ across individual applications and can be brought forward or pushed further back depending on risks perceived in individual applications. The normal processing time frame as at November 2008 is:

Positive profile applications – 15 days
Other student visa applications – 12 to 15 weeks.

If the application does not include the required documents that are given in this check-list, it is likely that the application will be placed in a managed queue and is currently taking 6 weeks to be allocated to a visa officer to process.

Partner of a student:

Partners of students studying in areas of absolute skill shortage or partners of all postgraduate students may apply for a work visa, valid for the duration of the student’s course of study.

Partner of student must provide:

·         a completed work visa application form and fee;

·         evidence of relationship with the student which may include (marriage certificate, marriage photographs, birth certificates for the child(ren) born to the couple, correspondence addressed to the couple, evidence of joint bank accounts or immovable assets bought by the couple jointly etc.);

·         Police clearance certificate and medical certificates completed from the doctor on our panel; and

·         evidence that they have a minimum of NZD 5000 per annum in funds available to maintain themselves during their 12 month stay in New Zealand.

If the partner of student is NOT studying in areas of absolute skill shortage or a student is not studying a postgraduate qualification, partners of the students may apply for a visit visa, valid for the duration of the student’s course of study.

Please use the following link to find out the qualifications that exist in Long Term Skill Shortage List:

http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migrant/stream/work/worktoresidence/caniworkinnz/ltssloccupationrequirements.htm

Escalation process

After assessing the application, if the visa officer has any concerns with an application, then he/she is required by our process to inform the applicant in writing to give them an opportunity to address those concerns. At this stage the application has not been decided and is not a declined case.

Further information should be supplied directly to the case officer who will then take that in to account and then make a decision on the case. Please note that all decisions are then checked by a senior officer before being finalised. This is a quality assurance process.

So, the people to deal with are:

1.   Individual Case Officer in response to any request for information.

2.   Any concerns with the processing of the application should be addressed to the concerned visa officer at the first instance.

3.   If the concerns remain unresolved, please raise the issue with Tanuva Majumdar, Immigration Manager.

Please note that if Tanuva gets involved at any earlier point, she does not then have the opportunity to act as the final reviewing officer (if necessary) as she has already been involved with the case.

Appreciate your assistance in this regard.

SUBMISSION OF DOCUMENTS

For details of the documents that should accompany your student visa application, kindly click on the link:

http://www.immigration.govt.nz/branch/NewDelhiBranchHome/

TT Services accepts applications, passports and all other related documents on behalf of Immigration New Zealand. All applications must be lodged at one of the following TT Services centres. 

In conclusion, we hope you have found this newsletter helpful. Thank you for your continued support and as always we appreciate your ongoing feedback on our service.

Please direct your feedback to Tanuva Majumdar, Immigration Manager, Student Visa Team at Tanuva.majumdar@dol.govt.nz

We hope the Feb 2009 semester goes well for you and we will communicate again prior to the July 2009 semester.

Best Regards

New Delhi Team