Up to 10,500 people who were eligible to apply for a 2021 Resident Visa from March 1, 2022, will now be able to apply from next week, Immigration New Zealand announced today.

INZ General Manager Geoff Scott says good progress is being made with processing applications received since the 2021 Resident Visa category opened on December 1, 2021 which means INZ can allow people who had already taken a step towards applying for residence to apply for their 2021 Resident Visa earlier than planned.

'Since Phase 1 applications opened on December 1, 2021, we have received more than 13,000 applications. Of those, nearly 6,000 have been approved, resulting in more than 12,500 people becoming residents under this new policy.”

'This means that we are well through processing the applications received under Phase 1 and the majority of the applications still being processed are waiting for third party checks to be completed or more information from the applicant, before they can be progressed.

'Due to the good progress that has been made, individuals who have a Skilled Migrant Category Expression of Interest that was submitted on or before 29 September 2021 will now be able to apply from February 21.

'This will be done in a staggered way, in the order of the date the individual submitted their EOI, with up to 1500 individuals able to apply each day from 21 February. This will limit the number of applicants trying to apply at any one time and will help to reduce pressure on the online system.”

People who can apply early will receive an email from INZ on the day they are able to apply from and will need their EOI reference number to be able to apply.

'Allowing this group of individuals to apply early recognises that they had already taken a step towards gaining residence by submitting an EOI, but their pathway was impacted by the suspension to EOI selections as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.”

INZ continues to prepare for all remaining eligible applicants to start applying when Phase 2 opens on March 1, 2022.

'We have learnt from Phase 1 and we are working on ways to manage the large volume of applications expected under Phase 2. We will have more to say on this closer to 1 March,” Geoff Scott says.

More information about the 2021 Resident Visa can be found at https://www.immigration.govt.nz/new-zealand-visas/already-have-a-visa/one-off-residence-visa.

Processing information for the 2021 Resident Visa can be found at https://www.immigration.govt.nz/new-zealand-visas/waiting-for-a-visa/how-long-it-takes-to-process-your-visa-application/2021-resident-visa-processing-times.