If you’re considering applying for a visa to live in New Zealand one of the most important pieces of information you can have is why your New Zealand visa application might potentially fail.
Knowing what you’re up against may enable you to structure your application appropriately to avoid the hurdles.
In this article, we’re going to discuss the New Zealand visa application process, and where it often fails for Britons who want to live in New Zealand.
The good news is that New Zealand is a very welcoming country in terms of its visa policies – at least in theory.
The visa programme has been designed to enable the nation to remain as economically strong as it can be – therefore if you possess the skills or indeed the investment capital that the country wants to support its economy, you will be welcomed with open arms.
However, as anyone who has visited the official Immigration website will already know, there is a heck of a lot of red tape involved in the actual New Zealand visa application process.
Don’t be put off. If it’s your dream to live, work or retire in New Zealand here’s what you need to know.
The first thing to do is to make sure you apply for the right type of visa. That may sound incredibly obvious but…some people find that there is more than one type of visa potentially suitable for them, and they aren’t sure which one to apply for.
To have the best possible chance of securing entry into New Zealand you need to make sure you apply for the visa you have the best chance of securing.
- Go through the requirements of each visa using the related information pages and see which one/s you’re eligible for;
- Go through the points and bonus points pages related to the visa type/s you’re eligible for;
- Then use the very handy Points Indicator calculators on the NZ Immigration website to assist you.
Going through these steps should help you choose which visa you have the best chance of applying for.
When you apply you need to know why most applications fail in order to avoid the issues. And the number one reason is that applicants don’t provide all of the required information for a decision-maker to be able to say “yes” to you.
Check and recheck the requirements of the category you are applying under, make sure you supply everything asked for, create a checklist and tick it all off as it goes into the envelope, and get a friend or family member to check everything through as well before you send in your application.
You will be given all of the information you need about the documents you will need to send in with your application, so just follow the guidelines to the letter. If in doubt don’t make an assumption, seek official clarification. Because if you make an error when applying you could be put to the bottom of the pile, ignored or rejected.
The other main reason that New Zealand visa applications are rejected or at least challenged comes down to health problems.
If you understand that the New Zealand government wants to attract expats who will enhance the nation economically speaking – through skills, investment, youth, intelligence etc., and that they want to discourage anyone who may be or become a burden to the state, you can see why ill health will be a reason to reject an application.
Therefore, if you have an ambition of relocating you need to stay as healthy as possible! And if you have an issue you need to be prepared to potentially defend yourself and identify to the New Zealand authorities how the benefit you bring to the nation outweighs any potential impact of your health issue.
There’s a fairly comprehensive online PDF available that outlines the policy relating to the health requirements of would-be expats.
To conclude, your preparation in terms of identifying the best visa to apply for, ensuring you’re in rude health and that you enclose every required item of paperwork and piece of information when you submit your application, is the very best you can do to support your chances of success.
