From Job Search Visa to Residence Visa

I'm holding a Job Search Visa.  As soon as I obtain skilled employment in New Zealand, what steps should I take to get my Residence Visa (RV) approved?

We were told by our case officer that once my husband obtained a skilled employment in NZ and worked in that employment for 3 months, we need to send her copies of  the following for further assessment:

• Employer’s at least 2 years financial statements
• Two party signed job contract 
• Reference letter with detailed job functions
• IRD reports for at least 3 months
• Payment slips

Right after my husband signed a job offer - yes, he did it on the same day; no need to wait for 3 months and that required meeting certain conditions which I will explain in another post - he submitted the following documents to Immigration NZ (INZ) Auckland:  Cover Letter and Employment Agreement together with the Amendments and Job Functions (signed by him and his employer). 

He flew to Wellington to get started with his job. After few weeks, he made several follow ups with Wellington and Auckland branches but our application was not making any progress at all.  We decided to contact our case officer in Shanghai via email after 27 days. She responded and asked us to send her the scan copy of employment reference letter, contract, and first month payment slips/IRD report for her reference. She said they wanted to process it there to save time for us. She also called my husband's boss for a short interview. Glad to know that my husband's Kiwi boss has been very supportive that he sent all the needed employer requirements to our CO on the same day.


The following day, our case officer called to ask for a proof of partnership since our last record was provided a long time ago.  Fortunately, we have our credit card statements under my name since I'm the principal cardholder. My husband got his supplementary card and since he made several purchases too, his name also appears on those statements. So we sent her 2 of those with different dates. In the afternoon, my husband checked our application status online and it changed from "Pending" to "Approved". After 3 days, we received an email notification of our RV application approval. So instead of waiting for another 3 months, it only took us 1 month to get our RV application processed.