Thanks for everything. I'm a lot clearer about things and will progress with the family class.
We haven't submitted our application yet because we're waiting for the FBI cert to arrive. And then send it off, followed by the police certificate which we don't even see - NZ police send straight to Sydney, so I presume Sydney CIC will sort it out at their end and match things up (

). That's what we're doing. I realise 50% of cases are completed within 5 months in Sydney, however with Christmas on the way, if Sydney is anything like NZ (yes the whole country), everything shuts down or goes really slow until end of January because of summer and school holidays. It would just be more convenient to have it sooner of course and then we know where we stand and I can better forecast for my business.
Having been married for nearly 5 years (in Feb) we have heaps of cards, letters, photos and all sorts. Having emigrated from Canada to NZ many many years ago, I still recall the process; it seems similar in some ways here.
Thanks all,
Sam