Visa for partner of Australian citizen
Hi everyone,
I'm an Australian citizen and I'm planning on moving to New Zealand to do a PhD. My fiance is Canadian and we're currently living in Canada (we're also planning on getting in married in Canada before potentially coming to New Zealand).
As far as I can tell I wouldn't be considered a resident until I arrive in New Zealand, so am I right in thinking that my partner wouldn't be able to apply for a partner visa until I'm in New Zealand?
If that is the case would is it possible that she'd be able to come over on a working holiday visa (she meets all the requirements) and then apply for a partner visa once we've arrived?
Thanks in advance
Australian/Uruguayan Couple - Work Visa based on Partnership Experience
Hey!
We are in the same situation but a bit more advanced in the visa process.
I am Uruguayan and my husband is Australian (born and raised in OZ) We met in Canada two years ago, went to live in Uruguay (which we did for a year) and we got married in Uruguay 4 months ago.
Last December 2015 me moved to NZ. I entered New Zealand as a tourist (i didn't have to apply for a visa as Uruguay is a visa waiver country) my hubby entered with his Aussie passport. Two days after gotten here he got a job. 3 days after we arrived we opened a joint bank account (had no issues at all with me being a tourist because he's aussie, so JOINT works!) he got he's IRD number in less than a week.
For your partner you have 2 options:
1 -Work Visa Under Partnership Category (Partner of New Zealand citizen or permanent resident. Aussies are perm residents automatically upon arrival and only ends if you get out of NZ )
2 - Residence - Family Stream under Partnership category. (Partner of New Zealand citizen or permanent resident)
The only difference between these two visas are price, processing times, rights after grant, length of grant, paperwork to be submitted. Residence is double the price than the work visa (400 NZD and 900 NZD aprox, residence requires the Australian to show his/her commitment to New Zealand but the work visa doesn't ask for this (a job contract is enough to show that you intend to stay in NZ and being Australian you get a job right away here). Residence requires that the supporting partner submits a police check apart from the main applicant's one (this only applies to NZ permanent residents/Aussies. Police check for NZ citizens are automatically gathered by the immigration office), the form numbers are different too (pretty obvious), the length of the work visa goes from 6 to 24 months depending on the relationship or how long you've been together (i guess also depends on how much evidence of relationship you can provide, the more the better so they see you wanna stick together). If granted a work visa, later on your partner could apply to the residence so she doesn't have to renew the work visa every time it expires. Processing times for Work Visa lodged in Auckland are 6 weeks, for residence are 6 months. (may be faster, tho)
Work Visa requires having lived together in the same house at the moment of lodging the application (it's known that you'll need around 3 months of having lived together AT LEAST in order to convince the case officer)
Residence requires having lived together in the same house for 1 Year or longer (You REALLY need to provide evidence that you guys have been leaving together for a whole year at least).
Remember that doesn't really matter if you comply with all the requirements unless you can show plenty evidence of it
Work Visa for partner requirement:
413 New Zealand Dollars,
2 passport pictures PER person included in the application (2 of you, 2 of your partner), applicants medical check + XRAY (xray is not always required, I got a full medical including xray for 215 NZD in Auckland), police check for main applicant (issued within last 6 months + translation if in other than english), lodge the main applicant's original passport with the application, lodge a color copy of the supporting partner's passport. Letter explaining your relationship (timeline like), Copies of text messages, facebook posts, pictures together along with the most important things which are: proof of financial support or interdependence (joint bank account, naming eachother as additional cardholders of each others banks, we did this), marriage certificate (if you're married + if so make sure if you get an apostille + translation if language is other than english), basically, attach as many things as a you can to show you guys like eachother and like hanging out together and doing stuff (i am submitting text messages asking him to buy groceries, normal stuff that show we are a couple).
We are gonna lodge our application next week. Fingers crossed :)
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Achernar
Hi everyone,
I'm an Australian citizen and I'm planning on moving to New Zealand to do a PhD. My fiance is Canadian and we're currently living in Canada (we're also planning on getting in married in Canada before potentially coming to New Zealand).
As far as I can tell I wouldn't be considered a resident until I arrive in New Zealand, so am I right in thinking that my partner wouldn't be able to apply for a partner visa until I'm in New Zealand?
If that is the case would is it possible that she'd be able to come over on a working holiday visa (she meets all the requirements) and then apply for a partner visa once we've arrived?
Thanks in advance