First priority given to expat Kiwi's supporting a partners Residence Application!?!?

[tinesha]

Hi all,

I myself am a New Zealand citizen and have been living out of NZ for the past four years. I have since married a South African citizen, two years ago, and we have been living in Australia ever since (with our 1yr old daughter)

We would like to permanently relocate back to New Zealand and to do so my husband must apply for NZ Residence - Partnership Category. I am busy working on the application at the moment and I'm hoping I have enough evidence to prove we have a genuine and continuing relationship!

I am able to provide joint bank statements, rental agreements in both names, birth cert of our daughter and supporting letters from family/friends. Is there anything else anyone can recommend I include in the application?

I'm also wondering about the processing time. I have read on the website that any New Zealander who has been living out of NZ for two years or more is classed as an expatriate NZ'er and as the supporting partner is given first priority for the application. I have spoken with them on the phone and they haven't been able to give me a clear answer about this! Has anyone been in the same situation and have an idea on how long the wait will be???

Any info would be greatly appreciated!!

[mooncalf]

Marriage certificate?

[JandM]

Hello and welcome.

If you do a Search, there are lots of old threads about partnership evidence that may give you a few more ideas.

Applications for Residence for partners don't have a capped quota, which other Family Stream relationships do (parents and adult siblings, for example). So your husband's application will be ahead of all those. I haven't ever heard it said that it would be ahead of non-sponsored Residence applications... anyone? As to how long, the best guess will be from Googling 'Immigration NZ (whatever) branch processing times', and the branch you have to submit to will have a page stating how their work on the various streams is running at the moment.

[tinesha]

This is what I had read on the immigration website:


Within New Zealand’s Immigration Programme, priority is given to residence applications under certain categories.

First priority – Partnership and Dependent Child applications (where sponsored by a New Zealand expatriate). The sponsor must be a New Zealand citizen or the holder of a Permanent Resident Visa. In addition, the sponsor must also have been absent from New Zealand for a period of at least two years prior to the date of the application being accepted for consideration, apart from short visits within that period. These applications will be allocated to a case officer within 10 working days.

[sophiedb]

I don't know how much of it is about priority and how much about reduced red tape compared to other categories Family applications, like partnership, are dealt with by a different team and there is no need to prove education, work experience etc.

As for how long - I was allocated a CO within a week or so, but my visa took some time due to medical history. Others might be slowed down due to character checks. The lucky ones come out with a visa within a month

Have you applied for your daughter's NZ citizenship yet? (presuming you were born in NZ and she's entitled to it!)