Hi guys, first of all, just wanna say, I love this forum, it's always good to hear about your experiences with INZ.
Some background, I am a PR in NZ, based in Wellington. I first met my partner in 2001 (during 'A' levels in KL, Malaysia) and since then, we've kept in sporadic contact with facebook messages and stuff. In 2003, I moved to NZ while she went to UK to study and she returned to KL in 2006. Around 2008, we kept in more constant contact and around 2009, we started to talk a bit more about us (once again all through Facebook). In Oct 2010, she came to NZ to visit me and we officially got together around in Jan 2011. This meeting in Oct 2010 would be the first time we'd met face to face in years. Since day 1, we've been in a long distance relationship.
Since then, I've been back to KL in April 2011 for a long weekend and stayed at her house with her family. During that trip, I also proposed to her and we got engaged. In August 2011, I went back for two weeks, again staying with her and her family.
Currently, she is based in Qatar (working as cabin crew) and is due to return to KL for good around October 2011. We are planning for her to move here in February 2012.
Since getting together around Jan 2011, we have been sending each other cards, talking on Skype daily, facebook messages. In terms of evidence, we have:
- Skype logs
- facebook messages
- cards/postcards
- passport stamps and flight tickets showing I went to KL and she came to NZ
- Phone bills from my end (texting and calling)
- Engagement ring valuation
- Receipts for some deposits (photo shoot, photographer, videographer) that we paid for our wedding in KL (tentatively Sept 2012)
- Some (not a lot) photos from NZ trip
- proof we knew each other in 2001 (college yearbook and photos)
I have some questions I hope you guys can help with:
- Would she qualify to apply for a work visa? Just on the basis that we did live together when I went back to KL...but that was for a holiday, so maybe harder to prove...
- Our initial plan is to apply for a visitor visa under partnership, through the singapore branch. Does anyone have experience on how long it usually takes or what its like to deal with INZ in Singapore?
- Certified copies vs originals. Will they return ALL original documents we provide? or would it be best to send them certified copies. A lot of the evidence we have has sentimental value (like the cards), so will definitely want it back and kept in good condition
- With the skype and facebook messages, they number well over 200 pages. Would you guys recommend printing them all? or just printing snippets and explaining the context in the letter? i.e. this period is when we got together etc etc
Sorry for the long post, my partner and I have been discussing this for a while and the distance isn't helping matters.