Visa - Where do I fit in?

[juniperjl77]

Hello folks, Juni from Canada here. I have been looking through all of your posts and hoping to glimpse a situation similar to my own in these early days of planning a migration. No such luck. And so I have decided to reach out to you all in hopes you can help me figure out how this square peg fits into a round hole.

I am in a long distance relationship with a resident of NZ. We travel back and forth to see each other, but as you can imagine that can become very expensive. Skype can only sustain you for a short time. We want to marry and be together, however he cannot come to Canada for the next 4 years, and that is a long time to be apart from the person you want to spend your life with. (That’s it for the cheese I promise).

After numerous discussions and racking our brains, the only interim solution we are able to come to would be for my son (who will need to attend primary) and I to move there temporarily. My “partner” has a very successful business which I will be made co-director of, it being my sole occupation upon immigration.

I have arranged a custody plan with my sons’ father, and I would be returning to Canada every 2 months on the school breaks as well as the summer holidays.

So my question is…which visa would I apply under? We don’t qualify as Partners based on the stated requirements (living together for 12 months). As I have a child, I cannot get a WHV, and his business, or my current career of 11 years are not listed as a skilled occupations.

Thanks for reading, and I appreciate any advice to help us get closer to our goal
j

[JandM]

Hello and welcome.

Have you looked at partner-sponsored temporary work visas? You don't need any work qualifications for this, and you only need to have proof of a small amount of time living together to start the process - they give you a visa which enables you legally to be in the country and build up the 12 months of proof necessary to get Residence. http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migra...milystream.htm

It looks as though, if you were applying for such a visa, your son would be eligible for a Student visa, matching yours for length of time. http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migra...iningmyfamily/

You may also be interested in looking at the whole F2 category in the INZ operational manual http://www.immigration.govt.nz/opsmanual/i30875.htm (Go to Residence » Family Categories » F2 Partnership Category), particularly in view of this.

F2.35 Deferring the final decision if the partnership is genuine and stable but less than 12 months duration

An application can only be deferred if the applicant has been assessed as living together in a genuine and stable partnership with their New Zealand citizen or resident partner but the 12 month qualifying period has not been met.
If, after assessing an application, an immigration officer is satisfied the couple are living together in a partnership that is genuine and stable, but the duration of that partnership is less than the 12 months required, (see F2.5(a)) they may defer the final decision to enable the qualifying period to be met.
If the principal applicant wishes to be in New Zealand with their partner during the deferral period, they may be granted a work visa (once an application has been made) for a period sufficient to enable the qualifying period to be met and any further assessment of their residence class visa application to be completed.

[juniperjl77]

Thanks so much JandM

The partner-sponsored temporary work visa was a little confusing. In one instance the requirements did not sound as though 12 months was necessary, but in using "partner" throughout, and stable relationship definitions, I was assuming that 12 months of living together was still required.

I will definitely now look into this further. Much appreciated.

Hope to be on here later in the year with good news

Cheers
juni

Thank you again for giving me some hope

[JandM]

No, 12 months are definitely not necessary for this. See for instance from that first page on the subject, 'If you have been in this relationship for less than a year, initially we can only grant you a work visa for up to 12 months.' We've had people on the forum who have put in for this kind of visa after only a few weeks. You have to have good, solid proof of live-in partnership for that time, however. Some people, if they don't have that from abroad somewhere (and often, you don't, when you aren't thinking in terms of having to prove anything about your daily life in the first instance), have only started to build up their initial bit of proof AFTER arriving in NZ on, say, a visitor's visa.

[juniperjl77]

Well thank you again JandM. This is definitely the route we will take. Now to establish some living together time and the proof to go with it
Feeling relieved.
j