NZ Citizen Bringing Parner Home - Residency Application

[scully]

Hi everyone,

My husband (US Citizen) and I (NZ Citizen) are planning to move to NZ next year, and are starting to get our heads around the process for bringing my husband home. I've been living in Canada for 2 years now, of a 3 year work permit, and he has not lived in NZ.
Our situation would seem straightforward, but it has some key twists, and I'm really looking for some peace of mind - any anecdotes or similar experiences people have would be appreciated! I'll be very brief in outlining our situation, so as not to bore anyone to sleep - I can elaborate as we go if people have thoughts or insights.

Jun 2009 - We meet in Toronto whilst vacationing separately, me from NZ, him from US, sparks fly.
Jun to Feb 09/10 - Long distance relationship NZ-USA, contact maintained via skype, letters.
Feb 10 - He visits me in NZ for 2 weeks, meets the family, etc
Feb to May 10 - Long distance relationship NZ-USA
May 10 - I move to Toronto with work transfer on temporary work permit, with 2 week holiday in USA with him beforehand
May 10 to May 11 - Long distance relationship Canada-USA (6hrs drive), spending one to two weekends per month together plus longer vacation periods around the USA
May 11 - Married in USA
July 11 - Husband granted Canadian spouse temporary work permit as a spouse of a temporary foreign worker (me)
Aug 11 - Husband moves to Canada, we start living together, he is hired at my company (so now we live and work together)

That brings us to today - we're happily living together, and when my work permit expires in May 2013, the plan is to head home to NZ, settle down, start a family, live happily ever after. We are absolutely genuine in our relationship in every way.

The main sticking point is that we didn't live together, or even in the same country, until he received his Canadian work permit and was able to move up here to be with me. So I feel like that looks a little suspicious, even though it really isn't - it's just that he couldn't get into Canada any other way (not a skilled worker and not going to pay exorbitant international student fees to study here when he doesn't want to study anything in particular) so we bumped our marriage up a year or so and did it that way. It worked, as far as Canadian immigration was concerned, but I'm just worried that NZ immigration will see that we married before we even lived in the same country, and view it as suspicious.

I'm sorry, this rambled on longer than I intended it to - I'll stop now. If anyone would like clarification of details, I'll be happy to oblige.
But how does our situation look?

[JandM]

I don't think you'll have a problem long-term, but you may have to go through a little detour on the way to full Residence. INZ view partnership as living together, and that's what you have to prove. From what you say above, you can prove partnership from August last year, say 10 months already. The case officer is likely to ask you for more proof of partnership, to cover the time from when you put your application in, up till the time s/he has the file in front of them.

There is provision in the rules to make a little 'hitch' in the middle of things to let you get to the 12 months' proof if necessary. http://www.immigration.govt.nz/opsmanual/index.htm

Residence » Family Categories » F2 Partnership Category » F2.35 Deferring the final decision if the partnership is genuine and stable but less than 12 months duration




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.

[scully]

That shouldn't be an issue, as we're not planning to send in our application until November, at which point we'll be able to prove that we've been living together for 14 months (joint tenancy, joint bank account, mail addressed to both of us, joint health insurance, both listed as drivers on car insurance, etc), and by the time we actually move that will be up to about 18 months.

So provided that they're satisfied that our relationship is genuine and stable (which we can support through photographs of us on trips and with friends and family, and through letters of support from friends and family, in addition to the more 'official' documents listed above), then hopefully the somewhat chaotic years of our early relationship shouldn't be much of an issue.
At any rate, in our cover letter we intend to touch on the fact that we weren't living in the same country from when we started dating until after we married, stating that we were waiting for my husband to receive temporary immigration status in Canada - which is true. If they want more details beyond that, I guess they'll ask for it? We just want to be 100% honest about everything, without shooting ourselves in the foot by doing so.

[JandM]

The earlier years actually shouldn't have any bearing at all on your case. The CO isn't for judging how you live your life or why - s/he just has to be able to tick boxes to say s/he's seen sufficient proof of joint life for the last twelve months to date, then s/he can count the partnership as proved.

[scully]

Oh, excellent. That's encouraging news.
Thanks!

[scully]

Can anyone offer some guidance on completing the INZ 1000 form?
Specifically, I'm confused as to whether we need to be completing sections D and E (Partner's personal details and Partner's family details), as I'm an NZ citizen and am already completing form INZ 1178.

We will be completing section K in INZ 1000 also, obviously.
I just don't want to complete sections D and E unnecessarily, just in case it may confuse the issue and present us as BOTH applying for residency instead of just my husband?

If anybody knows, it would be greatly appreciated!

[kiwi_tn]

Hi,

I sent my application a month ago, and I had to complete section D and E, although my partner is a NZ citizen.

If you look carefully in section K, after K11, you can read:
-
You must provide:
• details of your New Zealand partner in sections D and E
-

Hope this helps

[G-Mo]

Hi,

I sent my application a month ago, and I had to complete section D and E, although my partner is a NZ citizen.

If you look carefully in section K, after K11, you can read:
-
You must provide:
• details of your New Zealand partner in sections D and E
-

Hope this helps

+1