Partnership-Based Temporary Visa! HELP!

[luce]

Hi Everyone, i'm looking for any advice or information that can help me regarding making my application for the partnership visa for working temporarily in NZ.

My Situation:
My 2nd year on my WHV expires in Oct 2013
My work limit of 12months expires in April 2013
I have been with my partner since Sep 2012 and wish to stay with him in NZ, live with him and spend the rest of my life with him.
We plan to move into our own place together in March, as we have been unable to do so before this point due to work commitments and money etc.
I wish to apply for this visa to extend my working time from april onwards so that we are able to continue paying rent etc once we are living together obviously and provide an income, and remain together most importantly!
I have been informed that if i can prove we are in a genuine and stable relationship and have been together for less than a year, but have been living together for 3 months minumum then it is possible for me to be granted the 12 months temporary working visa under partnership.
I plan to submit my application in June, as by that point we would have been living together for 3 months and will meet the minimum requirements (if they are what i have been told!).

Does anyone have any information or advice for me, or has gone through the process in a similar way???
I am worried we will be rejected because of the short length of time living together and how last minute it all is! But in all honesty i didn't expect this to happen and wasn't planning to meet the love of my life towards the end of my trip!! So any advice or knowledge regarding this whole thing is much appreciated!!

Hopefully someone can help! This is literally our only option of staying together and i'm willing to do everything it takes.

Thanks,
Lucy

[JandM]

This visa is a reality, and there are many people on the forum who have applied for it. Some have applied with less time living together than the three months you mention (four or five weeks in some cases). The one thing you don't mention is your partner's nationality or visa status, but the various options are covered in the link below.

Here are the official details, spelling it out. http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migra...milystream.htm

Here http://www.google.co.uk/#hl=en&tbo=d...iw=818&bih=519 are some old threads about proof of partnership. As this is the one area to prove for this visa (apart from health and character, which all visas need), the trick is to REALLY cover this in every way you can think of. INZ work to strict instructions, and if you make it the easiest possible for the official to tick the boxes, you really help your case go through.

[luce]

Thanks so much for your reply!
My partner is a NZ citizen - i'm more worried about providing all the necessary evidence etc, though i've been made aware that it's the more official documentation (tenancy agreement, bills, joint bank account etc) that gives a stronger application. I will be able to provide these things once we are living together, including purchases made together, photographs, letters from family and friends supporting us being in a stable and genuine relationship, text messages between my partner and I, postcards etc. Hopefully i will have enough evidence to prove we are together, and that we live together and plan to stay that way

[kriski]

Start gathering as much evidence as you can from now on. For example, it cost nothing to open an streamline ASB joint account. You could open it now, you don´t really need to be using it. Everytime you need to do any paperwork try to put both of your names (registering a car, becoming members of a rental videostore, ...) . You have plenty of time to accumulate evidence, but don´t leave it till the last minute

[JandM]

With all the evidence, you're trying to cover the whole length of the time, Day 1, then something every few days if you can, right up to the date you send in your bundle. (This also goes for the 12 months' evidence, when, a year from now, you're applying for Residence under partnership, so don't forget to keep on hoarding.)

[luce]

Also - if we were unable to move into our own place and i was to move in with my partner and his mother for those 3 months and then apply for my visa, would that also count as living in a genuine and stable relationship or would that greatly reduce my chances of being accepted?? Financially this option would be better for both of us, but i'm worried that immigration might not accept it. Also i'm not sure how i would prove it, maybe a letter from the landlord/my name on the bills? Maybe even a letter from his mother? Any advice is much appreciated - thanks
Lucy

[Surfmonk]

Hey guys

I just joined the forum but have been reading all your very informative posts for quite a while now and am really happy to see there is a supportive community that you can turn to for some help.

I am in a similar situation as Lucy as far as the 'living together' part goes. I am applying for the Partnership-Based Temporary Work Visa next week but have only been living together with my partner since mid February. We have to apply soon as the Work Visa I've got at the moment expires at the beginning of May (I could explain why I'm applying so late but that's another complicated story/topic).

We moved in together but I am not paying any rent or bills in order to save up as much money as possible should we get a 'No' and I need to go on a Visitor Visa for a few months and won't have an income. He is a Kiwi and is leasing the house we live in and so the only 'proof' of me moving in will be a statement from him and one of his flatmates who is listed on the Tenancy Agreement. Do you think that will be enough proof of me moving in in February? Should I get a statement from the owners as well? I changed my address at the Bank, the IRD, been getting some mail to my new address (none from February), we own a car together (registered to our address), have a joint account and so on. The Immigration knows how long we've been a couple because we submitted my partner's Personal Statement with my Work Visa and have met and talked to my Immigration Officer a few months ago.

How did things work out for you Lucy?

Thank you in advance

[JandM]

Hello.

Good luck with the application. There's no certainty of what one CO will require, more than another, but in general, the more evidence you can provide within reason, the better.

[smiler000]

Hi there,

I am looking to sponsor my fiancé to a temporary work visa in nz as I am a permanent resident living with my fiancé in the uk but we are getting married in June and planning on returning to nz in December or January. I was wondering how long these temporary visas take to be processed once you have provided all the info that immigration nz ask for?

Thank you!

[JandM]

You will find that every Immigration NZ office has a 'processing times' page to its website, that will give you an estimate. These are their best guess, based on recent averages, and can't be taken as a promise, because every case has all the evidence checked out in detail, some of which depends on replies from third parties, and also because the number of applications to each office isn't predictable (and therefore, how busy they will be).

If your fiance is British, the UK being a visa-waiver country, if there's more delay than expected, she could enter NZ as a visitor while her other visa was still being processed.