SMC Partnership

[eerik]

Hello everyone,

I have from reading on this forum and the INZ website understood that my partner and I are likely to be unsucessful in applying for residence for her on my Skilled Migrant Category visa application because we do not satisfy the requirement of having lived together for 12 months.

I have however understood that she might instead be allowed a 12 month work permit so that we can accrue the necessary living together requirement in New Zealand, and then after that apply to turn it into residency once we have satisfied that requirement. However I am unsure whether that means that I am supposed to include her in my SMC application and that our case officer will make a decision to the effect that she is only granted a work permit rather than residency, or if she is meant to apply individually (and if so, does she have to wait to do so until my SMC is approved?) for a partnership work permit.

Thankful for any advice,

Erik.

[JandM]

Hello.

How long have you been living together, that you can prove? (This may make a difference to what can realistically be expected to work.)

[Karen Phillips]

Hi. The Operational Manual (see below) states that you need to make the residence application naming your partner. So long as you have enough points without needing points from your partner's qualifications etc, then they will proceed with the claim and once they decide to give you a SMC visa, then your partner will be able to apply for a work visa in her own right, after which she will become eligible for a residence visa when you have been together for more than 12 months. This is the section.

R2.1.15.5 What happens if the partnership is considered to be genuine and stable but is less than the 12 months required?
If an immigration officer is satisfied the principal applicant and partner included in the application are living together in a partnership that is genuine and stable, but the duration of that partnership is less than the 12 months required, then:
in any case where the grant of a residence class visa to a principal applicant is reliant on the relationship with or attributes of their partner the application must be declined under residence instructions; or
in any case where the grant of a residence class visa to a principal applicant is not reliant on the relationship with or attributes of their partner the immigration officer may proceed with processing the principal applicant for the residence class visa but defer the final decision on the partner to enable the qualifying period to be met.
If a partner's application for a residence class visa has been deferred as described in (a)(ii) above 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 (see WF2.20).
I thnk it would be important to include a letter explaining that you understand the requriements but in line with R2.1.15.5, you are including your partner in your application. If I can be of any further help, please don't hesitate ot ask. Kind regards. Karen

[eerik]

Hello.

How long have you been living together, that you can prove? (This may make a difference to what can realistically be expected to work.)

Thanks for your answer mate.

We haven't actually started living together, although we could move all of our bills over to one address essentially now. We intend to move in together in June anyway, when the contract on my flat expires, and then I intend to submit my EOI on the 1st of July (waiting for university qualifications so I get enough points for the SMC). So if everything was done completely honestly, a month. If we started now (we spend most nights together anyway), 4 months.

[eerik]

Hi. The Operational Manual (see below) states that you need to make the residence application naming your partner. So long as you have enough points without needing points from your partner's qualifications etc, then they will proceed with the claim and once they decide to give you a SMC visa, then your partner will be able to apply for a work visa in her own right, after which she will become eligible for a residence visa when you have been together for more than 12 months. This is the section.

R2.1.15.5 What happens if the partnership is considered to be genuine and stable but is less than the 12 months required?
If an immigration officer is satisfied the principal applicant and partner included in the application are living together in a partnership that is genuine and stable, but the duration of that partnership is less than the 12 months required, then:
in any case where the grant of a residence class visa to a principal applicant is reliant on the relationship with or attributes of their partner the application must be declined under residence instructions; or
in any case where the grant of a residence class visa to a principal applicant is not reliant on the relationship with or attributes of their partner the immigration officer may proceed with processing the principal applicant for the residence class visa but defer the final decision on the partner to enable the qualifying period to be met.
If a partner's application for a residence class visa has been deferred as described in (a)(ii) above 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 (see WF2.20).
I thnk it would be important to include a letter explaining that you understand the requriements but in line with R2.1.15.5, you are including your partner in your application. If I can be of any further help, please don't hesitate ot ask. Kind regards. Karen

Karen, thats a really helpful answer. Thanks for finding that regulation for me. I had basically understood the information contained therein to be the case, but it will be really helpful to be able to refer to it.

So from what I understand, I am to include her in my application, but we also need to lodge a work permit visa for her separately? Given that a partnership-based work permit derives its validity from a principal applicant with resident status (atleast I think thats the case), does that mean I have to go through the entire SMC process, and then when/if I get approved, she is thereafter meant to apply for her work permit? Or can the two be tied together so that, if and when my SMC visa application gets approved, hers does too? Or do we have to re-start the process for her when my visa gets approved?

Thank you both!

[eerik]

Oh and also as for the points with/without her, I have 140 points without her and 160 with her. So my application does not fail without her, but it isn't as strong.

[JandM]

Oh and also as for the points with/without her, I have 140 points without her and 160 with her. So my application does not fail without her, but it isn't as strong.

Any application with 140 points you're correctly entitled to will be selected automatically at the next draw - once you hit the magic 140, higher numbers don't mean anything extra.

So as you'll only have a shorter time (and even four months would count as fairly short in partnership terms), you'll definitely be needing the work visa route that quoted regulation refers to. My understanding is that the CO will tell you to put in the application for that at the appropriate time, and how to link it.

[eerik]

Any application with 140 points you're correctly entitled to will be selected automatically at the next draw - once you hit the magic 140, higher numbers don't mean anything extra.

So as you'll only have a shorter time (and even four months would count as fairly short in partnership terms), you'll definitely be needing the work visa route that quoted regulation refers to. My understanding is that the CO will tell you to put in the application for that at the appropriate time, and how to link it.

Yeah, its not long, but what can you do?

Anyway, I think that clears everything up for me, so thanks for your help.

Also, why is this process so prohibitively expensive? Including EOI, ITA, NZQA, Migrant Levy and Medical I'm clocking this at roughly £2500. I understand the need to set a high price to deter frivolous applications, but £2500? It makes it doubly frustrating that a lot of the wordings of relevant provisions are vague, unclear or ambiguous and you're expected to hedge £2500 on your correct understanding of them. Ohhhhhh well. Thanks again guys.

[JandM]

You're paying for a service at each point. What you pay with the EOI and ITA finances the staff to process your application. When you have the medical, you're paying for the doctor's time and expertise. (We in the UK aren't used to what medical bills would be if it weren't for the NHS - doctors and radiologists are professionals, with fees to match.) The Migrant Levy is put to set purposes to help immigrants. http://glossary.immigration.govt.nz/migrantlevy.htm

a lot of the wordings of relevant provisions are vague, unclear or ambiguous

Er... It's all in there. Ice pack time required, it seems.

[eerik]

Yeah, fair enough mate. It's still not cheap, but I see where you're coming from. And I think you could debate whether the £250 fee for the EOI is justifiable considering there is a subsequent charge of £1200 for the ITA. I mean at EOI level no actual checks are done. Anyway, I think that is beyond the scope of this discussion.

If anyone has gone down this avenue before and knows if the work permit for the partner is granted with the SMC application or if it is handled separately, that would be of great help. Basically I'm asking if there is going to be a delay of a couple of months while they process her application after I'm good to go.

Thanks for all of your help thus far!