Student visa approved through IPG

[moonfleet]

Finally, I was approved by IPG for the PhD studentship I won like a year and a half ago. My supervisors have really been so supportive and they waited for me for more than a year for they believed in me .
When I lodged my application first I was single, today I am married for a month to the girl I met the same night I was being interviewed for this PhD opportunity. Sounds romantic. We have been living in different cities but we do have a lot of Skype records much prior to lodging my application and now we have wedding photos and attested contract too. Our relationship before marriage was a year over.

Snapping back to reality I am planning my move to NZ this month with two things in mind both revolving around my future. First I wonder if a stipend of 20000-30000 NZ dollars will be enough to support the expenses of a married couple, I have sought answers under threads talking about the 'cost of living in NZ' but none provided direct answers to my case, cost calculators elsewhere provided a clue, however, I guess, real human experience by any member of this great forum will be a great plus. we are going to be in Canterbury, Christchurch and we are not planning on having children until after I am done from the PhD studies. So I wonder how a breakdown for expenses for a similarly sized family will look like.

How easy/difficult it is to bring my wife to NZ to accompany me through my studies ?. When I lodged my PhD student application first I was technically single. I wonder if this may prove a difficulty source to bringing her in. We are mixed race and mixed nationalities, which I am so proud of.

My CO has sent me back some documents that I submitted when lodging the application but unfortunately he quoted a trimmed address and therefore I haven't received these documents which I may need later (police letters and experience certificates).

My job is high on the highly skilled list which is tempting to me to plan on settling in NZ and seeking citizenship. For that matter since I have already got cleared through IPG, in case I applied for ITA or residency does that mean I'd be going through the same procedure for immigration all over again and have to submit fresh medicals and police certificates ? (Note that I've not received the ones sent back to my by the CO and it is likely that I won't ever receive them because of the wrong mailing address filled in by the CO).

What do you guys take on this matter, what are your opinions ?

Thanks

[newarrival]

Just a remark on the sum of your scholarship- the money is more than enough to support a single student and, compared to what the average NZ student has available for spending, a huge improvement. For a couple it might be tight, especially since housing in Christchurch is not that cheap anymore due to the high demand.

[JandM]

Congratulations on your visa!

All NZ visas involving partnership define that partnership as a live-in relationship. How long have you been living together? - that is what you will have to prove in order to get your wife a partner-sponsored work visa.

Also, although you don't mention it, once your wife has such a visa, she would be able to take any job (not just a skilled one), and so would be able to contribute to the expenses of your home.

On the question of your medicals and police certificates, I imagine the crucial issue for whether or not you would have to get fresh ones is how much time passes between the application for this present visa, and your future Residence one. Note c and d here, http://www.immigration.govt.nz/opsmanual/46161.htm, and d here http://www.immigration.govt.nz/opsmanual/41439.htm. If your future application was within the time frame, I GUESS INZ might not even ask to see the certificates, because it will be in their computer that they have been verified (but I still think it would be advisable to see if you can track your original certificates down, although it's a nuisance). And MAYBE that would also be the case for the IPG check - I haven't heard before of someone who was IPGed going for a subsequent visa, so there's no precedent available, but in your place, when applying, I would try writing in a cover letter that you have already been checked at such-and-such date, and have since then been in NZ, since that MIGHT save another wait.

[moonfleet]

Congratulations on your visa!

All NZ visas involving partnership define that partnership as a live-in relationship. How long have you been living together? - that is what you will have to prove in order to get your wife a partner-sponsored work visa.

Also, although you don't mention it, once your wife has such a visa, she would be able to take any job (not just a skilled one), and so would be able to contribute to the expenses of your home.

You're welcome !!,
I guess the basis for recognition of partnerships mean that we are both over 18, aren't close relatives and that we'd met before 'residence' application was submitted http://glossary.immigration.govt.nz/Partner.htm. So in our case, we met before six - eight months of me applying for 'student' visa as opposed to 'residence visa' and that we are of different nationalities. Since the time we met we had a genuine relationship going. However, all along, we were living in different cities and that I'd visit from time to time.
We've only been married for a month now as I thought we'd better marry before I travel to New Zealand, I wanted to be hers and she be mine. We have been in constant communication through Skype right from the start, a year over, and have a lot of chat records to prove how genuine/exclusive our relationship has been.
Besides, culturally/religiously speaking I can't live in with someone from the opposite sex here unless we're legally married, the society here frowns upon that. I hope these can be great grounds to convince INZ. I remember I had a chat with a NZ visa officer in New Zealand University exhibition and he was like maintain all these records and show them.

So contrasting between INZ definition of partnership and what constitutes a genuine partnership I wonder if this is any different for holders of Student Visa as opposed to residence applicants. Especially the clause mentioning 12 months live-ins. What do you think ??

Do I have any hope of bringing her over after I land in NZ and apply for her to join me while I am a holder of a student visa? Or do you think I have to seriously consider making hard choices ?.

[newarrival]

You're welcome !!,
I guess the basis for recognition of partnerships mean that we are both over 18, aren't close relatives and that we'd met before 'residence' application was submitted http://glossary.immigration.govt.nz/Partner.htm. So in our case, we met before six - eight months of me applying for 'student' visa as opposed to 'residence visa' and that we are of different nationalities. Since the time we met we had a genuine relationship going. However, all along, we were living in different cities and that I'd visit from time to time.
We've only been married for a month now as I thought we'd better marry before I travel to New Zealand, I wanted to be hers and she be mine. We have been in constant communication through Skype right from the start, a year over, and have a lot of chat records to prove how genuine/exclusive our relationship has been.
Besides, culturally/religiously speaking I can't live in with someone from the opposite sex here unless we're legally married, the society here frowns upon that. I hope these can be great grounds to convince INZ. I remember I had a chat with a NZ visa officer in New Zealand University exhibition and he was like maintain all these records and show them.

So contrasting between INZ definition of partnership and what constitutes a genuine partnership I wonder if this is any different for holders of Student Visa as opposed to residence applicants. Especially the clause mentioning 12 months live-ins. What do you think ??

Do I have any hope of bringing her over after I land in NZ and apply for her to join me while I am a holder of a student visa? Or do you think I have to seriously consider making hard choices ?.

There will surely be other, and better replies, but no, the definition of a genuine and stable partnership in INZ' eyes has not only to do with being over 18 and all the other reasons you quoted. And being married doesn't really matter, either.You forgot to quote the sentence of the 'living together for at least 12 months'! I don't really think it makes a difference that you are 'only' applying for a student visa/ work visa for your partner based on that student visa. If you cultural/ religious background doesn't allow you to live together before you are married, that is nothing Immigration will consider, I suppose..,there have to be rules which apply to everybody.
Maybe your wife could apply for a visitor visa, then you could live together for a period and then apply for a partner based work visa after you have some proof showing your relationship? That, of course, would mean that you would not have any way of earning additional money for at least that period.

[jawnbc]

Congratulations on your visa and studentship!

[JandM]

Maybe your wife could apply for a visitor visa, then you could live together for a period and then apply for a partner based work visa after you have some proof showing your relationship?

I was thinking the same. But of course, you can already show proof for the time from your marriage till now, and you haven't left yet. One month plus, and counting... Collect every scrap of proof, of all kinds, right now, and keep doing it.

Suggestions for evidence of partnership from INZ. http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migra...artnership.htm
Definition of partner from INZ. http://glossary.immigration.govt.nz/Partner.htm
Old thread with forum members helping one another out with details of the kind of proof they submitted to INZ. http://www.enz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=38707

About the last, notice that the nature of the proof required is exactly the same, regardless of what kind of partner-sponsored visa is applied for. It's just that for Residence, evidence of a 12-months' live-in relationship is needed, whereas for the partner-sponsored work visa, no time is specified, but in practice INZ seem to be looking for two to three months' proof.