Helping my defacto partner gain a work visa. Do we really need support letters from friends/family?

[Castelle]

Hi guys. I'm in a relationship with my partner for over two years now, but we've only become defacto(Living-in together couple) for only a few months. I want to help my partner gain a work visa through partnership. He is insisting our friends must write support letters to prove our relationship, in order to satisfy immigration. I really do not want our friends to be involve or anybody else for that matter. The thing is, we both do not think we have enough evidence for our relationship, as first our evidence is limited because we are not married and we don't have children yet.


Our evidence so far include tenancy agreement, electric bill, joint bank account, photos, support letter from myself, telecom account under both our names and another contract under our names from a domestic service company. How many more evidence should we aim for?

[JandM]

Have a look at these many old threads where this situation has been discussed before. http://www.google.co.uk/?gws_rd=cr#b...tnership+proof

[eternalkiwi]

An important part of immigrations requirements is that you are not just a couple on paper, but are recognised as a couple by people who know you, family, friends, work colleagues etc. So it would be important to have people other than the two of you to confirm for immigration that your relationship is more than just 'on paper'.

[JandM]

However, it's important that institutions (government departments, employers, banks, insurance companies, service providers, etc.) know that you're a couple and each live at that same address. It's less important that Joe Bloggs (local plumber and your childhood friend) says 'yes, they're a couple' than if e.g. the local hospital has you registered as next-of-kin to contact in emergency. That's on the basis that Joe Bloggs might be presumed to say anything you asked him, to oblige you, whereas you wouldn't tell the hospital that you'd like to wake from anaesthetic to find some comparative stranger they'd summoned to your bedside. If you have some personal friend who is ALSO of some note in the community - say, the head of the local school is a mate of your Dad's and has known you from birth, and has therefore been aware of the partnership as it developed - that's probably the ideal combination.

[Castelle]

An important part of immigrations requirements is that you are not just a couple on paper, but are recognised as a couple by people who know you, family, friends, work colleagues etc. So it would be important to have people other than the two of you to confirm for immigration that your relationship is more than just 'on paper'.

True i guess

[Castelle]

However, it's important that institutions (government departments, employers, banks, insurance companies, service providers, etc.) know that you're a couple and each live at that same address. It's less important that Joe Bloggs (local plumber and your childhood friend) says 'yes, they're a couple' than if e.g. the local hospital has you registered as next-of-kin to contact in emergency. That's on the basis that Joe Bloggs might be presumed to say anything you asked him, to oblige you, whereas you wouldn't tell the hospital that you'd like to wake from anaesthetic to find some comparative stranger they'd summoned to your bedside. If you have some personal friend who is ALSO of some note in the community - say, the head of the local school is a mate of your Dad's and has known you from birth, and has therefore been aware of the partnership as it developed - that's probably the ideal combination.

I actually thought of this. Thanks

[JandM]

INZ will be looking for evidence from the start of the time you've told them you're living together, at short intervals through the time you're claiming, right up to date. This is what you should aim for - a mixture of types of proof, so they can if possible track your communal lives week by week by week. And keep collecting, even after the application is in. It's not unknown for the CO to want to see more just before they issue the visa. Then of course, if you are later going to sponsor your partner for Residence, you will need evidence of all this time and adding on progressively till you have 12 months' proof.

[Castelle]

INZ will be looking for evidence from the start of the time you've told them you're living together, at short intervals through the time you're claiming, right up to date. This is what you should aim for - a mixture of types of proof, so they can if possible track your communal lives week by week by week. And keep collecting, even after the application is in. It's not unknown for the CO to want to see more just before they issue the visa. Then of course, if you are later going to sponsor your partner for Residence, you will need evidence of all this time and adding on progressively till you have 12 months' proof.

Ya, i definitely want to support him. But i'm just a little worried because we're not married and we don't have kids yet so i don't want to rush things and get married or whatever for the sake of getting a visa/residence. Hopefully the immigration aren't too fussy though. He's not applying for residency after all, only just a work visa for now. If i had known earlier into our relationship that he would be needing lots of evidence, we could have started earlier of keeping solid evidences. Obviously this is not something a couple would think about - keeping as many evidences of the relationship as possible. Lol.

[JandM]

INZ give no extra weight to marriage at all. Please check with the INZ website definition of partnership. Be calm - at the moment, you seem to be arguing against things that actually, you've imagined for yourself, which aren't in the regulations at all.

[Castelle]

What points/things can i mention on my support letter? I mean i haven't gone on into too much details. I've kept it short and sweet. Don't even know if it's right