Partnership-based Work Visa travel conditions

[Surfmonk]

Hi everyone!

I have been trying to find more specific information about my travel conditions and just could not find anything. I'm hoping some of you might be able to help me out with this as I intend to leave NZ with my partner for a while and don't want to violate any visa restrictions.

Sooo... I've been in NZ for nearly 2 years now and am currently on a 6 month Partnership-based Work visa. I'll be filing an application for an extension in a few months and I think (hope more than anything!) that they'll bless us with a 1 year visa this time around. In the hypothetical case of scoring the 1 year Partnership-based Work Visa extension - how many months out of that year am I allowed to travel? Looking at going away for 6 months at this stage.

My visa only says I'm allowed to come in and out of NZ as many times I want but states nothing about the duration of time away.

Has anyone left NZ for a longer time while on this same visa? Has anyone violated their travel conditions and what happened if you did? (Not that I wanna go there ).


Many thanks for your help in advance

[JandM]

I can't find anything specific in the regulations, and I haven't seen this particular issue raised in any old thread. I have doubts about a six-months' absence, on the lines of 'why does this person need a work visa if they're not going to be here a large part of the time to work?' Certainly, many sponsored visas mention that the sponsor must be in NZ at the same time as the person they're sponsoring. However, the only way to be sure about formal limits is to ask INZ.