Application for permanent resident visa problem with immigration

[Ynotrx]

Hello

I am wondering if someone had the same situation with me. So here is what happened in INZ office last Thursday. I am a resident visa holder and had lived in NZ for almost 5 years now. I went to the INZ Auckland branch to have my resident visa renewed because it has expired. I was advised in the enquiry booth to get an INZ 1175 form which is to grant me an indefinite resident visa -I will be travelling next week by the way and did not expect any problems with Immigration to come up during this application at all. So I did that, completed the forms and paid for everything, now when the time came for me to have the sticker placed on my new passport this woman on the counter started questioning me about the application form, in the area which I written my daughter as my immediate family. She started checking the form again and asking about the partnership details because I ticked never married/never in a civil union, which is true of course, some guy just got me pregnant. She insisted that I tick separated which I never did because I was never separated at all with some "partner". She started comparing my visa with my daughter's date of birth, I think she only saw the year or something because I gave birth to my daughter in december 2009 and my visa got approved in July 2009 and it was also around that time that I found out I was pregnant. I came to New Zealand after my visa got approved to be with my family and have their support while I was pregnant. Like some women, I did not show any signs of my pregnancy during the early stages and found out about the pregnancy too late. She made me get a statutory declaration and asked some personal questions about partnership, about my past pregnancy and other personal questions. I did what she asked but I've never felt so violated by someone in my life until this. I don't know what was the problem here, my having a daughter or what? I've never had any problems with declaring my daughter in application forms at other government establishments etc., It was only this woman and she's holding my application saying she needs to check government policy blahblahblah. She wasn't really straightforward when I asked what the issue was and now I fear that she might give me another kind of visa. What should I do?

[newarrival]

I am sure someone else will have a more knowledgeable answer, I was just wondering- if your visa (resident visa, as it sounds?) was approved in July 2009, and your daughter was born in December, she is a citizen, right?
And, same timeframe, if your resident visa was approved in July 2009, shouldn't you have Permanent Residence already- or did you just not get round to applying for it?
I don't think - not that I am an expert!- that anyone will be able to give you another 'type' of visa, if you have gained residence in your own right, as in with enough points to apply for it, and it was approved because of that, then the fact that you had a baby after the approval shouldn't matter- there are loads of people (on here, too), who find out that they are expecting a child during the visa process!

[Ynotrx]

Hello thanks so much for your reply, yes, you are correct, I hold a residence visa and because I will be travelling next week I went to INZ to have it renewed. It expired in 2011. I was really surprised when the woman on the counter started questioning the validity of the partnership question when I answered that I was never married/never been in a civil union. She said something that since I was in the dependent child category when I applied for that visa that I should not have a partner and why do I have a daughter now. Yes my daughter is a New Zealand citizen. I just felt that she is prejudiced that since I have a daughter I should have a partner? I don't really get what her point is in holding my passport and visa because she needs to review it. I am confused. Maybe I should ask someone else to handle it? Should I go and tell the branch manager or something, I am just really confused.

[newarrival]

Ah, I think I see what her 'problem' seems to be- if you have received your visa as a 'dependent child', you cannot have a partner (and as far as I know you can't have a child, too), but in your case you didn't have the partner and didn't know that you were pregnant, either, right? I have no idea how you can/ would prove the non- existent partner (maybe via the birth certificate, not sure what it says in your daughter's case regarding the father), and you would have been in a reasonable early stage of pregnancy.
Probably it is part of the ladies job to pick up situations like yours, I do understand how uncomfortable you must have felt and still feel.

Sorry, can't offer you any helpful advice as how to handle the situation, maybe Karen, who participates here in this forum and is an immigration adviser has some idea.

[Ynotrx]

This has been solved, I went to the CAB office to get some advice and he told me to write a formal letter to the woman and tell her everything that my pregnancy was not an issue at all when I came and arrived to New Zealand. He also told me that the pregnancy did not matter because like you said on your first reply that I gained my residence at my own right. So I wrote to her and explained everything and it seemed to have solved this problem. Thanks for you replies.