Permanent residency. Should we apply? Will an infringement fee affect his character requirement eligibility?

[Castelle]

I have some questions.

1. Do you and your partner have to be together in a relationship for a certain amount of time before lodging a residency application for one of you? In my case, my partner. We have been together for three years.

2. I read this on the immigration website before about the person who is applying for residency must meet the character requirement, meaning no fines/infringement fees, criminal conviction etc etc. Well my partner UNFORTUNATELY recently got an infringement fee for overspeeding over 10km/h but under 20km/h, which i have already lectured him about and he promised NOT to do that again. He was apparently in hurry to come home. Aside from that, my partner has a great great great character and this is not me exaggerating but i am a little worried this will affect his application. I want him to get the residency with no extra hassle. Because it's already bad enough that we are not yet married or have children just yet. I'm getting anxious the immigration officers won't be too satisfied

3. If my partner is self-employed, working full time and is successful. Would this give us extra points? Should we mention? Lol.

4. Would it be better for us to send his application to the waikato branch or auckland branch? We sent his application last time to the waikato as it is the closest to us, but i wonder if we should try the auckland branch this time. Will we be as lucky, will they be a bit nicer. Haha oh my gosh this is getting on my nerves. I want this to be perfect

[Karen Phillips]

Hi. Firstly, you need to have been together for one year for residence - so you're fine. Make sure you provide lots of evidence of living together, shared financial contributions, social life together etc for at least one year. Secondly, a speeding infringement is not going to be a problem. Better to declare it, but it won't be an issue. Drink-driving convictions are a whole different ball-game. (Great excuse for speeding though You ask about "extra" points". So, are you the Principal application in an SMC EOI? Do you have 100 points including a job offer with out needing any extras or 140 points without? It is true that applications with a job offer between 100 and 139 are selected in order of points total, but, you shod be fine. There are extra points for partner's job offer or existing job in NZ, self employment is a different issue. You really should send your application to Hamilton if that's nearest. If you are still at the Expression of Interest stage, then these all go to the same place and then the appropriate branch will contact you with an Invitation to Apply (all being well) and you will need to deal with this office. I have had positive dealing with both Hamilton and Auckland. Hope this helps. karen

[JandM]

Castelle is sponsoring her partner for Residence, and he's had partner-sponsored temporary work visas before, Karen.

There is no issue of 'points' for one of these visas. It's ONLY your partnership evidence that counts (besides character and health, which are for all visas). So his work isn't relevant, but of course, if anybody asks, it's good that he's self-supporting, a tax-payer, etc..

You are supposed to send your application to the nearest office. It's better to do it. Otherwise, you'll lose time if the application sits around because someone notices, 'Oh, this should be with X - I'll send it on later...' There shouldn't be any question of 'nicer'. All INZ offices work to the same guidelines. And it's not a good idea to suggest to any official (even if you think it) that some of them might be grumpy and biased...

[Karen Phillips]

I did wonder which route he was taking - thanks JandM!

[Castelle]

Hi. Firstly, you need to have been together for one year for residence - so you're fine. Make sure you provide lots of evidence of living together, shared financial contributions, social life together etc for at least one year. Secondly, a speeding infringement is not going to be a problem. Better to declare it, but it won't be an issue. Drink-driving convictions are a whole different ball-game. (Great excuse for speeding though You ask about "extra" points". So, are you the Principal application in an SMC EOI? Do you have 100 points including a job offer with out needing any extras or 140 points without? It is true that applications with a job offer between 100 and 139 are selected in order of points total, but, you shod be fine. There are extra points for partner's job offer or existing job in NZ, self employment is a different issue. You really should send your application to Hamilton if that's nearest. If you are still at the Expression of Interest stage, then these all go to the same place and then the appropriate branch will contact you with an Invitation to Apply (all being well) and you will need to deal with this office. I have had positive dealing with both Hamilton and Auckland. Hope this helps. karen

By "together". do you mean in a relationship or living in together? Because we have been in a genuine relationship for three years but only been living together for 9 months. And how would you provide evidence for social life as well as financial contributions? We have a joint bank account as the official one. Haha and by points, i meant if we mentioned how successful he is, as i've read somewhere before that applicants will be more likely to gain residency providing they run/own a successful business or earn a certain amount of income

[Castelle]

Castelle is sponsoring her partner for Residence, and he's had partner-sponsored temporary work visas before, Karen.

There is no issue of 'points' for one of these visas. It's ONLY your partnership evidence that counts (besides character and health, which are for all visas). So his work isn't relevant, but of course, if anybody asks, it's good that he's self-supporting, a tax-payer, etc..

You are supposed to send your application to the nearest office. It's better to do it. Otherwise, you'll lose time if the application sits around because someone notices, 'Oh, this should be with X - I'll send it on later...' There shouldn't be any question of 'nicer'. All INZ offices work to the same guidelines. And it's not a good idea to suggest to any official (even if you think it) that some of them might be grumpy and biased...

Hm. I wonder if there's a reason for having to choose the nearest branches

[JandM]

Okay, you need to look at the INZ regulations, and old threads on the forum. INZ defines partnership as a live-in relationship, and you can't get partner-sponsored Residence until you've got evidence for 12 months living together. You'll have to wait a little longer to apply for Residence. Many people before you have discussed the kind of proof INZ will need. Here's your homework!

http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migra...artnership.htm
http://glossary.immigration.govt.nz/Partner.htm
https://www.google.co.uk/#q=site:enz...tnership+proof

'If there's a reason...' This sounds as if you suspect a sinister plot! How's about innocent reasons like these? The mass of applications has to start out being separated SOMEHOW. You get applicants to divide themselves (rather than using one central address and having to share out in-house). It might actually be nicer for the applicants to deal with a place nearby, rather than having to send or phone to a remote location.

i've read somewhere before that applicants will be more likely to gain residency providing they run/own a successful business or earn a certain amount of income

Read the INZ operational manual, and you'll find that issues of having a business, or what your income is, only arise for different, e.g. entrepreneur and WTR, visas, not Family Stream. The different visa streams don't get 'mixed'. I know you're very keen for your partner's visa to go through easily - the way to make that happen is to concentrate on what the regulations tell you is relevant to his and your situation.