next step after temporary visa turned down

[magictui]

Hi, I am a Zealand citizen with a partner from the UK, She has been on a work visa and since we have been living together for 16 months she was going to apply for residency under partnership grounds. However her consultant said that would take too long and she should apply for an extension to her work visa and then apply for residency under partnership. Unfortunately her extension has been declined as they say a New Zealander can do the job she has been doing for over 2 years. Can anyone advise us as to what her next step would be?

Many thanks!

[ChrisMwn]

well if you are living together, lodging a residence application is the proper thing to do. You can them leverage off that to get a work visa based on your relationship.. get a new adviser!

[magictui]

Yes, I did wonder about his "advise", he told us residency under partnership would take 9-12 months so extension to work visa would be the way to go.....Not!!! I guess my other question is will she be allowed to stay in NZ while we apply under relationship?

[ntuananh]

The official guide does say it takes up to 12 months for residence visa, so your adviser said the right thing. And you can't really tell how long exactly it would take, so if her work visa is about to expire, extend the work visa first to stay in the country legally, then apply for Residence visa, is also the right advice.

[magictui]

The official guide does say it takes up to 12 months for residence visa, so your adviser said the right thing. And you can't really tell how long exactly it would take, so if her work visa is about to expire, extend the work visa first to stay in the country legally, then apply for Residence visa, is also the right advice.

Thank you ntuananh, that's exactly what she has done but the extension application has been turned down by INZ so can she still apply for residency and stay in the country?

[JandM]

When does her existing visa expire?

[Karen Phillips]

She should be entitled to an open partnership-based work visa for now while the residence is processed. This should take less than 4 weeks. Partnership residence has taken no more than 3 months for any of my clients this year. It can of course take longer if there are complications.