Work Permit via Partnership / Residence Visa

[banelis]

Hi guys,

I am currently on my second one year working holiday visa and living with my fiance (NZ Citizen) in Wellington. We have lived together for about 16 months now with sufficient evidence to prove our relationship to immigration. However, my question is this - We want to apply for Residence via partnership but as my visa runs out in 6 weeks I'm not too sure if we will be granted an interim visa and I will have to leave the country, which is not ideal. Our other option is to apply for a Work Permit via partnership and then apply for a Residence visa off the back of that.

I have completed a limited medical as required for the residence visa application, however - if we do go down the work permit path first do I have to get a General medical for this?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Many thanks

[JandM]

http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migra.../familystream/
Under Submit evidence that you meet health requirements, subheading Working for more than a year, there is this.

If you are the partner of a New Zealand citizen or resident and you meet the requirements to be granted residence under the Partnership Category, the medical certificate you must provide is a Limited Medical Certificate (INZ 1201) PDF.

So it seems you can go ahead with the medical you've already got.

You can't be granted an interim visa while waiting for Residence - those are only given to those waiting for different kinds of temporary visa. http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migra...erimvisaqa.htm

[banelis]

Thanks JandM!

So even if we just apply for a work permit at the moment, instead of residence the limited medical should cover??

Thanks again for your help!!

[JandM]

Yes, you should be all right, on the grounds that you want to stay for more than a year, and you're intending to (or maybe already will at the same time) submit an application for Residence.

And once you get your application for the partner-sponsored temporary work visa in, they should let you have an interim visa to cover you in case they haven't got it processed before your WHV runs out. It's probably a good idea to point out in a covering letter when applying that your expiry date is very close.