Residency V Partnership work visa - Please Help

[chloejadeeee]

Hi There ,

I am wondering if someone could help me with the first step of my visa journey please as i am unsure which one to apply for.

I met my partner while on a working Holiday in NZ. We were together for only a couple of months when my visa expired but he decided to move back to the UK with me and we have now been living together for over a year. We live with my parents so don't have any proof of bills together however we do have the following:

Bank Statements , Payslips , Car insurance , Driving license - is all registered at the same address
My partner is a named driver on my insurance
Booking confirmation of when his parents visited London and we stayed in same hotel together
Photos
Holidays to various places ( this was our main reason for living with parents)
Personal Statements
Family and Friend Statements
Photos
Only recently opened a joint bank account

I was wondering if this was enough to apply for residence or would i be safer to apply for the work visa and then try and get more evidence while in NZ.

Has anyone had the same issues as me and still been granted residency?

Thank You Very much for your help in advance

Chloe

[JandM]

One important thing about partnership proof is that there is something very solid and trustworthy to show the beginning of the time that the couple have lived together, then several different pieces of proof for every following week/month, so it's clear that both partners are still there at their joint residence, right up till the time of the application. If you judge your evidence on that basis, which can you most securely do - 12 months to go for Residence, or 3 months at least to go for the partner-sponsored work visa?

Whichever you decide to go for, make sure you keep on collecting evidence of all possible kinds as time goes on, all through the time the application is being processed, as it is common for the CO to ask for more evidence to cover however long it has been since the application, just before they issue the visa. And of course, if you go for the work visa in the first place, keep your original evidence and collect more as you build up to the Residence application.

[chloejadeeee]

Thank You for getting back to me.

I'm not sure I can think of any solid evidence to show when he originally started to live with me. My Partner lived with me as soon as he got to the UK but couldn't remember my address when he got to the airport so didn't even write my address down on his entry form.

He got a job pretty quickly so I am maybe missing evidence for about the first 2 months because he didn't receive any post to my address.

I would rather apply for residency so I don't have the worry of doing it in the future but I have had a work visa declined while in NZ and at the time wasn't expecting it at all so I am a little bit wary of how strict they can be.

[JandM]

Did he give your address to his new employer? If so, their records should show when he started. And the tax authorities should have it, too. You can probably get copies of those records.

How about registering with a doctor, and for car insurance?

[chloejadeeee]

Yes , he gave the address to his employer and that was over a year ago actually. He is also on my insurance as a named driver. His bank Statements , tax etc come to the same address , he bought a car and it is registered to the address and he also applied for a uk license and a new passport all at this address.

He isn't registered with a doctor unfortunately.

I do have holiday bookings from five holidays and also food shopping receipts and Christmas present receipts. My partner pays my mum £100 pound a month but he pays it in cash. Is there anything my mum can draw up to show this at all?

I would really like to apply for residency as we have been living together for over a year but don't want to go through the whole process and fees if I don't have enough evidence to be considered.

I was with my partner when I applied to extend my visa in NZ but on my form I put myself down as single. At the time we hadn't been together for very long although I didn't class myself as single i think at the time i thought that was the most suitable thing to tick on the application form. Do you think they will mention this?

sorry for all the questions - I really appreciate your help.

[JandM]

About the payments to your mother, that could come into a letter she writes in support. It's a shame he didn't do it through both his bank a/c and hers, as then it would show up, but it's easy to think after the event.

About saying you were single when back in NZ. If you claim now, for the purpose of applying for Residence, that your time living together starting back in NZ before you filled in that form, then it would matter, because someone could pick on it and call it fraud. If your 12 months' evidence starts after that date, there can't be any problem, because you wouldn't be contradicting yourself. (Every relationship starts at some point - beforehand, you'd say, 'I'm single,' but then there's the trigger moment that the people realize that yes, they're a couple. Nobody can blame you for that!)

I'm thinking, it sounds as though you've got the same sort of evidence as many people have who never thought at the beginning of setting up home that they were going to have to account for it all to someone. It's not perfect, but that's life, and most people's applications aren't perfect.

[chloejadeeee]

Yes I can think of do many things I wish I would have done differently in order to support my visa but instead we have waited for the opportunity to go back to nz 'we won't rent some here because we will be moving back to nz soon so instead let's save and go on holidays when we can ' and let's not buy that because we won't be able to take it to nz' sort of thing but now obviously that has limited our evidence.

No no we didn't live together when I applied for my first one so that will be fine


Thank you for your help i think I am going get the evidence together and apply for residency

[JandM]

Wishing you all the very best with that.

Like I said before, keep on systematically keeping ALL the evidence you can. Apart from covering while the visa is processed, it means that your documented time as partners is lengthening all the while. Just in case a CO decided to be doubtful about the beginning of the time you're going to claim, there will be more time constantly adding on at the end. And the regulations specifically allow for that situation. http://www.immigration.govt.nz/opsmanual/30883.htm

[chloejadeeee]

Hi JandM,

I have just been looking at the application form and it asks for a medical. I sent a medical in with my last visa application in 2013. I don't have ay record of it anymore but will immigration still have this? it states I don't need one it I have submitted one in the last 36 months?

Thanks
Chloe

[JandM]

Yes. It will still be on record. Just tell them when you submitted it, where, and for what.