Options to get my UK partner to NZ!

[Verotten]

Hello hello!

First of all I would like to say I am SO glad to have found this forum with so many others in similar situations.
I'm in panic mode at the minute, as it's finally hit home that my two year Youth Mobility Scheme visa expires in two months and I'm going to be leaving my partner behind in the UK. He isn't going to be able to come with me right away, but the plan is for him to come along later in this year with a couple of friends who want to holiday (or possibly have a working holiday) in NZ.

Like most people here I'm concerned about our evidence and am questioning whether it would be better for him to enter NZ on a Working Holiday Visa to accumulate a bit more evidence. Our strongest evidence (albeit still not anywhere near iron clad) is from the past year, with the previous year having much weaker evidence. As with most genuine relationships we weren't concerning ourselves with collecting evidence until far too late, suddenly kicking myself for chucking out old bills, christmas cards, plane tickets and not taking more pictures. Grr!

If we don't opt for the Working Holiday, we'd look at taking on the Partner-based Work Visa rather than going straight to the residency. I assume that that will be a little less strict than going for residency, and he hasn't been in NZ for any great length of time (only a three month holiday) so I'm wary of going to all that effort to get him residency just to have him hate living there!
We have also considered him entering on a visitor's visa to accumulate another few months of evidence and also so he can apply for the Spouse Working Visa while we're living together, have people had much success with this? I feel like it's a bit frantic with the time frames and I'm not sure how much evidence we'll be able to scrape together in that time, but him being unable to work wouldn't be too much of an issue. I'm just so unsure. :S

My key questions are:

~ Is the UK Working Holiday Visa Scheme able to be extended/swapped to a Partner Residency?
I've seen a few threads here where people do seem to have done this and I know the UK equivalent YMS can certainly be extended to such a visa, but I want to be doubly sure as I can't find any kind of official statement online about whether or not this can be done in NZ.
Would him putting his relationship status as de-facto jeopardise his chances of being accepted under this visa?
Really don't think he would be able to justify or get away with having put his relationship as single when it comes to applying for any partner based visa at a later date!

~ Would getting married in the short time I have before I leave the country seem particularly suspicious?
I'm especially worried because we'd be more or less looking at a brief registry office ceremony followed by a wee party with some friends. We don't have a LOT of money (enough for the visas and plane tickets, but obviously we want to be saving as much of that as possible rather than spending it on a showy wedding!), we don't have much family and we aren't religious, so a 'proper' wedding ceremony doesn't make sense to us, but I'm painfully aware that our marriage could look like a bit of a sham. We do still want to make the legal commitment to each other though and be husband and wife, but we're umming and aahing about whether we're better to do go ahead with it now or wait until he comes to NZ with his friends later in the year.
Ideally we'd want to get married before applying for any kind of spouse based visa as it ought to strengthen our application, but that's not a huge deal either way.

A bit of background for context, would be great to have some insight from others about what they think would be best in our situation!


We have actually been boyfriend/girlfriend for 4 years (anniversary two days ago!), but have only been 'de-facto' since my coming here on the YMS two years ago.
I put my relationship status on the application for the YMS as single, as we hadn't lived together (had only met each other a couple of times, the vast majority of the relationship was long distance) before then and therefore didn't meet the definition of de-facto. And we certainly weren't married, widowed or divorced! Hopefully they don't hold that against us.
I don't want to extend my visa here as his spouse right now, as better job opportunities have turned up for me back home.

We don't have joint bank accounts and therefore all bills have been in his name, as he has a significant student loan and obviously I don't want to mix much of my money with his til that's all paid off! However we do have plenty of evidence of me regularly transferring funds into his account from both our ends, and a fair amount of evidence of us receiving official documents to the same addresses. Bit tricky with that one though as I was a dolt and didn't keep as many of my bank statements as I should have as I mostly rely on online banking. Doh!
Will they accept historical statements which have been printed from online? They should show the date and my address at the time, but they obviously won't be on official letterhead paper.
We may have to do the same for some of the bills he received at our previous address as well.

We don't do photos much, but do have pictures of us at his sister's wedding last year. Might be able to rustle up others from somewhere as well, going to have to do some serious asking around for that one.

We're hopefully going on a wee holiday to Europe next month as well, so will make sure to keep the booking records and take more pictures there!

Can easily get statements from friends and family. Likewise things like police certificates and references aren't much of an issue for us, no criminal records and all that.

We have a LOT of logs of online evidence of our relationship prior to our considering ourselves de-facto, and will be able to provide plenty for that gap after I've left the UK and before he comes to NZ. I was initially very concerned about us possibly applying for a Spouse Visa while recently living apart, but reading around has eased my fears a bit as we do have compelling reason to be apart and evidence of us remaining in a long distance relationship will not be an issue.

Too bad you can't sit some kind of questionnaire assessing how well you know your partner, we'd ace it!

Still, I'm feeling a lot of unease about the whole situation! We're both terribly afraid of never being able to settle together, so we want to make sure that whatever step we take with him coming to NZ is the best step to guarantee our success.
If worst comes to worst, I still have my UK ancestry tucked under my belt and we can settle there, but financially the UK isn't the best for us!

So sorry for the wall of text. Any thoughts, answers and advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you!

[JandM]

Is the UK Working Holiday Visa Scheme able to be extended/swapped to a Partner Residency?

Yes, in theory, though the more common route is to apply for a partner-sponsored temporary work visa, which only requires about three months' partnership evidence, so the year-long WHV gives plenty of time for the gathering of evidence and the application, whereas time could be short for getting 12 months' PLENTIFUL evidence, and applying.

Would getting married in the short time I have before I leave the country seem particularly suspicious?

Being married doesn't strengthen a partnership application. EVERYTHING is on the solid evidence of a live-in partnership.

To be blunt, from what you say about your evidence, it's sketchy, and isn't likely to get your partner a residence visa at the moment. Partnership visas are those most commonly targeted by fraudsters paying people to lie to get them visas, so they're also among the most closely scrutinized. YOU know you're good people and genuinely in a relationship, but INZ don't take ANYBODY on trust or on what they say about each other. There has to be hard evidence, of as many different kinds as possible, and involving official bodies not personally connected with you as much as possible.

HOWEVER, have a hard, critical look at what evidence you have now, and if you've got a reasonable amount for the last three months (official things establishing you both in the same place at the beginning of the period of time, then several pieces of proof per week, if you can, ongoing), it could be worth trying applying for a partner-sponsored temporary work visa while you're still together, before you start back to NZ. http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migra...milystream.htm Then all the time after that while the application is being processed and you're continuing to collect evidence (including your being in contact while in different countries) will count towards the 12 months for Residence.

[Verotten]

Ah actually I see what you mean about that all counting towards the 12 months of Residence, that would make us less pressed for time when it comes to applying for Residence while he's staying in NZ on the temporary work visa.

I'm still concerned that our evidence for the past three months is not as ironclad as it could be, I'd ideally want to have a healthier bank account before applying and I'm very conscious of time right now.
Also there'd be a delay on my required Police Certificate due to my only possible Endorsers being in NZ (so I'd need to mail them a photo of my to sign, and then have them mail back the form and the picture signed by them), so that could also be complicated. I may not actually be present in the country at the time he sends in the documents by that point, but as long as everything I need to do is already signed and ready to go/on its way that should be.. alright?

Oof, what a headache. I wish we'd thought of all this a year ago.

Apologies for the double post and if my two replies show up out of order, my first post hadn't yet been approved by a moderator! P:

EDIT: Oh what on earth, this one did show up for some reason.

To catch you up on the other post of mine which has mysteriously been sent for moderator approval:

* I suggested him coming to NZ later in the year when he is better set up money-wise and staying for the 6 months as a visitor (or even Working Holiday provided they'll let him come in on that visa despite him being in a relationship with me and it being somewhat obvious that he'll be intending to stay....), and doing everything ironclad from the get go. Joint bank accounts, joint bills, joint tenancy, plenty of evidence etc etc and then sending that all in as soon as we have 3 months worth. Which would hopefully give a couple of months for the visa to be processed, how tight would that be?
My YMS came through within about 3 weeks, but that seems to be a simpler visa.
* Also asked if it was wise to hold off on the marriage for now, on the off chance it is considered against the visa application and deemed suspicious despite the live-in evidence.

And I keep getting my places mixed up, grumble grumble

[JandM]

I'm so sorry about your having to rewrite all that information. The forum seems to have a gremlin at the moment that is sending perfectly normal posts for moderation. The site owner is looking into it.

I suggested him coming to NZ later in the year when he is better set up money-wise and staying for the 6 months as a visitor (or even Working Holiday provided they'll let him come in on that visa despite him being in a relationship with me and it being somewhat obvious that he'll be intending to stay....), and doing everything ironclad from the get go. Joint bank accounts, joint bills, joint tenancy, plenty of evidence etc etc and then sending that all in as soon as we have 3 months worth. Which would hopefully give a couple of months for the visa to be processed, how tight would that be?

That's a perfectly doable plan, and, as you say, you could make sure your application would be really stuffed with evidence. You don't need to worry about time at the end of the visitor's visa, because once his application for the partner-sponsored temporary work visa is lodged, he would be eligible for an interim visa if his visitor's one ran out. For explanation about interim visas, see here. http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migra...erimvisaqa.htm

Also asked if it was wise to hold off on the marriage for now, on the off chance it is considered against the visa application and deemed suspicious despite the live-in evidence.

There are things to be said on both sides of the argument, so it has to be a personal decision. I should think if you decide to apply from the UK, the wedding would be a bit of icing on the cake (ha ha) for the application - and by the way, a quiet wedding with a few mates all buying their own food and drink afterwards can be a lovely occasion! - whereas it would look strange for a man with a wife in NZ asking to enter the country just as a visitor. In the latter case, if you're going to follow the 'gather three months' proof from scratch' plan, when applying for visitor's visa or WHV, you needn't stress the partnership much - obviously, it will go on the form, but if he's asked more, an explanation such as having 'been living together in the UK and wanting to meet up again to see how it goes' would probably do. (It's an idea to make sure you're going to say the same if some INZ person asks you about the visitor you're expecting to meet.)

Have you found old threads on the forum about partnership proof? Lots to think about and maybe get inspired by on these. https://www.google.co.uk/#q=site:enz...tnership+proof

All the very best, whichever way you decide to tackle the issue.

[fabs]

Hey there ,
I know it probably sounds very complicated at first but it is not bad really ...once you read through all the things and get all the great info from this forum ( thanks do JandM ) it makes sense but dont get your head too tangled up if you know what I mean.
You guys got it so good with so many options sooo in my opinion get him the WHV dont fuss out about putting your details in his application because you are partners and if you put in single that would be fraud and thats not ok morally and legally.
But there are always many different ways the truth can be layed out in my opinion.
From experience I know how the WHV works , you apply online , get it in a few days via mail and off you are now MAYBE there will be questions at the airport about the intent of his stay ( question always being asked if you already have a job offer, which would be in breach of the visa so no and where you are staying for the night ) and thats no problem but he can just say you guys want to work and travel together ( no timeframe on how long "travelling" or working part has to be) or just simply live in new zealand for some time , see if you enjoy it and meet your family . there is not going to be issues it is perfectly fine. no lies no problem. thats what the visa is there for .
also he can work and you wouldnt be living off of one wage . so win win and one more thing , uk citizens can extend there one year WHV to a second year very easy just some medicals and some cash and done

basically repeating what JandM said with a little reassurance so that you hopefully dont stress out that much

wish you two all the best

[dr.robin]

Another option to consider is you can settle (live + work!) anywhere in EU. As an NZ passport holder you can travel to many EU countries without a visa (i.e. Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden) or with a Schengen visa for other EU countries. Providing your UK partner gets a job within 90days, you can both stay and work in the EU country, normally you apply a free residence card and if you want to travel around Europe or move back to UK together you need to get a EEA family permit. It could be much easier for you to settle in an EU country rather than the UK. If you didn't heard about it, read up on "surinder singh european free movement rights". You probably realized the rules for the UK spouse visa are pretty bad at the moment. Good luck

[Verotten]

Thank you so much everyone, I was in a bit of a mess last night so the comfort from reading your messages is unreal.!

Our current plan then is to scrape up as much evidence as we can over the next week. If there's enough, we'll look at doing his partner-based temporary work visa now. Even if not, it'll be helpful to have gathered for the future.

Otherwise, we'll go via the visitor visa to get it OR the WHV (if he can afford will have to read around here and see what the minimum financial requirements are). If he just went for the year initially, he could extend if things work out as you say, and that would probably be less scrutinised at border control than going for the two years right away. P:

dr.robin I did not know that! That's VERY interesting, and definitely something we'd be interested about in the future. Thank you for the heads up!

Ta guys, I'll try and remember to pop in and tell you how we get on.
As for the wedding... I think we'll just go for it. Will be nice to have a party with some friends before saying goodbye to them, plus it's all photos for evidence right?

[fabs]

Ok sounds good but some things to note :

- If you go for the Partnership based Work Visa ( which has pretty much the same "rights" as a one year WHV) you have to have solid " we live together " evidence for the past three month at least. If you want to go that route you have to pay 185 pounds against 85 ~ pounds for the WHV ( which is always one year at first but once in NZ and at the end of that year extandable )

- If he comes over on a Visitor visa some things to consider .

You will also need to show us proof that you have enough money to support yourself during your stay. This means you have a minimum of:
NZ$1000 per person per month of the visit, or
NZ$400 per person per month if accommodation has already been paid for – we will require proof of prepayment, such as hotel prepaid vouchers.

Now there is something called the"Sponsorship form for temporary entry" Form 1025 which would waive him having to show funds and everything but it would mean that you would sponsor him and support him ( food , accommodation, health care cost ) even if realtionship breaks up ... It just needs to be signed by you and witnessed and given to your BF to show in case when entering the country. Still he would need a flight back or to lets say Australia at the end of the six month even if not going to be used !

Now the same goes for the WHV but they ask for 4200 NZD so 2100 pounds ~ . Thats it and he could come one way.
When applying for the WHV they ask you if you have enough funds they pretty much never ask at the airport, but if you could gather all your money , put it on his account , print out a statement and then take the money out again it will perfectly do alot of my friends did it. The statement needs to be printed out and dated just before he leaves for no issues.
Not compactible with the sponsorship form so if you go for the WHV you have to somehow show funds if you want to do it the "right" way. Most of my mates came over with maybe a few hundred dollars just saying haha.



So thats it , I hope it helps and good luck !