Citizenship in NZ for partner

[lostinlove]

I married my South American wife in Australia 1 and a half years ago after she moved over for me, now we wish to move back to New Zealand, my country of citizenship. She got residency in Australia, will this be much of a problem to get Citizenship in NZ? What is the name of the visa we should be applying for?
How long is processing usually?
Is there another visa we can apply for in order to move more quickly, while a resident/citizenship visa is being processed?


Thank you everyone for your help and support
Rob

[JandM]

Your wife should be eligible for partner-sponsored Residence. http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migra...ly/default.htm That link will give you access to all the information you need about making an application. You will have to show evidence of having a live-in relationship for a minimum of 12 months. Here http://www.immigration.govt.nz/opsmanual/30880.htm is INZ's instruction about this. Here https://www.google.co.uk/#q=site:enz...tnership+proof are old forum threads discussing what is needed. If you make sure you give thorough evidence, your application can be processed comparatively quickly - the NZ government are always keen to see their Kiwis come home, and if bringing a foreign partner is the price, so be it. I think she would have to send the application to Auckland branch, and here is their processing times page. http://www.immigration.govt.nz/branc...ocessingtimes/

You can first apply for a partner-sponsored temporary work visa if you wish, which can be processed more quickly as you'll see on that same page, then move on to Residence afterwards. http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migra...milystream.htm

Once she has Residence, after two years at least she can (is supposed to) move on to Permanent Residence. http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migra...quirements.htm

Your wife won't be able to get citizenship straight away. That takes a minimum of five years after getting NZ residence. The details are here. http://www.dia.govt.nz/diawebsite.ns...1?OpenDocument

[lostinlove]

Wow thankyou JandM for your answer, pretty much covers everything
Any idea how long we could expect to wait for the Partner Resident Visa, I've heard some people wait 6 months!? Surely there gets a point where you are nervous of decline if it takes too long

[JandM]

INZ have said their estimate of time on that page, but it's an average based on how things have been going, so it's not a promise for any particular case.

EVERYONE with an application in feels nervous, probably for most of the time, even when they know for certain that their case is good. That's human nature. All that can be said is that you're not alone! And the time passing won't just be because of your own case.

No CO is sitting waiting only for replies about YOUR case. Everything at INZ works by managed queues. When your ITA was received, it would join the end of the queue of other ITAs, according to the date order. Each Case Officer has a certain workload - a number of cases that are theirs to deal with. The newly arrived ITAs have to wait till one of the COs has finished with some of their cases, and can take on some more. When an ITA is eventually assigned to a CO, it will again join the back of THAT queue for the CO's attention, as s/he takes the top file, does what s/he can actively do, puts that file to the back, works everything s/he can on that case, goes to the next, and so on. All COs have to work their allocation of cases in rotation. They take the first, do everything they can for the time (sending out queries, or ticking off replies, because processing the case consists of checking if the evidence is true by asking other people), then put that to the back and take the next, then the next, then the next, and so on. They don't take any file out of order. Any replies go to your file wherever it is in the queue, and the CO won't see them until it's your file's turn to be looked at again. This also means that complications on one of the other cases in your CO's work allocation can mean your case is delayed, along with all his others.

[dreammerchant]

I married my South American wife in Australia 1 and a half years ago after she moved over for me, now we wish to move back to New Zealand, my country of citizenship. She got residency in Australia, will this be much of a problem to get Citizenship in NZ? What is the name of the visa we should be applying for?
How long is processing usually?
Is there another visa we can apply for in order to move more quickly, while a resident/citizenship visa is being processed?


Thank you everyone for your help and support
Rob

Hi,

You've mentioned your wife has residency in Australia? Do you mean she is a permanent resident there? If so, then she doesn't need to do anything and can turn up anytime -

http://www.dol.govt.nz/immigration/k...base/item/1068

Unless, she has character issues, she will be issued a resident visa at the airport and can then stay in NZ indefinitely. After two years of living here, she can apply for a permanent resident visa, which is the same visa but allows her to freely leave and come back to NZ for life. After three more years, she can then apply for NZ citizenship. (Total five years on a residence class visa).

If she is not a resident of Australia, then you should follow JandM's advice.

[Tchris]

Hi,

You've mentioned your wife has residency in Australia? Do you mean she is a permanent resident there? If so, then she doesn't need to do anything and can turn up anytime -

http://www.dol.govt.nz/immigration/k...base/item/1068

Unless, she has character issues, she will be issued a resident visa at the airport and can then stay in NZ indefinitely. After two years of living here, she can apply for a permanent resident visa, which is the same visa but allows her to freely leave and come back to NZ for life. After three more years, she can then apply for NZ citizenship. (Total five years on a residence class visa).

If she is not a resident of Australia, then you should follow JandM's advice.

It sounds too straight forward, so I decided to verify. Behold, you are correct!

http://www.dol.govt.nz/immigration/k...base/item/1088

Who can live in New Zealand?

The following people can live in NZ permanently:
holders of NZ Passports
holders of NZ residence visas
holders of Australian passports
holders of Australian permanent residence and a valid Australian Returning Residents Visa

To find out how to apply for residence in NZ, please refer to the answer "How can I become a New Zealand resident? ".

This answer was last updated on 7 June, 2013.

[Tchris]

Sorry, @dreammerchant, I just saw the link you provided. My post is one step behind. unfortunately, I can't delete my comment. Cheers.

[JandM]

As the OP said his wife had moved to Australia 1 1/2 years ago, I assumed she hasn't had enough time there to qualify for Australian PR, so the short-cut wouldn't apply - which may not be right, of course.

[dreammerchant]

Sorry, @dreammerchant, I just saw the link you provided. My post is one step behind. unfortunately, I can't delete my comment. Cheers.

That's alright, JandM. A friend a mine who has Australian permanent residence visited with me two years ago here in NZ and he was surprised he got residence on arrival at the airport, especially considering our citizens don't even get residency in Australia automatically, on arrival, and are temporary indefinite residents, forget about NZ residents. :-)