I am preparing to lodge an residence visa application under the partnership category. I have several queries and tried to ring up INZ a couple of times today but annoyingly none of my calls received an answer. Any information anyone on this forum will be able to provide will be greatly appreciated!
I am currently on a student visa which is expiring at the end of next month. I also have to submit a police certificate, medical certificate and chest X-Ray for my student visa renewal as the previous ones I submitted 3 years ago will no longer be valid. My question is would it be better to submit my PC, MC & chest x-ray with my student visa renewal or my residence visa application? I am assuming that as long as INZ has a copy of my records from either application they will be able to refer to it for the other? Also, does it matter whether I submit my residence visa application before or after my student visa renewal?
My next query is whether or not the Palmerston North INZ branch handles residence visa application. Looking at their webpage, it seems that they cater more to student visas. Does this mean my application will get forwarded to a diffeent branch? If so, can I just submit my application directly to branches that process residence visa applications? Another thing is that looking at the different INZ branches' information page, Hamilton seems to have the shortest time (four months) it takes for applications to receive a case officer. Since I am based in Palmerston North, would it matter if I submitted my application directly to this branch?
So far the "evidence" I have collated include a timeline, tenancy agreement (one year and for another coming one year period), bank transactions, utility bills (under my name but to common residence), photos, air travel tickets for an upcoming trip, written statements from friends, personal letters addressed to our common residence, special occassion cards to each other, and e-mail correspondances to each other during my gap semester. I'd be super greateful if someone could point out whether I am missing anything important or something that could help with the application.
Lastly, what is the success rate of partnership based residence visa applications? What are the common reasons an application may be rejected?
Sorry for this lengthy post but whatever information that can be offered will be appreciated!