Partnership residence evidence

[sheepland]

Hi all,

a CO has just been assigned to me, and she has requested for more evidence after the first assessment. I have a few questions regarding this...

When they accepted my application for processing, they returned a whole heap of documents with my passport (Like photos of us as a couple, a friend's letter referring to my partner, power bills, etc...)

Now they've transferred my application to another branch and the CO has been requesting all this stuff again? I already gave it once and assumed that it'd been scanned into the system or something! Should I just ask her to look at my file?

Also, she has asked for letters of support from my family and friends. How are they supposed to write this? Like "So and so has been in a relationship since 2012..." and how to they write it in a way that sounds that we are genuine. I mean, we are a genuine couple but are they supposed to write, e.g. "They are really good together, etc..."

I'd much rather they just call us up for an interview lol.

They also asked for a new chest x-ray even though I gave one a couple of years back. What is up with this?

I suppose I should send more information quickly through so that they will process my partnership residence quickly...

Cheers, and thanks for the help

[JandM]

Yes, you need to do whatever the CO requires as soon as you can. You're dealing with a government department here - it's not all going to make sense, or seem sensible, but if you hold off on that account, it's not going to be the official that cares because things take a long time or if they never go through.

Look carefully at the wording of what the CO has asked you. It is perfectly routine for a CO to ask for more evidence of partnership to cover the time since the application went in. This is to make sure they're not issuing a visa to someone whose relationship has broken up in the meantime. This CO may not want the same evidence back again, but just some more to prove your being together in these last weeks/months during processing.

Letters of support. There isn't a set format. These need to be written in a personal way (almost chatty) by each person, telling how they first got to know the person who ISN'T their family or friendship connection, how that person started to become included in activities as the new partner, then became more and more established. Certainly they can say the couple looks good together. Give plenty of personal detail, so it's clear they really KNOW him/her, e.g. 'I like her cooking and she has given me lots of Thai recipes,' or, 'He and I have a shared interest in sailing,' or whatever, and tell about particular occasions when the partner was part of it.

Here are the regulations about medicals and X-ray certificates. http://www.immigration.govt.nz/opsmanual/46161.htm You could query the need for another one if you can't see any reason she would be asking, but meantime, get ready to have it in case it's not an oversight on her part. Usual thing - if INZ says jump, most times the applicant has to, because they're the one who gets bothered about waiting.

[sheepland]

Turns out I didn't need to get a chest X-ray after all!