Hello everyone
I will start with explaining my situation and then follow with the questions that I have.
I am a New Zealand citizen that has lived here my entire life. I am in my final year of a BSc degree at the University of Canterbury and I have a part-time job at a clinical trials lab that I've had for almost two years. In November last year after uni exams I went on a holiday to the USA. On Christmas day I met my boyfriend Bryan who is a USA citizen. We met on a 3-day bus ride from one side of the country to the other and by the end of the bus ride I had changed my flights (I was due to fly home 27th December) and my bus ticket so that I could go stay with him. We lived together from 27th December - 10th February when I had to fly back to NZ as my 90 day visitor visa was to expire on the 11th. In early January we decided that he would come with me to NZ until I finished my uni (November) and then we would both go back to USA together long term. It was at this time that we had started the process of getting him a passport and around the 20th of January I purchased a flight for the 16th of Feb for him to fly to NZ. The standard process of getting a passport was going to take longer than the time that we had so we decided to go to the regional passport office in Los Angeles and do the next day service to get his passport and he would join me in NZ (on a 3 month visitor visa-not partnership based) a week later. Unfortunately we apparently did not have all the required documents to get the passport (only had an Alaskan ID and they only accepted Californian ones) so we had to push the flight back a month and he flew to Alaska to get his passport there (there is no next day service in Alaska only a 3 week expedited one). Around the 7th of March he got his new passport and on the 14th of March he arrived in New Zealand (getting a 3month visitor visa on arrival). We have been living together in NZ ever since the 14th of March. On the 12th May we applied for a partnership-based work visa and included the following evidence:
• Partnership-Based Temporary Visa Application 1198
• Form for Partners Supporting Partnership-Based Temporary Entry Applications 1146
• Cover letter from Bryan – primary applicant
• Cover letter from Katie – primary applicant’s partner (me)
• Letter from Darren – primary applicant’s partner’s Father
• Letter from Leo – primary applicant’s flatmate (stating we have been living together and sleeping in the same bed etc.)
• Letter from Cameron – primary applicant’s flatmate (stating we have been living together and sleeping in the same bed etc.)
• Letter from James – friend
• Letter from Amanda – friend
• Letter from Kianni – sister
• 22 Photos of us together
• Additional photos of holidays and time spent together (him in one shot then me in the next but clearly at the same place at the same time)
• Proof that primary applicant’s partner will remain in New Zealand (enrollment for my uni which is until November)
• Additional evidence including logs (skype logs, 700 pages of facebook messages between us)
As of the day we submitted it we had been together for 4 months and 16 days and had been living together for 3 months and 15 days of this time.
As of today we have been together for 5 months and 7 days and have been living together for 4 months and 5 days.
My questions:
- When can we expect to hear something as the guideline is 25 days and it has been 22 days so far?
- When our CO looks at the application will he looks at the time we have been together when the application was made or as of the day he looks at it (as it is a fairly short relationship so far the extra months makes a big difference to our application!)?
- Do you think we submitted enough evidence to satisfy the CO that we are living together? We never signed a formal rental contract as we are living with one of my friends from uni and his parents own the house so there was never a formal contract but we did supply letters from both our flatmates and my father saying that we have been living together and all the letters from friends also confirm this. I have no idea what other evidence we can supply as we pay the power and internet into a flat account and therefore don't have bills for those.
- Have we been in a relationship/living together long enough that YOU think we have a good chance at getting the work visa?
- As we are leaving in November to go back to the USA we fit into the "more than 6 months but less than 12 months" category and therefore are not required to provide any medical certificates/chest x-rays as he has not been out of USA except this trip to NZ and therefore to no TB risk places - do you think they are likely to ask for these anyway?
- His visitor visa expires on the 14th of this month (June) and as this is only 12 days away what happens if it takes them longer than this to come to an outcome on the visa? Will he be issued an interim visa?
- If the work visa get declined will they offer a visitor visa and will we have to pay another visa application fee?
- It state that the partner of the applicant has to satisfy the conditions of a residency application, does that mean that I was supposed to send a police certificate with the application?
I have done a lot of research and read a lot of posts on this website and every factsheet, form and guidebook on INZ website but sometimes they were contradictory and confusing hence the questions!
I have heard that no news is good news but I am a very anxious person and the wait is making me get very stressed as we just got engaged and it is very scary to not know if the love of your life is about to have to leave the country in 12 days!
Do you have any extra advice or can you see anything that we have done wrong with this visa application?
Thank you so very much for any help, advice or reassurance that you can give me!
Katie