Hi Everyone,
I have been following this forum since last one year, that was when I first came to New Zealand. The existing forum topics and replies helped me so much that I didn't need to post anything to clarify. So thanks for this !!
However, now I do need some help for my wife's visa. Here's the scenario:
I'm currently on a WTR visa and I'm applying for the residence visa under the SMC category and hoping to get the visa stamped before the end of the year. I recently got engaged and will be getting married in April 2016 . My fiance is currently based in India and planning to come back with me to NZ after we get married. I've done a fair amount of research and I'm very sure that our case is not eligible for the paternship based visa or partnership based residency due to the "living together" critiera. Therefore, I will not be applying for her visa under this category.
The plan is that I will apply for her visitor visa (sponsored once I get a residen't visa) in February 2016 so that she'll get her visa well in time so that we can come back together in May 2016. I will mention in the cover letter that my intentions are to apply for her work visa once we have completed our 3 months "living together". Along with this, I will also provide evidences of our communication over chats, pics of us together during the period when we got engaged and also when we had gone for a short trip just after our engagement. This is because I want to be very sure that the CO understands our intentions and there are no problems when I apply for her work visa from NZ.
I have some questions regarding my plan above:
1) I told Immigration NZ the same thing above and they said that it is the only way forward but its not 100% guranteed that she'll get a visa. It would be upto the case officer to decide. I am just wondering what are the chances of rejection and more importantly why would it get rejected? If this is not the right way then how can my wife come to NZ to live with us? Would I have to live with her in India for 3 months and then apply for work visa from India.
2) Should I submit any more documentation/evidence as a part of the visitor visa? I will not be submitting the marriage certificate because we'll only be getting married in April 2016 and I'm planning to apply for her visa in Feb 2016 so that it can be stamped in time so that we can come back together.
3) is there any info that you would like to share that I should be aware of?
Thanks Guys for all your help.
Anuj Sharma