Few questions regarding temporary partnership visa

[simonUKNZ]

Hello,

Me and my partner are thinking about applying for a temporary partnership visa. We have been in a relationship for 3 months and have just moved in together. I am currently on a work visa that will run out next May and she is an NZ citizen. We met at work in March and from there the love just blossomed (without sounding too soppy!)

Anyway there a few factors that we thought might affect our application after looking through the immigration website.

When we first started our relationship I was 25 and she was 17, but now she is 18. We read that you could only apply from 18years+, does this mean we have to disregard our first 6 weeks of the relationship?

My partner has already booked a trip around Europe in May with her best friend that they have been planning for a long time. I was planning to head to the UK for a few months for work experience at a football club and to see my parents. We will be away from each other for about 6 weeks, but she will come and stay with me before we hopefully move back to NZ. Are immigration likely to see this time apart as non commitment? I mean i would like to go around Europe with her but its something her and her friend are adamant on doing just themselves, and i don't want to piss on their chips, so to speak.

Also finally ive read people have had faster decisions with their applications when applying from a foreign branch. Would it be worth applying in NZ before we leave in May, or should we wait until we are both together in the UK and apply then to a UK branch?

Many thanks in advance

[David12345]

You have to be living together for about 2-3 months PRIOR to applying for a partnership based visa, you also need plenty of evidence of living together for those 2-3 months and also that you are partners. Which means supplying plenty of joint utility bills, photos together, supporting letters from friends and family, a detailed letter of how you are involved with each others life's etc. Its far from simple I am afraid, however im sure you would both have no trouble getting visitor visas for NZ, where you could live together and gather the required evidence for a partnership visa before applying.

There is plenty of information about partnership requirements on the immigration website. As for you time apart being counted, I think it can be in some cases but i think it would depend how long, there also has to be a very good reason for separation and you need to provide evidence of how your relationship was maintained during your time apart.

Hope this helps

[JandM]

As far as INZ are concerned, a relationship is ONLY defined as a living-together partnership, and David12345 is quite right. These old threads https://www.google.co.uk/#q=site:enz...tnership+proof will give you an idea of the kind of evidence you will need to gather.

[simonUKNZ]

Apologies on the clarity of my original post! We would not be applying before early April as my visa doesn't run out until late May.

Thankyou for your responses so far. However we would still like to know if it is worth waiting till we are both in the UK to apply from there or not.

[JandM]

You are more likely to get a visa granted if you have been living together with your partner for around three months continuously, immediately before you send in your application. Yes, INZ are rather inclined to regard a parting as a break-up, especially when there is not a long history of living together before that. Therefore, whatever the rights of the rumour of faster processing abroad (which I think is only a rumour, and if it's ever true, it's entirely variable according to fluctuations in the workload of the various offices), I believe you're more likely to get the visa if you apply for it before your girlfriend's holiday.

I can foresee some difficulty if you apply for the visa so late that there isn't time for it to be finished processing before you and/or your girlfriend leave NZ. Imagine if INZ have more questions for you, or her. Imagine if they want to do a home visit to check that you are where you say you are. 'Oh - he/she isn't in the country' means no visa. Once you have got sufficient evidence, you could apply. You don't have to wait until your present visa is expiring. Once you get the partner-sponsored visa, it will take over from your present visa, except that it will be an open visa, entitling you to work at any job you are offered, so you will be all right for honouring your contract with your present employer.

If you do decide to apply before leaving NZ, don't forget to make sure that your visa is a multiple-entry one, so that you will be entitled to take the holiday you have in mind, or any other foreign trips, and still re-enter the country.

[simonUKNZ]

Thankyou J very helpful.

Ive also just noticed across a lot of the forum and INZ site, proof of living together can be provided with a tenancy agreement. Since the mrs has moved in with me at a shared house the only thing we have signed is a lodgers agreement. Do you know if this would this be acceptable as proof?

[JandM]

Yes, anything formal involving other people knowing about the relationship is good to show to INZ. (Nothing on any lists is an absolute 'must'. What is needed is enough paperwork - 3 or 4 different items per passing week if you can - to build a strong circumstantial case that there IS a real relationship, and the more evidence that involves strangers, not close friends or family members, alongside personal testimonies from such people who obviously will want to support you, the better.)