My wife lodged an application for partnership based residency on 6 October 2015. We have been living together continuously in NZ for over a year, we married in December 2013. Please feel free to read our earlier posts. Two days ago we emailed the support officer who returned our documents and processed our fee a few weeks ago, because we wanted to check if they had the bundle of support letters from friends family and our employers, as we did not get them back, they were not mentioned in the letter acknowledging application, they were an important part of the application and we might need them if another work visa was required before the application was processed. So today we get this email:
In order to proceed with your application I need you to provide me with the following information by Monday 23rd November - electronic copy by email is preferable, however a hardcopy also needs to be submitted to the address below:
· Please find attached page 2 from your Residence Application form that need to be completed.
o Please print out the attachments and complete the highlighted fields. We require all fields to be completed to meet strict guidelines.
Missing the date of Birth! Very silly of us! Not hard to fix though, thankfully.
· We have noted your partner has a child from a previous relationship. Please have Michael provide a statement with details of this previous relationship and when it ended. Please also provide original or certified copies of divorce documentation.
We sent the NZ decree nisi from 2013 with the first visa application. We can courier another original copy no problem. I can state, as I have done that I was legally separated once again as documented in NZ, prior to divorce for just on four years from Jan 2010.
· The copy of your birth certificate I have on file is unclear. Please provide the original of your birth certificate. We will return this once the assessment has been completed.
We provided the genuine, officially receipted National Statistics Office of the Philippines Full Birth Certificate with the application, but it is indeed hard to read. After we and our friends making numerous phone calls, it seems we might be able to get a municipality registrar full Birth Certificate from the Island township where my wife was born, which will be retyped by an official and can be notarised by an attorney. Maybe we can get this within a week, if we urgently DHL it here,
· Please provide comment on how the age difference in your relationship has impacted on your partnership and how you overcome this difference
Well, we haven't really though about it? My wife finds me lively enough? We have no trouble socialising with our friends and family, who also see no problem to the best of our knowledge. Not sure what the problem is supposed to be in general terms, but we have to say it does not seem to apply in the specific. So how do we honestly answer this with the due seriousness and attention to detail?
· Partnership evidence – please provide the following:
o Original or certified true copies of joint or individual bank accounts/statements, credit cards, loans or hire purchases. Bank statements must be printed and officially stamped by your bank. Please submit statements from October - November 2014, mid-2015 and your most recent
We provided copies for the entire period for all accounts, we can and will provide the certified copies for the now specified ones
o Original or certified true copies of joint or individual homeownership or residential tenancy agreement for your current address. Home ownership documents can include council rates invoices
Current original residency tenancy agreement already provided, tagged, and returned to us. I imagine we send it again?
o Original or certified true copies of joint or individual correspondence sent to your home address covering 12 months. This can include any document that contains your name/s and address
We sent all the clearly labelled mail, received by us since the last visa application, including official mail, mail from utilities, our bank, and many courier packs addressed to us both, as well as to us both individually.
While not asked for, we could send further mail, further support letters, copies of our refinancing documents in both names, completed life insurance in both names and the mirror wills we were getting witnessed this week.
I think we will have to apply for urgent special leave to ensure getting a decent reply to the CO in time. We probably wont be at our best at work anyway. We will ask for an extension where a complete response is not physically possible for us in the week allowed. Folks, any appropriate and considered comments are very welcome indeed and we will try to answer any reasonable questions also.