Partnership work visa possible if living apart - need advice :(

[carlamonty]

Hi Everyone, I'm trying to figure out how realistic my partner's chance of receiving a partnership work visa if we apply for it.

Essentially we've been together for 4 years (I'm a longtime NZ permanent resident, he's french)

We met in NZ when he was here on a holiday work visa, we did a year of long distance then I followed him back to france (I'm lucky enough to have an eu passport) we lived together in france for two years until I came back to NZ in september 2015.

I was freelancing in France as I didn't have the level of french to work in a french office. In my first year I made enough money to pay my expenses but in the second year I lost my largest client and wasn't able to make enough. My partner was studying at uni so wasn't able to support us both. I essentially was in a position where I had to come back home. He couldn't follow me as he still had his last year of uni.

He's finished now and we want to apply for a partnership work visa. I didn't think this would be a problem but delving more into the details of it I'm starting to worry our separation is going to stop us from being successful.

I'm hoping that by proving we were living together for 2 years in france, our continuing effort today to stay in our relationship (he visited in feb and daily calling and messaging) and finally the papers that prove he was in uni this last year and my tax summary showing the pitiful amount I made in france the last year I was there. Am I deluding myself? I know we may have a better chance of applying for a visitor partnership visa but it's not financially feasible for us for him to not be able to look for work for months.

[JandM]

Well, you could TRY going directly for Residence with him still abroad. INZ are going to look very hard at you, though, so be prepared for that. They seem to look on a separation to be interpreted as a break-up, as their default position, so any case such as yours tends to need to be argued very strongly.

I don't actually think anyone is any more likely to get a partner-sponsored visitor's visa than a partner-sponsored work visa - the evidence requirements are just the same. We know from experience that INZ take applications seriously with 2 - 3 months' evidence.

If you could survive financially without him working for a while (and I know it's tough), if he joined you in NZ as a visitor at first, which he could with his visa-waiver status, with "look, see and decide" (i.e. about getting a job) as his stated reason for visiting, you could apply for a partner visa for him with some really up-to-date evidence which would help the case, either for Residence, or for the work visa (which can usually be processed in about a month).

[carlamonty]

Thanks JandM for your reply and helpful info. I understand why immigration has to be so tough it's just so frustrating that there is less consideration for long distant relationships, I didn't want to be apart from him it was just the circumstances of our situation.

[diziniz]

I don't know if I'm going to be of any help, but a few years back I was basically in the same position that you are. I had been with my now ex-partner of 4 years and nearly all of it was long-distance. I originally met him in France and we got along really well that I ended up going back after a few months and staying with him in Marseille. I missed New Zealand quite a lot and came home and he followed after almost a year and came on a 3 month visitor visa that he got on arrival. He then went back to France and after another year he came back to New Zealand on a second visitor visa and it was during this time that we applied for a partnership work visa.

I would recommend doing it this way if possible (from NZ) because we were able to get letters, mail and postcards addressed to both of us and open a joint bank account through ANZ, which all helped strengthen our case. We applied for his partnership visa and he was granted it 3 weeks later. He stayed in NZ for 8 months but our relationship didn't work out and he ended up going back to France.

I've now been with my partner that is Indian for a year and a half. He's been in NZ over two years now and he's in the middle of applying for his visa too (not partnership though). Hope all goes well for both of us

[carlamonty]

Thanks diziniz every bit of info I can get helps
Just a quick question when your ex partner came back for the second time how long did you guys wait to apply for the visa? I would have thought being on a 3 month visitor visa would have made the timings quite tight.

Good luck to you and your partner as well

[pinks]

The best thing you could try is to put ur partner's Temporary visa (work) in his country to the Immigration New Zealand branch and as u said u have stayed together for four years in New Zealand and then two years in his country. Try and gather the supportive documents for you two to make it look genuine and stable. the more evidence u collect the more chances u have to obtain a visa at a earlier stage. with the application made show ur day-to-day conversation details obvious not the texts but calls if took place on internet apps, ur pictures if u clicked any, support letter from ur friends if they know and family, while u were living together if u were not renting a house on agreement u could also obtain a letter from the landlord that u two have stayed for over the period of time together in their house. Remember, with ur interview after applying the application is the key if its not dealt by giving similar answers the visa would be troublesome.
hope it helps, if u require further help please post, as i have dealt with INZ in the same way you would be doing. good luck

[JandM]

pinks, when you have made 5 posts or more, you will be able to read this link. http://www.enz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=24859 This thread explains the NZ law that came in several years ago, that forbids most ordinary people from TELLING someone else what to do about NZ Immigration matters.

This is why there is Forum Rule 19 - see here. http://www.enz.org/forum/showthread.php?t=40236 This is also why most of us, not being LIAs, are careful only to share personal experiences, point out threads where someone else has done that, or give a link to web pages with rules that the questioner needs to look at, so then they can make up their own mind. Please do the same, otherwise it can harm the ENZ forum.

[preetranian]

Sorry for that I was thinking that answer for me but it was for someone else.I am new user do not know about it how to use much thx.

[diziniz]

We did quite a bit of research before he came over the second time so we were semi-prepared for everything once he got to NZ. I would say we did it after 2 months, although that was definitely later than we wanted to send it. Though luckily for us, INZ processed his application quite quickly and he had it approved 3 weeks later.

My current partner just had his visa approved early this week! Good luck to you both!