Hello all, I've been reading numerious topics on this forum about immigration to NZ and its provided a lot of insight to the things that couples need to be prepared for.
I'd like to just jump straight into what I know already, and put my situation out there to see what people think.
I'm a NZ citizen by birth, and my partner is Chinese Citizen, I met my partner 09th September, I met her going out to dinner with some work friends on their anniversary date (nice of them to take me along), and this is where I first met her at her work (waitress, I'll cut this story out its too long) and on 17.10 after much dating and spending a lot of time together we entered into an exclusive relationship.
We've recently moved in together (13th December 2016), and her existing Post Study Work Visa is about to expire around mid March 2017.
I'll list the things that I can give to immigration should they need to see;
- Facebook Photos
I'm not the most photo-genic person, so we have take I'd say around 12 or so photos together since we started dating. Some include friends with us as well.- Phone Call Logs
I have literally...over 100 or so call logs, we called each other every night- Relationship timeline (each)
- WeChat Conversation (chat conversation)
This one is hard to 'give to immigration' because the chat logs are over 800mb, there are also hundreds of phone calls on here recorded, luckily I've got a phone that I can migrate the conversations to, and send to immigration (would they accept this?), otherwise I can take screenshots of key conversations (very painful, were talking over 4 months of every single day communication, lots of interesting topics though .- Conversations with her family
I have some basic knowledge of Mandarin language, and have been in semi-regular contact with her parents, and her brother overseas.- Invitations to my family event
We were invited to family pre-xmas event (sadly we couldn't make it she had to work), recorded in Facebook Messenger from my mum to her.- Joint Bank Account
We have a joint freedom account, which we now use for everyday transactions (her wage is deposited here, while mine goes to my bills master account)- Joint Tennacy Agreement
Dated 14th December- Combined Savings (incl savings plan)
When I say combined savings, the account is under my name but we both make contributions to the savings (as shown from our freedom joint account). Not long after we first entered into a mutual relationship, she gave me her savings to put into my bank account (she had a bit of a spending problem and wanted me to keep it safe) - since then we have used this money for joint things like purchasing a plane ticket to her home country together.- Travel Tickets
Travel tickets to meet her family June next year, as well as attend a family wedding there.- Cards / Gifts (incl birthday)
We gave each other a couple cards while we were dating, and also birthday card and gift on her birthday.- Supporting letter from both of our family
I have numerous family that can vouch for our genuine relationship.- Supporting Letters from work colleagues and friends (each of us)
I'm aware this doesn't add up to a whole lot, my work colleagues are in government positions (managers) so hoping it would be more helpful than to leave this blank.- A future plan of our life together
We have talked about and discussed our future plans with each other in detail, including study, plans to buy a house and save, and our career futures.
My concern points are
- Inconsistent photo's across the timeline of our relationship
I don't like photos, and we don't tend to take too many of them. I've got at least a couple for each month. The photo's we have are all VERY meaningful however, and are covering very special key moments in our relationships development. My understanding however, IMZ would be looking for evidence from the date we moved in more-so than from when we first met?? (theory here) - how many do they usually look for?- No letters or bills addressed to each other
This one is tricky, I'm already established here in my home and the everything, the power, internet, rent, food, health insurance, contents insurance, pre-existing bank loan is already under my name (her name joined onto the tennacy there-after 14th Dec 16). I'm aware I can maybe ring up the companies and get her added as an account holder also?- Chat Conversation
That chat log is huge, seriously its 800mb+ in size, I wish I could just dump it with IMNZ but hey thats not fair on them, and its up to me to get the key parts. But has anyone heard of ways to show the chat other than screenshots (as this would be most painful...)- Receipts
During the initial parts of our dating, we each used our own bank accounts to do the dating stuff. Later on, we set up the joint account together and we use eftpos for literally everything, BUT we don't keep the receipts (oh gosh I hope this isn't bad!), as its all itemized anyway on the transactions (we do each have our own card for the account, under each of our names, hopefully this can differentiate).
Phew what a lot to ramble on about. ok so the plan is that around Feb 14th or afterwards, I will submit the application for "Partnership Work Visa" to IMNZ, hitting the 3 month mark (I can leave this later, but I don't feel comfortable submitting too close to her visa expiry! Mid March 2017).
Looking over what I've written I realize I do have quite a bit of varying pieces of information, but it still keeps me up at night. If you can comment on anything I've mentioned here, or give any on-going advice I'd appreciate it! and just to put it out there, yes we are in a serious and very committed relationship!