Partner of a Student Work Visa Questions

[lindseyc]

I am gathering evidence to apply for a partner of a student work visa. My partner is applying for a student visa to do his PhD and I wanted to list the evidence that I've gathered so far and see if anyone had any suggestions or advise of things to add or let me know if I'm on the right track.

I have all of our text messages dating back to October 2015, I haven't gotten them off of my phone and onto the computer yet but we're trying.

I also have screenshots of facebook photos that I posted of him and myself along with a few other pictures of the two of us together. We also have a picture with his few members of his family.

I took screenshots of Skype call logs, at least two per month dating back to December 2015.

Screenshots of emails between the two of us including confirmation for a conference we went to and shared a hotel room for. October 2016

Tickets to a museum in New York that we went to march 2016.

We have a joint savings account that we opened a couple months ago. Is it alright that it is so new or will that be a problem?

I am going to get a full bank statement for the joint bank account along with a statement of my own account to prove sufficient funds.

Finally I have letters of support from my family, his family, friends of mine, my professor who ran a trip I went on to NZ, and a letter from my partner.

I foresee the only issue being that we do not currently live together... I have screenshot of emails from July when we were looking into renting a place together and even went to go see an apartment. It was at this time however that he began reaching out to the University of Otago to do his PhD. From the start everything was positive and they wanted him to apply so with everything looking positive there we did not want to lock ourselves into a year long lease agreement.

PLEASE let me know if all of the other evidence my partner and I have gathered will surpass the fact that we do not live together.

p.s. we do intend to live together if both of our visas are granted.

[JandM]

I'm sorry to give you an answer you don't want to hear.

You do not qualify for a visa under partnership without evidence of sharing a home you have set up together. And we know from experience that INZ only take applications seriously with around two to three months' GOOD evidence of living together. For INZ, partnership IS living together. With the partnership visas not requiring evidence of qualifications or work experience, they are the most targeted by fraudsters, so they are all extremely carefully checked. In that situation, INZ cannot rely on how people say they feel - that would be like judging a creative writing competition - so they will only take notice of solid, checkable evidence of the couple's behaviour, with sharing a home being at the core of this.

However, you can keep collecting the same kind of evidence you already have. If your partner is awarded his place and his student visa, there is nothing to stop you travelling to NZ also, as a visitor in the first place, and fulfilling the living-together requirements once you arrive. You will not qualify for a partner of a student visitor visa - you would have to enter as a visitor in your own right.

[lindseyc]

I'm sorry to give you an answer you don't want to hear.

You do not qualify for a visa under partnership without evidence of sharing a home you have set up together. And we know from experience that INZ only take applications seriously with around two to three months' GOOD evidence of living together. For INZ, partnership IS living together. With the partnership visas not requiring evidence of qualifications or work experience, they are the most targeted by fraudsters, so they are all extremely carefully checked. In that situation, INZ cannot rely on how people say they feel - that would be like judging a creative writing competition - so they will only take notice of solid, checkable evidence of the couple's behaviour, with sharing a home being at the core of this.

However, you can keep collecting the same kind of evidence you already have. If your partner is awarded his place and his student visa, there is nothing to stop you travelling to NZ also, as a visitor in the first place, and fulfilling the living-together requirements once you arrive. You will not qualify for a partner of a student visitor visa - you would have to enter as a visitor in your own right.

Thank you this was helpful. My next question is, if I go in on a holiday work visa and gather solid evidence of us living together, would I be able to apply for a partner visa before my holiday work visa expired?

[JandM]

Normally, yes. People have often managed this. On the one hand, you need as long a body of evidence as you can manage, and on the other hand, you need to put in the application while the visitor's visa is valid. Then, as long as it was lodged while you're on an active visa, INZ will automatically issue you an interim visa https://www.immigration.govt.nz/new-...a/interim-visa, to keep you legal while the processing goes through. At that stage, KEEP COLLECTING evidence, because it's normal for them to ask for more to cover processing time, just before they issue the visa. And if, later, you both want to apply for Residence, you will need 12 months' proof.