Results 1 to 5 of 5

Thread: Reapplying for NZ residency through partnership

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Oct 2012
    Location
    New Zealand
    Posts
    17

    Default Reapplying for NZ residency through partnership

    Hi all,

    I am a New Zealand citizen and my partner is from Spain. Back in 2013 we were living in New Zealand together and once we had fulfilled all of the necessary requirements, she applied for a residency visa through partnership. This was approved in December 2013. However, midway through 2014 we decided to move to Spain, which is where we have been living together ever since. From what I understand, her New Zealand residency visa must have expired since she was not in New Zealand for a period of two years without leaving for longer than 6 months following the approval of her residency visa.

    Now after two and a half years in Spain we are planning to move back to live in New Zealand, so she will have to go through the residency visa through partnership application process once again. A concern we had when looking through the supporting partner application form was the following section:

    Definition of ‘eligibility to support your partner’:

    Applications for residence under the Family – Partnership Category will not be approved if the New Zealand partner:

    • has been convicted of any offence involving domestic violence or of a sexual nature in the seven years prior to the date the application was made (unless granted a character waiver)
    • was, in the seven years prior to the date the application is made, the perpetrator of an incident of domestic violence which has resulted in the grant of a resident visa under the Victims of Domestic Violence Category
    • has been included in or supported an application where a residence class visa was granted on the basis of a partnership in the five years immediately preceding the date of the current application, or
    • has been included in or supported more than one previous residence class visa application where a visa was granted on the basis of a partnership with a New Zealand partner.


    In particular, what concerns us is the third bullet point above. She was granted her initial residency visa through partnership in December 2013, which is less than five years ago. Even though I would be the supporting partner for the same applicant (that is, I've never been the supporting partner for anyone else's application apart from hers), does this mean she would be ineligible for the visa due to the time frame?

    Any help that could be offered regarding this would be warmly appreciated.

    Kind regards,
    Andrew.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2013
    Location
    New Zealand
    Posts
    2,283

    Default

    Special provisions apply to further resident visas for partners of NZ Citizens or residents, see:


    http://onlineservices.immigration.go...nual/33732.htm


    Your wife does not need to reapply for residence, but will need to meet the requirements at RV4.20.1.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Oct 2012
    Location
    New Zealand
    Posts
    17

    Default

    Hi Chris,

    Thanks so much for the response!

    I was able to get hold of Immigration New Zealand just now over the phone, and they also referred to the special provisions (RV4.20.1). They even suggested to state the provision number (RV4.20.1) in the opening letter of the application to make sure it's very clear for the Case Officer. From what I understand, since I am an NZ citizen by birth and my partner's original residency visa was obtained through partnership (with me as the supporting partner) and we have evidence of our relationship as ongoing and genuine, then we should be able to apply for this without any problems. From what I have seen, this means she will need to complete form INZ 1175 (Application from a Resident or Former Resident Visa Holder for a permanent resident visa, second or subsequent resident visa, or a variation of travel conditions), and within this form she will need to complete the sections relevant to the 'second or subsequent resident visa' option.

    I have looked through the guide (INZ 1176) and the form itself, and they seem to lack a bit of clarity regarding the additional pieces of information that need to be provided along with the completed form. From what I gather, we will need to provide evidence that we have been living together in a genuine and stable relationship. I imagine this is similar to what would be provided for the standard residency visa through partnership application, correct? I think this should be relatively straightforward for us, as we kept all the evidence from her previous residency visa through partnership application and have plenty of additional evidence to supply to show that the relationship has continued since that point. But apart from this, there seems to be no mention of medical certificates, police certificates, or birth certificates, so I assume this means these documents are not required, no? Funnily enough, on an initial phone call to INZ a month or so ago, they told us that we would have to reapply for the residency visa from scratch, so over the past few weeks we've already gone through the trouble of obtaining all of these! So we're thinking we might include them anyway - I suppose it couldn't do any harm!

    The other aspect we're a bit unclear about is the part that states "provided the New Zealand partner supports the application in writing". Not much other information regarding this appears to have been provided. Is this as simple as including one sentence in the opening letter of the application stating that I support her application, and then signing the letter at the bottom? From what I have seen, there doesn't appear to be a separate form that I need to complete as the supporting partner. Is this correct? And do I need to include my NZ passport (or a certified copy of it) in the application itself? Apologies if all this is clearly stated somewhere and we've missed it, but I can't find anywhere where it clearly states the requirements / additional information to include aside from completing the INZ 1175 form itself

    Thanks so much for your help!

    Andrew.
    Last edited by vx180; 14th February 2017 at 10:19 AM.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Oct 2013
    Location
    New Zealand
    Posts
    2,283

    Default

    you've got it 100% correct above!

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Oct 2012
    Location
    New Zealand
    Posts
    17

    Default

    Hi Chris,

    Thanks so much for your help so far - it's great to know we're on the right track with this

    We just had a couple of specific questions that perhaps you could help us out with (or if you know where to find the information online, perhaps you could point us in the right direction of where to find it):

    - So with the 'supports the application in writing' part, just a statement within the opening letter from me as the supporting partner saying I support the application and signing it at the bottom should be sufficient?
    - With regards to the necessary documents to include, I assume we have to include my partner's passport. Is this correct? Will I also need to include my New Zealand passport in the application, to prove that I am an NZ citizen by birth? If so, should a certified copy be sufficient?
    - Apart from the form my partner will complete (form 1175), is there any other form that needs to be completed? For instance, from me as the supporting partner? At the moment it seems that the only requirement from my side is the sentence in the opening letter supporting the application.

    Sorry for the pedantic questions, we'd just like to have everything done 100% correctly before sending the application. And again, thank you so much for taking the time to address our concerns. We really, really appreciate it

    Cheers,
    Andrew.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •