Hi All,
I am an Australian citizen who is moving to NZ in November for work. Job offer is signed and looking forward to the move. We intend to apply for a temporary work visa for my wife. However, keep getting conflicted advice from this forum. Some threads have suggested that Australians are eligible to sponsor their foreign partner before arriving. However, I Rang NZ immigration today- they told me I have to be in NZ, and set up rentals etc before I can even begin to support my wife's visa. I really do not want to be apart from her for 4 months while we wait.
The other option is for her to apply for a visitor visa, specifically a "look, see and decide" visa (according to . Again, we are very wary of applying for this as we obviously intend to stay in NZ for my job offer - this would look bad when we finally do apply for the partner visa. I cannot find out how to apply for this visa either - the form for visitor visa says she must prove she intends to leave.
It seems like there is no way for an Australian to bring there foreign spouse over at the same time!! Any other country would be fine!
Thanks in advance for any help or advice, this is EXTREMELY stressful.
Beau.