We broke up, I moved out but can we go back?

[elmiee]

I had been with my partner for 2 years before we broke up, we lived together for 1 year and 8 months of that time. We broke up on the 19th August and I had found somewhere, signed a tenancy and moved out on the 25th August.

He wants us to go to counselling and I am thinking of going despite the thought of talking to a compleate stranger terrifying me but something that is obvisouly a concern to us both as to proceed with the councilling is if I would be able to continue to stay in New Zealand if we did get back together due to me now living seperatly. My name is still on the internet bill as he said he couldn't bare to take it off yet but my rent each week has obvisouly stopped going into his account for his mortgage and the bills.

I'm currently on a partner based work visa until 7th July next year (my 2nd partner based work visa) but was obvisouly entitled to apply for residency based on our relationship which I'd not sent off yet as was saving for it. Does anyone know how immigration would view this break in our relationship, how to go about it and if it would hinder an application for residency if all went well I would have to get this in by January due to the 6 month processing time.

Thanks for any help, as you can imagine it's been a bit of a stressful situation and one I didn't anticipate!

[Gaida2]

We broke up on the 19th August and I had found somewhere, signed a tenancy and moved out on the 25th August.
He wants us to go to counselling and I am thinking of going despite the thought of talking to a compleate stranger

So sorry to hear of your relationship troubles. I hope you two work something out. I can't answer your question directly, but have 2 thoughts:

1) If you signed a tenancy and paid a move-in deposit, I believe that is registered with a central agency in NZ. So, there might be documentation that you are not living together with a NZ agency, not just that your rent money isn't going to the account.

2) As to a counselor: make the decision that works best for you. Know though that counselors are there to help you -- and they don't have any personal investment in what decisions you make -- they just want to help you to find the right path for you. A counselor can feel a little odd, but sometimes when I talk to my friends and relatives, their advice is not based on research or on what is best for me -- sometimes they advise based on what they wish they had done in their lives. A counselor should be more impartial. (But keep talking to your friends of course!)

[JandM]

Has either of you specifically told INZ you have broken up? If not, then I think you are still in a time period when you can change your mind without official difficulty.

25th August till 11th September = not even three weeks away. I've had longer work trips or holidays with friends. If you go back to your partner, if you both decide that is what you want, then resuming the previous arrangements will show that the partnership continues. If you go to live with your partner again, then obviously the matter of the tenancy you have taken on would remain to be sorted out, but that's your business. If you continue to live separately for some longer time, then the gap would become obviously more serious, and more likely to provoke INZ questions, and perhaps a demand that you should start to qualify for residence all over again.

I'm not saying this to alarm you, but you should be aware that if anyone HAS told INZ that your relationship has broken up, and you don't do something to contradict that soon, then your present visa could be cancelled shortly. It is living together that gives you the right to a partner-sponsored work visa.

[raleigh119]

If you can apply for an essential skills work visa under your own right (if your circumstances allow you), then if this is granted you have some type of fallback in case your partnership ends permanently. Even when if you have applied on the day prior to INZ finding out that the relationship has ended (if your partner tells INZ or by someone else's action), you will be at least entitled to an interim visa.
As a last resort, if the partnership has ended under extraordinary cases, such as your partner physically abusing you or your children (and you have medical records to show it) or if the relationship to your partner has ended because of alcohol or drug abuse (and you have proof of this), then you may be eligible to file for Section 61 but you will probably need a lawyer to assist you with this and there is no guarantee that INZ will grant you a reprieve.

[ChrisMwn]

I had been with my partner for 2 years before we broke up, we lived together for 1 year and 8 months of that time. We broke up on the 19th August and I had found somewhere, signed a tenancy and moved out on the 25th August.

He wants us to go to counselling and I am thinking of going despite the thought of talking to a compleate stranger terrifying me but something that is obvisouly a concern to us both as to proceed with the councilling is if I would be able to continue to stay in New Zealand if we did get back together due to me now living seperatly. My name is still on the internet bill as he said he couldn't bare to take it off yet but my rent each week has obvisouly stopped going into his account for his mortgage and the bills.

I'm currently on a partner based work visa until 7th July next year (my 2nd partner based work visa) but was obvisouly entitled to apply for residency based on our relationship which I'd not sent off yet as was saving for it. Does anyone know how immigration would view this break in our relationship, how to go about it and if it would hinder an application for residency if all went well I would have to get this in by January due to the 6 month processing time.

Thanks for any help, as you can imagine it's been a bit of a stressful situation and one I didn't anticipate!

There's nothing to stop you going back, but be prepared to answer questions as to whether your relationship is "genuine, stable and likely to endure."

Similarly if you are no longer living together, and not in a relationship then you must advise INZ of a change in circumstances. That is likely to lead to revocation of your partnership based visa. if you are staying out of the relationship, then you may be eligible for a visa of another type and could apply for that at the time you advise INZ of a change in circumstances.