Page 1 of 3 123 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 26

Thread: Partnership Residency Visa: Six months and no progress at all

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Oct 2017
    Location
    New Zealand
    Posts
    21

    Default Partnership Residency Visa: Six months and no progress at all

    Greetings,
    I am on my second 12 month partnership visitor visa which cleared the medical, police, etc. Applied for residency first week August 2017. Aside from an email from CO late Sept saying nothing more required, I have heard nothing. Calls to service center yield no information whatsoever, apparently because nothing has been done. The only "case notes" they can see are those documenting my phone calls.

    I know that as the immigrant, INZ owes me nothing. However, my native born partner is feeling slighted by an agency that is failing to perform the services mandated and entitled to by its citizens and wants to ask our local MP for help in getting information and moving forward. Any thoughts/ideas on this? Thanks in advance for any input.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Oct 2017
    Location
    United Kingdom
    Posts
    8

    Default

    Hi Scrabbleplayer, it is a really frustrating wait I know. With the current backlog I believe that if you are in NZ when you apply for residency the wait is currently 6-9 months. So you would still be within that time frame. One of the more senior members here may have more advice!

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Nov 2015
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    97

    Default

    It's just a matter of waiting, it sucks for all of us, it's not personal, they're not failing, bureaucracy just takes time.

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

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by scrabbleplayer View Post
    Greetings,
    I am on my second 12 month partnership visitor visa which cleared the medical, police, etc. Applied for residency first week August 2017. Aside from an email from CO late Sept saying nothing more required, I have heard nothing. Calls to service center yield no information whatsoever, apparently because nothing has been done. The only "case notes" they can see are those documenting my phone calls.

    I know that as the immigrant, INZ owes me nothing. However, my native born partner is feeling slighted by an agency that is failing to perform the services mandated and entitled to by its citizens and wants to ask our local MP for help in getting information and moving forward. Any thoughts/ideas on this? Thanks in advance for any input.
    Its all about expectations. If you expect it to take a month or two, then anything over 3 will be a long time. If you have a more realistic expectation that it will take 9-12 months, then you'll, be content when it takes 7 or 8.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Oct 2017
    Location
    New Zealand
    Posts
    21

    Default

    Thanks for encouraging patience. It's just that every time I call they tell me 4 to 6 months, and it seems most people are indeed getting these visas well within the six months. And I was already thru the partnership visitor visa process twice. So my partner is feeling slighted, not being given equitable treatment as a Kiwi.

    Moreover, our rental home sold, we have to move in a month, there are almost no rentals where we live because it is a growing area (50 applicants for every vacancy according to weekly articles in the local newspaper), and we cannot buy a house without the visa, so we will shortly be homeless. We can't leave the area because my partner must stay employed there. It's not just frustrating to be neglected in the bureaucracy, it's become a question of impending homelessness, why the idea to ask the MP came to mind.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Oct 2013
    Location
    New Zealand
    Posts
    2,283

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by scrabbleplayer View Post
    Thanks for encouraging patience. It's just that every time I call they tell me 4 to 6 months, and it seems most people are indeed getting these visas well within the six months. And I was already thru the partnership visitor visa process twice. So my partner is feeling slighted, not being given equitable treatment as a Kiwi.

    Moreover, our rental home sold, we have to move in a month, there are almost no rentals where we live because it is a growing area (50 applicants for every vacancy according to weekly articles in the local newspaper), and we cannot buy a house without the visa, so we will shortly be homeless. We can't leave the area because my partner must stay employed there. It's not just frustrating to be neglected in the bureaucracy, it's become a question of impending homelessness, why the idea to ask the MP came to mind.
    so, sorry, not wanting to be unkind. You say, "it seems most people are indeed getting these visas well within the six months" ( I don't agree at all there) That has become your expectation. I know that the circumstances relating to properties relate to you and your NZ property , but INZ just don't consider such things. You're the applicant , not your NZ partner, so theres no unfairness there, since all migrants are treated the same, and whe n the application is processed, a decision will be made.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jun 2017
    Location
    CHCH
    Posts
    69

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by scrabbleplayer View Post
    Thanks for encouraging patience. It's just that every time I call they tell me 4 to 6 months, and it seems most people are indeed getting these visas well within the six months.
    If you're looking at the "ex-pats partnership residency" visa thread, people are getting their visas within 4-5 months because if you're living outside of NZ, they supposedly put you on a fast track. If you're applying from within NZ it's going to take longer. I applied from outside NZ and when I called INZ because it seemed like nothing was happening with my application, they told me it would take 4-9 months but "probably" not that long. It ended up taking about 5 months for me, which was frustrating because I expected it to take 4. DO NOT look at the INZ website's estimated wait times, they are useless. INZ will not give you much information but as you've found, the call center staff can try and give you an estimate about the processing time, but even that is a guess.

    Trying to figure out your own visa application status is pretty impossible but the only thing you can do is compare your wait time to other people applying while residing in NZ. I wouldn't compare it directly to expat wait-times.

    Where are you in NZ that there are zero rentals available? Auckland?
    Last edited by fltonz; 29th January 2018 at 03:50 PM.

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Oct 2017
    Location
    New Zealand
    Posts
    21

    Default

    I have felt a lack of urgency since I am legal here til September. I even asked if because of that, is the CO going to wait til August to process my application and they assured me that would not be the case, but I wonder. The interesting thing will be if they ask for proof that we are still living together and we are then homeless living out of a van or something. People were living in a lockup at my partner's lockup facility, but they were made to move out.

    I don't know if you have moved here yet, but there is a nationwide housing crisis. Many areas are growing, especially outside of Auckland because it's become congested, people want out of there if they can do it, either retire or find work elsewhere, and people have made so much money on their homes they bought years ago that now they have cash to move to a less congested place with higher quality of life. There are rental shortages in many areas, mainly tourist areas, which are pretty and have amenities. Home prices have peaked or come close, so many landlords are selling their rental homes, thus reducing the rental supply, and also, many people are doing short term rentals via airbnb or bookabach instead of long term rentals because they make more money on short term. This also reduces the supply of rentals. These trends vary from area to area, but our area includes all the towns around Lake Taupo, a lovely tourist area with lots of amenities, now experiencing significant growth. Even Turangi, which used to be considered relatively cheap and available is lacking rentals as well. If you go to Trademe or realestate.co.nz and do a search for rentals, you will see what I mean. Some areas are as bad as ours. Go look around Queenstown/Wanaka - forget it. I have no idea what Auckland is like, we would never move up there.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Jan 2018
    Location
    New Zealand
    Posts
    84

    Default

    I can completely relate to your frustration ...im in the same shoe presently... been waiting for almost 4 months ...my visitor visa expired in 3 weeks time...I applied early enough with 4 months evidence of living with my partner just so I won't be in this situation of counting down.....but I was very disappointed to hear the customer service said I have more than enough time left on my visitor visa...most people get their visa within 2-3 months and as at 3 months I still didn't have a CO just because they believe my application could be push back. I didn't apply at the last week of my visa....
    But what's the difference now.....I'm so disappointed that it's not what we see or think.
    Hard to stay positive in this kind of situation.
    Last edited by Eaglekiwi; 30th January 2018 at 11:44 AM.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Sep 2017
    Location
    Tauranga
    Posts
    16

    Default

    Hi Scrabbleplayer,

    I am currently in the same boat as you! Vey frustrating indeed...6 months on and I am still waiting. Really thought my case would be simple considering INZ just approved my Partnership working visa prior to my application for Partnership Resident Visa. Half of the battle is to prove that we are in a stable relationship???

Page 1 of 3 123 LastLast

Posting Permissions

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