Residency or work visa or both

[Dinkydairyfarme]

Hi,

I currently have a partnership based work visa via my kiwi partner which is valid until December this year - it was granted for 1 year. My question is do I just wait until a bit closer to the expiry of my current visa and apply for another work visa and then apply for residency. Or should I apply for residency and pray to god it comes through prior to the end of my work visa (I know residency visas are taking anywhere up to 9 months to be approved) also if I did it the first way as mentioned above and say my work visa ran out prior to my residency coming though would I be able to apply for a further work visa as I am on the understanding that you can only get a maximum of 2 years on this partnership based visa

Thanks again for any help

[autonuke]

If you have been living together for 12 or more months, go for residency as soon as you can.

If you have been living together but for less than 12 months, then you don't meet requirements for residency as of yet.

Applying for residency does not entitle you to interim visa, so if your visa expired and you haven't got decision on residency, you would have to leave the country.

The best thing to do is, apply for residency and if no news 1-2 months before your current visa expires, then apply for work visa as well. In case there is delay with work visa application, you would be granted interim visa to legally stay in the country until decision is made.