Firstly, a huge thank you to all posters, especially JandM and ChrisMwn, plus all the many forum members whose posts I’ve been reading daily for what seems like months….
We gained a huge amount of encouragement and reassurance reading this forum, so we thought it might be useful to share our experience in case this is helpful to others. Please excuse the length of this post..
I’m an expat Kiwi and have lived in the UK since 1981, married to and living with my British husband since 1989. We’ve been collecting what seemed like a huge amount of evidence over the past year or two, including some documents going back to 1989. Luckily for us, the INZ online system was extended in late May 2018 allowing partners of NZers to apply online, saving courier costs, time and paper.
Relevant dates and costs were as follows:
14.06.18: Limited medical including xray for husband at Plymouth, UK = £281
16.06.18: UK Police certificates obtained for myself and husband = £90 for both
11.07.18: Local lawyer - Statutory Declaration witnessed for my INZ1179 Application Support Form = £15 (including 4 certified copies of birth cert.marriage cert etc)
21.07.18: Submitted application online, acknowledgement received same day
24.07.18: Credit card debited = NZ$1950 (amounted to £1,023.43 GBP)
25.07.18: Email from Case Officer, Hamilton Branch, with a brief query, answered by email and acknowledged by CO the following day
20.08.18: Email received: Approved in Principle (only 30 days later and on my husband’s birthday as well!)
28.08.18: Husband’s passport and copy of AIP letter posted to London Visa Centre as instructed
04.09.18: Letter received confirming Resident Visa: valid immediately, no travel conditions, indefinite expiry etc. Passport returned by courier the same day.
Total cost = UK£ 1,439.73
We found the whole process a bit stressful - were we sending enough info/too much info?? The online system seemed to work well - you just have to work your way through each section, and depending on the answers you give, more questions may pop up. It was good to be able to save the application and return to it to add more info as necessary before finally hitting submit!
We did not assume it would all be OK just because we have been married so long, and submitted a variety of evidence as well as the requested official documents. Our evidence included joint bank statements, motor insurance documents, utility bills, credit card statements, a support letter from two friends (who happened to be the witnesses on our marriage certificate 29 years ago), copies of past joint travel documents (including annual trip to NZ every year for past 5 years), relationship timeline, cover letter etc. We limited the evidence submitted to cover the last 6 years, but offered to send more historic details if required.
Wishing the best of luck to future applicants, and thank you to everyone who has taken the time to share their experiences - this forum and it's members really helped us prepare well, and succeed!