Hi everyone,
My partner and I met in July 2016, and have been doing the long distance thing ever since for various reasons (mostly family commitments). We’re now at a point where he can finally come and join me in NZ. He will be coming here on a visitor visa, and once we have been living together for three to four months, we will apply for a partnership work visa.
My question for you all concerns our living arrangements. As he won’t be able to work probably at least for the first six months and maybe longer, we’re going to find it a real struggle financially as I don’t really earn enough to comfortably support two people paying rent at Auckland prices. Our solution is to live with my parents. We will contribute to food and bills with a weekly board payment, but we will have no formal records in our names.
Will not having a tenancy agreement and joint utilities bills seriously affect our chances of being granted a temporary work visa? We will provide as much other evidence in both our names as we can gather (joint bank account, joint cell phone bill, hire purchase agreements, joint car insurance, etc.), but it seems like proving we are living together is the most important aspect of showing our relationship is genuine and stable, so we want to make sure we do this right. Of course, my parents will sign affidavits stating that we are living there, and we’ll be able to show evidence of payment of board from our bank account, but will this be enough?
If necessary, we can change our plans and rent somewhere instead, but this means that we’ll have to eat a lot of two-minute noodles and probably use up our savings just to survive until he can start working, so we’d rather not if it’s not necessary! However, we want to make sure we have the best shot of getting our application approved, and we’ll do what it takes to make it happen. If anyone has been in a similar situation, I’d love to hear how you coped with this and what the outcome was, but any opinions and advice would be greatly appreciated.
TLDR: Would living (boarding) with my parents instead of renting independently be seriously detrimental to our partnership temporary work visa application?
Thanks in advance for your help!