Question about Bills not in full name?

[skadsuh]

Hello there.

My internet provider and even our electricity provider has been a torn lately. First our For the past 2 months we have been calling their support about the change in ownership. A month ago we managed to change the old account to me and my partner. I received a bill with only our Initials and only my surname. This is clearly not the type of bill we asked yet this is what they gave. They said that they will change the bill and add my partner's last name but concerning the initials, they said it has always been like that. Is this initials on bills valid? I am worried about this bill. Just initials is not really convincing.

Also, say for example the minimum required for living together is at least 4 months(from what I recall about my other thread). Do I need to provide bills for every month since the day me and my partner started living together? Our electricity provider is really hard to talk to so as our internet provider about the change of account ownership and bills.

Thanks.

[ankirs]

Hi there
A bit of personal experience:

I've now had 2 successful partnership visa applications and my residency application at the last stages of processing and I haven't submitted a single bill. We've lived with a landlord and the expenses were included in our rent so I've asked the landlord for a support letter (since he has also been our flatmate) and he has mentioned that he pays all the bills. We have now moved into a separate apartment and I didn't even bother adding my name on bills at the end. What really seem to matter is enough evidence that you live together regardless what it is. The only things that we've had with both names on them are the bank statements/letters and a car insurance through the same bank. Instead, I have attached letters addressed to us individually (but to the same address) with car regos, bank letters, my partner's elections registration letter etc. as it still shows that you live together. I've also submitted heaps of plane tickets and hotel bookings, letters. photos and other evidence, none of which included the bills.
Make sure that you write a timeline and submit consistent proof for every period of your relationship but it doesn't have to be the same (e.g. it might be boarding passes, photos & hotel bookings for September but a letter with you car rego and some receipts for October). I've written a few sentences for almost each month we were dating, even before we've started living together and even for the residency where we've been together for over 1,5 years. The more info the less questions.

The first time I've applied we've only lived together for 2,5 month out of which we've spent 3 weeks travelling. It took around 2 more month to get a CO who has asked us for a few more supporting docs. after which I had my visa approved. You can always explain things as well. For example the CO had questions about our financial interdependance. Whilst I haven't had any additional docs to provide, I have written a paragraph explaining how we manage our finances and in what way we financially depend on each other. That was fine.

Best of luck!

[skadsuh]

Hi there
A bit of personal experience:

I've now had 2 successful partnership visa applications and my residency application at the last stages of processing and I haven't submitted a single bill. We've lived with a landlord and the expenses were included in our rent so I've asked the landlord for a support letter (since he has also been our flatmate) and he has mentioned that he pays all the bills. We have now moved into a separate apartment and I didn't even bother adding my name on bills at the end. What really seem to matter is enough evidence that you live together regardless what it is. The only things that we've had with both names on them are the bank statements/letters and a car insurance through the same bank. Instead, I have attached letters addressed to us individually (but to the same address) with car regos, bank letters, my partner's elections registration letter etc. as it still shows that you live together. I've also submitted heaps of plane tickets and hotel bookings, letters. photos and other evidence, none of which included the bills.
Make sure that you write a timeline and submit consistent proof for every period of your relationship but it doesn't have to be the same (e.g. it might be boarding passes, photos & hotel bookings for September but a letter with you car rego and some receipts for October). I've written a few sentences for almost each month we were dating, even before we've started living together and even for the residency where we've been together for over 1,5 years. The more info the less questions.

The first time I've applied we've only lived together for 2,5 month out of which we've spent 3 weeks travelling. It took around 2 more month to get a CO who has asked us for a few more supporting docs. after which I had my visa approved. You can always explain things as well. For example the CO had questions about our financial interdependance. Whilst I haven't had any additional docs to provide, I have written a paragraph explaining how we manage our finances and in what way we financially depend on each other. That was fine.

Best of luck!

Thank you for sharing your experience. Just a quick question, do you think this sort of things will still be applicable these days? Cause before some of people I know said that it was easy to get a visa. Nowadays it is pretty hard. Again thank you. This really help us a lot.

[JandM]

The requirements for proof of partnership have not changed during the last many years. The requirements for partnership visas have NOT got tighter, though those for work visas and residence have done. From what I've seen on the threads of the forum here, when there's a couple living together in NZ, and there isn't anything about either of them (e.g. criminal record, recent previous partner) that makes them inadmissible, what makes the biggest difference in the ease or difficulty of getting a visa for the foreign partner is the amount and quality of the evidence they have gathered, and presenting it in an organized manner.

[ankirs]

It's definitely harder to get a skilled migrant category visa these days (that's why after 5 years of student and work visas I've changed it to partnership - i didn't want all the hassle especially since my partner is a kiwi). For partnership visas it doesn't change much. In fact, I got my first partnership visa last August (took 2,5 months, they had a big backlog and my CO had some questions) and my second one has been granted this july and took two weeks and zero communication from INZ (I guess the 2ns visa is pretty straight forward)