English Language Proficiency proof - native speakers

[weidenba]

Hey all, just a quick question on the English Language Proficiency requirements so I've got everything lined up for the Application -- It says we need to provide proof of meeting the requirements.

My partner and I were both born and raised in the USA, and have never lived in another country until we moved to New Zealand several years ago for my job. We both have US Degrees, and 15+ years of work experience back in the States.

But, our SMC application is only claiming points for my education (for which I have a completed IQA), and my work experience here in New Zealand (which gave us plenty to apply with, and my understanding is that we shouldn't claim points just because we can, since that entails a lot more documentation and searching). The conundrum is that while that handles documenting my language proficiency perfectly well, we don't have any documentation for hers. What level of documentation do we need for proving her English proficiency if we're not claiming points for her experience and qualifications? Do we need to submit another IQA for her degrees if we're just using her transcripts/degrees to prove English proficiency? Basically, just curious what people have been asked for.

To be clear, I'm referring to the point in the ops manual that states:

Other evidence that a non-principal applicant meets the minimum standard of English is:
citizenship of Canada, the Republic of Ireland, the United Kingdom or the United States of America, provided the applicant has spent at least five years in work or education in one or more of those countries or Australia or New Zealand;

:
https://www.immigration.govt.nz/opsmanual/#66778.htm

I know for partnership documentation, receipts, bills, travel tickets, etc have been sufficient (for our work visas), but not sure on the educational side, and the various informational pamphlets are rather vague on the English Proficiency documentation.

Thanks in advance for thoughts/experience

EOI Submitted 05/09/2018
EOI Selected 19/09/2018
Points Claimed 220
Applied from: Onshore
ITA: 20/9/2018
Branch: Manukau

[JandM]

The SMC resident visa factsheet has this requirement.

Evidence you’re a citizen of Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom (UK) or the United States of America (USA), and you have spent at least five years working or studying in those countries, or in Australia or New Zealand.

https://www.immigration.govt.nz/new-...-visa#criteria

You don't have to claim points for your partner's qualifications or work experience in order to submit (some of) them to show that she was in the USA for at least five years. For instance, maybe she has paperwork from when she was at school as a child that would cover that length of time. Or maybe she has payslips or other financial records covering that period of time for working for a US employer. When you put together all your documentary evidence, you would list such things as being there in order to prove that she's a native English speaker.

[weidenba]

The SMC resident visa factsheet has this requirement. https://www.immigration.govt.nz/new-...-visa#criteria

You don't have to claim points for your partner's qualifications or work experience in order to submit (some of) them to show that she was in the USA for at least five years. For instance, maybe she has paperwork from when she was at school as a child that would cover that length of time. Or maybe she has payslips or other financial records covering that period of time for working for a US employer. When you put together all your documentary evidence, you would list such things as being there in order to prove that she's a native English speaker.

Ah, wonderful. It's not a big deal to pull together her transcripts and possibly some payslips to submit. I'm just hopeful that by doing so they don't ask for the same levels of documentation that we'd need to claim points -- we'd put a lot of work into getting things done ahead of the application so as to minimise delays once we got to this stage