Visa for the partner of an essential skill work visa holder

[ashbin]

Hi,

Sorry for a long letter below.

I am working in Wellington with an Essential Skill work visa from last year July (July 2017). My visa will get expired by July 2019. I am from India and got married last month in India. We were in relationship from 2014 but as it is against our culture, we never lived together before marriage. We were able to live together for just 3 days due to the lack of leave for myself and for my wife who is working in Middle east. Few months back we applied for a partneship visa but it was declined. The statement in the decline letter was as follows:

" We have considered the submissions but we are not satisfied that the requirements have been met, due to the following:
1. You have stated that you intend to travel to New Zealand with your partner after your intended wedding in May/ June 2018, however, there is neither evidence on file to indicate that you are engaged to the New Zealand partner and nor is there any documentary evidence towards the impending wedding.
2. We further note that, as per the submissions, you have been in a relationship since 2014. However, there is no information regarding the inception and progression of the relationship. We have noted the evidence of contact, a few photos and one fund transfer receipt, and this does indicate that you have been in contact. However, the overall evidence fails to demonstrate that you are in a long term relationship with your supporting partner and given that your purpose of travel is linked to the relationship, we are not satisfied that the you have a genuine purpose of travel.
3. We note that you have stated that you are currently not employed. Hence, you do not have any ongoing occupational and financial commitments which will require you to depart New Zealand on the expiry of your visa.

Given the above we are not satisfied that you meet the requirements of E5.1 and hence an approval is not warranted. We have considered if requiring a bond or granting a limited visa would lessen our concerns or if there are any special circumstances to justify an exception to immigration instructions, but can find no reason for any of these. "

We made the submission through a lawyer last time and provided him with photographs, phone call records, whatsapp call and chat records, one fund transfer, airticket of myself traveling to her place in last december etc. But we did not submit a statement / letter mentioning the inception to progression of our relationship as the lawyer did not ask about it. Lawyer suggested us that it was declined mainly becasue we were not married. Now we are planning to submit the application by ourselves with a marriage registered document from India ( We married in register office ffollowed with a small reception) and the letter showing our relationship progress. For this I have a few questions which I am giving below.

1. My wife had done her medical on 19th February 2017. Does she need to do it again? I hope it is having 3 year validity.
2. Her passport got renewed with new passport number. Her medical was with old passport. In the new passport, there is a place where the old passport number mentioned.
3. I am expecting that Immigration New Zealand will give a general visitor visa for us to live together and establish our partnership as we have not lived together much. Is it so?
4. I am planning to start my residency process. Will it affect in anyway to my wife's visa application with my residency application?

Once again sorry for this long message.

Regards,

Ashbin

[JandM]

I am sorry to say that your lawyer apparently has very little knowledge of the INZ requirements for partner-based visas. There never was any hope that your wife/partner would be granted one of these visas when you have only lived together for three days, and THAT is the problem - there is no requirement for partners to be married.

Since partnership-based visas do not require applicants to show any qualifications or work history, but ONLY partnership, they are the ones most frequently targeted by crooks paying people to lie to get them a visa. That is the reason that all partnership visas are very closely investigated by INZ, and solid evidence is required. INZ do not just take people's word for their feelings for one another, or their intentions; they have to see that the couple have begun a life in common by sharing a home and spending time together. https://www.immigration.govt.nz/new-...ly/partnership

The requirements for a partner-sponsored temporary work visa and a partner-sponsored visitor visa are actually very similar - see on these INZ factsheets, on the Criteria tabs. https://www.immigration.govt.nz/new-...lders#criteria and https://www.immigration.govt.nz/new-...-visa#criteria In neither case is a specific time mentioned during which the partners must have lived together, but we know from experience that INZ take applications seriously with two to three months' evidence.

You need to look carefully at the criteria for a visa, and also at these old threads https://www.google.com/search?source....0.tJ5Z-2RK5A4 where you will find discussion and examples of the kind of proof of relationship which people submit. There needs to be A LOT.

New Zealand does not have a specific visa pathway for people in your situation, whose culture does not allow for people to live together outside marriage, and/or for those who have had a long-distance mental and emotional relationship without ever having lived together. Couples like you are in an awkward situation. Some have been able to get round it by the NZ-based partner having been able to get leave of absence to go and live with their other half in their home country, or in some other country where they both have the right to stay, to gather the 2 - 3 months' partnership proof needed by INZ. For others, the foreign-based partner has managed to get an ordinary visitor's visa (not the partner-sponsored one, as they don't yet have the partnership proof) to go and stay in NZ to get their evidence - however there is a problem with that. A visitor's visa is not just a catch-all for someone who doesn't qualify for any other visa, but is for the specific purpose of making a stay for a limited time, after which the applicant is expected to leave and go back to their ordinary life elsewhere, so obviously, a partner hoping to live in NZ does NOT meet this requirement, and this is against the Bona Fide section of the regulations. https://www.immigration.govt.nz/new-...-visa#criteria A few people from India have been granted a visitor's visa, having explained their situation as being that they want to establish enough evidence for a partner-sponsored visa, but there is no set pattern on this - no certain route.

About your specific questions:
1. Validity of medical certificate. https://www.immigration.govt.nz/opsmanual/#46507.htm It may depend on whether your wife's certificate was actually assessed as ASH before the application was rejected. If it was not assessed ASH, then any new application would need to have a new medical less than three months old.
2. Drawing attention to the old passport number would sort out this, IF it proves possible to use the previous medical.
3. You can't assume anything - see all the explanation above. The only hope is to keep trying and keep explaining.
4. When you apply for Residence, you will have to mention your wife, but the basic problem still exists. Until you somehow get evidence of living together for around 2 - 3 months, she can't be granted a partner-sponsored temporary work visa, and applying for Residence has no effect on that. (If she does get a partner-based visa BEFORE you apply, though, you HAVE to include her as a secondary applicant.) For her to get Residence, you would have to have evidence of at least 12 months' living together - that is true whether you were putting her as a secondary applicant on your application, or if you get your Residence first, and then sponsor her for Residence afterwards. https://www.immigration.govt.nz/new-...-visa#criteria

[ashbin]

Hi JandM,

Thank you very much for the reply. I am a bit concerned about the visa for my wife now. However, as you mentioned, I will apply and keep explaining our condition. Actually, the lawyer did very less work and I found that his intention was only to make money. He did not even realize that the visa was declined. I used to follow up with him for the status of our application and he used to tell us to wait. After many follow ups, one day he sent me an email saying that the visa application was declined one month back which he was not aware.
I am thinking of applying a general visitor visa for her by explaining her intention to stay with me to establish our relationship. Hope they will agree that. Do you have any other suggestion?
For residency EOI application, there are following questions about the partnership.


A15. What is your current partnership status? - My answer is Married.

PLEASE NOTE: It is important to declare if you have a partner whether or not they are included in this application for residence.

A16. If you selected Married, Partnership or Civil Union, do you meet the minimum requirements for recognition of partnerships, as defined in the guide? (Please ensure you have read and understood these instructions before selecting yes.) - My answer is No (correct me if I am wrong)


A17. Will your partner be included in this application for residence? - My answer is No.

If no, please explain why your partner is not being included in your residence application? - My answer is " We got married on 17th October 2018 and as per the Indian culture, partners live together after marriage. We are in the relationship from 2014 but we did not live together before marriage. My partner will be applying a visitor visa for her to come to New Zealand and stay with me to fulfill the criteria of Immigration New Zealand for the partnership. She is not being included in my residency application due to this reason. "

Does this make sense? Sorry for coming with long messages always. I am trying to explain in detail so that I will not miss any important point.

regards,

Ashbin

[JandM]

I am thinking of applying a general visitor visa for her by explaining her intention to stay with me to establish our relationship. Hope they will agree that. Do you have any other suggestion?

I think that is all you can do.

A15. What is your current partnership status? - My answer is Married.

Correct.

PLEASE NOTE: It is important to declare if you have a partner whether or not they are included in this application for residence.

A16. If you selected Married, Partnership or Civil Union, do you meet the minimum requirements for recognition of partnerships, as defined in the guide? (Please ensure you have read and understood these instructions before selecting yes.) - My answer is No (correct me if I am wrong)

Correct.

A17. Will your partner be included in this application for residence? - My answer is No.

If no, please explain why your partner is not being included in your residence application? - My answer is " We got married on 17th October 2018 and as per the Indian culture, partners live together after marriage. We are in the relationship from 2014 but we did not live together before marriage. My partner will be applying a visitor visa for her to come to New Zealand and stay with me to fulfill the criteria of Immigration New Zealand for the partnership. She is not being included in my residency application due to this reason. "

Correct.

Does this make sense? Sorry for coming with long messages always. I am trying to explain in detail so that I will not miss any important point.

No need to apologize.