Work Partnership based Visa or Post Study Work Visa?

[potatoqueen]

Hello every,

I'm currently on a student visa, which is expired in 11/2020 (my course ends around this time as well and with my program, I'm eligible for a one-year Open Work Visa). My partner (NZ citizen) and I are thinking of applying Partnership based Residence Visa in 8/2020. From what I see, it would take around 5-6 months for the Residence Visa to be processed.

1. From your experience, should I apply for an Open Work Visa or should I opt for Partnership Based Work Visa before my student visa expires in 11/2020 while waiting for the Residence Visa is processed? My purpose is I wanna be able to work full-time immediately after my study.

2. I might be granted an Interim Visa in between Student and Residence Visa, but not sure I can't work on the Interim Visa as I'm subject to the conditions of the student visa while waiting for the residence visa.



Thank you very much

Best wishes,

[hznry]

Please take this as a grain of salt, i would apply for partnership based work visa and residence visa at the same time to avoid the risk.
I don't think they'll issue an interim visa between a temporary visa and residence visa applications, the interim visa is only issued if you apply for the same type of visa as the previous one (please correct me if i'm wrong JandM). Check out processing timeframe of before you apply then because at the moment partnership work visa could take 4-7 months, same for other temporary work visas...very frustrating. If i were you i'd apply for partnership work visa in May or June 2020 at the latest (given processing timeframe will still be the same as now)
and according to current timeframe, residence visa could take up to 13 months...
(i had open work visa, employer assisted work visa, partnership work visa, currently applying for another partnership work visa and residence)

[JandM]

Please notice, nobody is legally allowed to TELL you which choice to make, unless they're an immigration lawyer or an LIA. See the two Sticky threads at the top of this forum. https://www.enz.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=6

Have a look around on the threads here, and you'll see that at the moment, INZ timings are all over the place, and no statements (on their website or from an official in person) are safe to rely on. So backup your plans as much as you can (as the last poster is suggesting).

He's not quite right about interim visas. An interim visa can be issued by INZ whenever someone has applied for ANY temporary visa, to keep them legal while processing is finished on another temporary visa they have applied for (not when waiting for residence). But the conditions of the interim visa vary, depending on what visa the person has at the moment, and what they have applied for. https://www.immigration.govt.nz/new-...isa-conditions

Therefore, you won't get an interim visa unless you apply for another temporary visa before or at the same time as residence. And you won't be able to work on any interim visa in the circumstances you describe, because you won't be applying for another student visa.