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Thread: Which Visa to apply for

  1. #1
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    Default Which Visa to apply for

    Hello there

    I am a New Zealand born citizen and my wife is Indonesian , we currently live in Australia. She has a 461 visa ( partner of Nz citizen ), so has temp residence here. We have been together 2.5yrs , coming on 1 yr married.

    In the next couple of yrs I'm wanting to come home to Nz and live , have been living in Aust for 12 yrs. What I'm wanting to know is which visa do we apply for , my wife has had a couple of tourist visas and current one being 1 yr multi entry.

    Any help in the direction we should go would be grateful.

    Cheers Doug

  2. #2
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    Having temporary (and not permanent) Australian residence does, unfortunately, not make your partner eligible for a Resident Visa on arrival: this privilege is reserved for Australian citizens and permanent residents of good character.

    As I see it, there are two pathways open to your partner:

    • Gain Australian permanent residence. Your partner would then be eligible for a Resident Visa on arrival (albeit with no travel conditions, which has tripped up some Aussies seeking New Zealand permanent residence and/or citizenship before). I have no knowledge of the Australian immigration system and therefore do not know if this is a viable option.
    • The Partner of a New Zealander Resident Visa -- and you'll find plenty of threads on this forum regarding this option. You can even check out F2 in the ops manual for more in depth information on how these applications are assessed.
    Last edited by Kelerei; 5th October 2019 at 07:12 PM. Reason: added ops manual link

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kelerei View Post
    Having temporary (and not permanent) Australian residence does, unfortunately, not make your partner eligible for a Resident Visa on arrival: this privilege is reserved for Australian citizens and permanent residents of good character.

    As I see it, there are two pathways open to your partner:

    • Gain Australian permanent residence. Your partner would then be eligible for a Resident Visa on arrival (albeit with no travel conditions, which has tripped up some Aussies seeking New Zealand permanent residence and/or citizenship before). I have no knowledge of the Australian immigration system and therefore do not know if this is a viable option.
    • The Partner of a New Zealander Resident Visa -- and you'll find plenty of threads on this forum regarding this option. You can even check out F2 in the ops manual for more in depth information on how these applications are assessed.
    Cheers for the reply , I do understand the temp visa wont allow her to enter freely. I have already been researching the options but am a tad confused between the visas, Partner of a New Zealander work visa... Partner of a New Zealander tourist visa and the one is mentioned above Partnership Residence ....

    As we will be applying from Aust which one lol

    Cheers for ur help

  4. #4
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    The partner-sponsored visitor visa and the partner-sponsored work visa both require evidence of having lived together for around three months (although none of the instructions mentions a specific time, we know from experience that INZ consider applications seriously with this amount of proof). Neither of those visas lasts very long - you would be into applying and paying for another one quite soon. The advantage COULD be that they are usually processed more quickly than residence. The partner-sponsored residence visa requires evidence of having lived together for at least 12 months, and would give her permission to live and work in NZ for ever, while she is in the country - it would come with two years' travel conditions, which aren't 'conditions' at all, just the right to come and go freely for that length of time, then after two years, she would probably have become eligible for Permanent Residence https://www.immigration.govt.nz/new-...-resident-visa, and with that, the right to come and go freely for life.

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by Duggles_au View Post
    I have already been researching the options but am a tad confused between the visas, Partner of a New Zealander work visa... Partner of a New Zealander tourist visa and the one is mentioned above Partnership Residence ....
    A Visitor Visa will allow your partner to visit only: no rights to work (your partner would, effectively, be limited to the same rights as a tourist would have). The Work Visa will allow your partner to work in New Zealand. Both the Visitor Visa and the Work Visa are temporary visas with expiry dates: your partner must either apply for a further visa or leave New Zealand before expiry. The Resident Visa has far more stringent requirements (and of course, longer processing times!), but will allow your partner to live, work and study in New Zealand indefinitely.

    Which one to go for will depend on your long term plans.

    Quote Originally Posted by JandM View Post
    The partner-sponsored residence visa requires evidence of having lived together for at least 12 months, and would give her permission to live and work in NZ for ever, while she is in the country - it would come with two years' travel conditions, which aren't 'conditions' at all, just the right to come and go freely for that length of time, then after two years, she would probably have become eligible for Permanent Residence https://www.immigration.govt.nz/new-...-resident-visa, and with that, the right to come and go freely for life.
    There's a possibility, given that the OP is a New Zealand citizen, that his partner may be granted a Permanent Resident Visa directly if applying for the Partner of a New Zealander Resident Visa. This typically requires that the application be made either outside New Zealand or within 3 months of re-entering New Zealand, the New Zealand citizen has lived outside New Zealand for at least 5 years, and the couple have been living together in a genuine and stable relationship for at least 5 years at the time the application is made. This is documented in F2.5.1.

  6. #6
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    Yes, but given the timings mentioned in the original post, it doesn't seem that that last idea will apply.

    A further thought - any visitor visa presupposes that the applicant is intending to stay in New Zealand for a limited time and will then leave to go back to an established life in another country, and therefore requires proof of links to that other country. This is obviously not appropriate in your wife's case, since you intend to have a life together, and need to bear in mind the Bona Fide requirement that goes with any application. https://www.immigration.govt.nz/new-...tity/bona-fide

  7. #7
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    Cheers guys for the replies... sort of planning is return to Nz in 3/4 yrs time , that wuld then give us the 5 yrs of living together..
    when i was reseaching the visas just kind of confused me with which one to apply for her , but now have a better understanding of the 3 that we can look at

  8. #8
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    Just note that, if that is your intention to go directly for a Permanent Resident Visa (RA1.5), that you will need to provide evidence of a genuine and stable partnership for the entire 5 year period prior to your partner's date of application. See F2.20 for examples of evidence that you can provide.

    Having been through a similar process myself (in my case, including my partner on my application for a Resident Visa under the Skilled Migrant Category), I can offer you one piece of advice: be as exhaustive as possible when gathering and supplying partnership evidence!

    If you can't supply evidence for 5 years, it's not the end of the world: supplying evidence for the 12 months prior to your partner's application is the most crucial (see F2.5(a)). If you can't supply evidence for 5 years but meet all other requirements (especially that 12 month requirement), your partner will be granted a Resident Visa (RA1.1) with travel conditions allowing multiple entries for two years from your partner's first day in New Zealand as a resident (R5.66), and your partner may make a later application for a Permanent Resident Visa once your partner meets the requirements set out in RV2.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kelerei View Post
    Just note that, if that is your intention to go directly for a Permanent Resident Visa (RA1.5), that you will need to provide evidence of a genuine and stable partnership for the entire 5 year period prior to your partner's date of application. See F2.20 for examples of evidence that you can provide.

    Having been through a similar process myself (in my case, including my partner on my application for a Resident Visa under the Skilled Migrant Category), I can offer you one piece of advice: be as exhaustive as possible when gathering and supplying partnership evidence!

    If you can't supply evidence for 5 years, it's not the end of the world: supplying evidence for the 12 months prior to your partner's application is the most crucial (see F2.5(a)). If you can't supply evidence for 5 years but meet all other requirements (especially that 12 month requirement), your partner will be granted a Resident Visa (RA1.1) with travel conditions allowing multiple entries for two years from your partner's first day in New Zealand as a resident (R5.66), and your partner may make a later application for a Permanent Resident Visa once your partner meets the requirements set out in RV2.
    when we applied for the 461 visa in Aust we had to produce all the documents that seem to b quite similar to what immi nz needs for there proof of a genuine and lasting relationship, we have all those.... will just need to add to them for the future

    cheers for all the help

  10. #10
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    You will need evidence that you are and have been CONTINUING to live together throughout the time.

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