Future Application for Partnership Visitor Visa

[cijoc]

We are in same boat. I applied in March.

https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2019/11/1...ged-marriages#

A positive note for the work visa holders:

On Thursday, Immigration NZ's national visa manager Peter Elms said the department’s previously narrow definition of “culturally arranged” marriage would be expanded to include marriages where parents hadn’t picked the bride and groom but people could prove the wedding ceremony had taken place according to some cultural tradition
Elms said the most “influential change” was one that would allow partners of people on work and study visas to live with their partners in New Zealand.


Backlog

Elms said partners of New Zealand citizens and residents whose applications had been turned down were easy to identify and would be asked to re-apply over the next two weeks - free of charge.

But partners of people on work and study visas were harder to identify because many had applied under a number of different categories - so they would need to pay the fee, re-apply, and would be refunded their fee if their application proved successful.

[Ishant07]

Amendment Circular 2019-11 - changes haven't made it to Operational manual just yet:

https://www.immigration.govt.nz/abou...a565a57643e1f8

[hazz]

Another good news is that this does not apply to only culturally arranged marriages anymore and it now includes partners who met abroad but did not get a chance to live together. Those can apply for general visitor visa. Not sure when this will be effective though.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/...in-new-zealand

[JandM]

Keep an eye on this page. https://www.immigration.govt.nz/abou...-notifications This is where official announcements about any changes are posted.

[cijoc]

The response I received about SMC and culturally arranged marriage visa from INZ :

Due to the high volume of residence visas we expect assessment to be complete 12/15 months from submission. If your visa application was processed in this time frame you could expect to receive a decision by July/October 2020, but we cannot guarantee a decision by this time. I do understand how frustrating this is.

Unfortunately the Cultural Arranged Marriage Visitor Visa is only available to partners of New Zealand citizens and residents. After your residency application has been completed and approved this would be an option for you, but until then the best option for your wife-to-be is the Partner of a Worker Visitor Visa or the Partner of a Worker Work Visa. Both of these options currently require you to live together in a genuine and stable relationship for 3-4 months before applying.