Partnership Visitor Visa help

[RI2002]

Hi everyone

I applied for a partnership visit visa for my wife on 18 Nov. We received an email from a case officer on 10 December. We found this strange but exciting at the same time as we were expecting it to take longer (as 90% of applications are processed in 5 months according to INZ website). We applied from overseas and are living together.

anyway the case officer requested some documents to further prove our relationship and living together which we have already provided as we have very recently applied. does this mean they are not satisfied with the evidence? If they asked for more evidence does it mean there's hope?

We don't have many photos together because we have just been at home as coronavirus is at large here and we can't go out to places and take photos and didnt think of taking photos at home because we weren't initially planning on applying for a visa and we both dont like taking photos...but circumstances changed and we thought it would be a good idea to apply with whatever evidence we could find like evidence of our marriage and support letters, calls/texts etc.. its also hard to find evidence of living together because we live in my parents house over here (they have written support letters) and bills are under their name..we have clearly explained this in our relationship chronology

question is, how can we provide evidence if it doesnt exist..we can't show evidence of financial interdependence too other than a letter from us both because there is no such system of bank transactions and eftpos payments to show evidence..everything is in cash

we have explained these things in letters but feel like they have been overlooked..I feel like they are asking for evidence which we have already provided. will writing letters clarifying all these things and uploading them again be enough?

Also we've BOTH been asked to fill in INZ 1200 form (Additional information form) - my understanding is this form is only to be filled by a person applying for a visa? does the NZ partner have to fill it out too? should I email the case officer and clarify this?

Thank you in advance

[JandM]

It is normal for a CO to ask for more evidence of partnership when they are near to the end of processing an application. They want to cover the time since the application went in, so that it's on record that they've checked that they're not issuing a visa to someone whose relationship has broken down in the meantime.

I know this is sometimes difficult - you need to get creative in thinking of other items you can send in. More letters, addressed to either or both of you, will show you are both at the same address. Can you get things delivered, and save the packaging? Is there some institution that has you both on record as living there? - hospital, doctor's surgery, bank, library... Can you write by snail mail to such a place asking some question that they will then reply to the same way? Etc., etc..

About the INZ 1200 form - in your place, I think I would do as you suggest and query it with the CO. I assume from what you say that you're a NZ citizen?

[RI2002]

Thanks JandM for replying. We just found it odd to be asked for more evidence covering time since application as we had only applied about 3 weeks ago..although we are happy to be assigned a CO so fast.

The wording of the email has scared us like " An initial assessment has been completed on the application, the following information/evidence are required before we could further proceed the application".. do they normal word it like this?

instead of saying "upload additional documents" or "more information" the words "required" have made us worry

The case officer has basically made a list of things we have already uploaded..I'm thinking, would writing letters stating we have uploaded such and such be good enough?

Thanks JandM we will think of some creative evidence to upload really hope we dont get rejected .. very hard to get most of the evidence you have stated, the town we live in here is not very modern like we dont have a library and things get delivered to a general post shop and they call u on your cell to come pick it up...

have emailed CO about the form let's see what they say (yes I am a citizen)

[JandM]

The wording you describe sounds like the standard email used for everyone at the stage when the CO is coming towards the end of processing. So it doesn't take any account of the fact that in your case, very little time has passed since the application was allocated. And there's nothing to worry about in the use of the word 'required' - it only means 'we must have', so it's no harsher than if they'd said 'upload this' or 'send that'.

The CO is in the position of having to tick the boxes on a list of what needs to be done/seen. Once the boxes are ticked, s/he can proceed to a recommendation. If she left out any, when the case went for second-person checking, the 2pc official would send it back for correction because she'd missed part of the procedure. Neither the CO nor the 2pc official has the power to make allowances for the fact that in your case, it's only been three weeks, whereas for some people, it would have been getting on for a year. So bear in mind that you're having to go through the motions for the sake of it, and these requirements aren't based on any extra particular doubt of your situation. If it were me, I'd help the CO with the paperwork as far as possible, and if this meant doubling up of what I'd already provided, then I'd do it, for instance by asking the people who'd already provided support letters to give another one. These can state that the pair of you are STILL living together over these recent weeks since your application went in. That shows willing. Yes, you can point out to the CO that x, y and z evidence you have already submitted fills the requirement, but if you CAN give them more, do it.