Partner Residency Visa - 1 year requirement.

[cricfor]

Hi All,

My partner's visa was granted on Jan last year and we are completing our 1 year of living together by the end of Jan this year to be eligible to apply for partner's resident visa ( I'm a resident already ). Is it ok to apply now? as we are 15 days short of proving 1 year of living together?

and also any ideas on the approximate timeline of partnership residence visa processing timeline these days?

[JandM]

An application to INZ is a legal document on which everything must be the truth at the time it is submitted. Therefore, INZ aren't able to accept claims in anticipation of what you THINK will be true. However sincere you are in your expectations, real world events CAN get in the way.

[Kelerei]

Per F2.5(d)(iii), if the applicant and New Zealand citizen or resident partner have not lived together for 12 months or more at the time the application is lodged, the application must be declined. INZ has no discretion to grant a residence class visa as an exception to instructions (R5.55.1), so if you lodge your application early, the outcome is guaranteed to not be in your favour.

Currently, 90% of applications for the Partner of a New Zealander Resident Visa are completed within 13 months.

[Kelerei]

Also, refer to GI (Partnership) [2020] NZIPT 205833.

[EGoodhue]

As above, only apply after you've hit the 12 month mark.

Partnership Residence applications are taking around 4 months to be allocated to an Immigration Officer once lodged these days - processing time after that varies widely, depending upon the competence and efficiency of the Immigration Officer you could (could be only a month, could be 6 months...I've had both scenarios lately).

[cricfor]

Thanks a lot JandM, Kelerei and EGoodhue.

Very informative and useful.

Just that I don't miss anything obvious, I'm just a "resident" here as of now and not a "Permanent Resident" yet and I'm still eligible to apply for a residency to my partner? Is that right?

[JandM]

Yes, that's right. See here under Your partner's immigration status. https://www.immigration.govt.nz/new-...ZL&applying=no Hide

Your partner must provide one of the following:

a New Zealand passport
a New Zealand birth certificate
a certificate of New Zealand citizenship
a New Zealand residence class visa.

(my bolding)

If you think about it, this is logical. If you and your partner had been able to supply evidence that you had lived together for a year at the time when you applied for residence yourself, you could have included her in that application, that is, for residence, not PR.

[nzgeek]

Asking on behalf of someone

One of friend is living with his partner since May 20 (They got joint bank account, tenancy, photos and everything etc since May 2020).
They got legally married in Nov 20 and he is now about to apply his first partnership work visa early next month. (Now they got more documents like marriage certificate, joint car loan, etc)

Now he was just wondering when he will be eligible to apply for partnership resident visa?
After May 21 or Nov 21?

Thanks heaps

[JandM]

From May. INZ sees partnership as living together. Marriage is not obligatory for proving this. https://www.immigration.govt.nz/new-...ly/partnership

[allune]

Also, refer to GI (Partnership) [2020] NZIPT 205833.

Goodness, this has been very difficult to digest. If only he had waited and if only he’s done more research. By the time the appellant had lodged his residency application, this was already in the news... INZ using discretion to grant a third work visa...

Anyway, thank you kelerei for the reading! How do you keep track of IPT decisions like this?