Advice please... :(
 

I applied for a temporary partnership visa (approved!), however the visa stated that I could only stay up to 12 months (the visa docs state that you can stay for up to 24 months in all the documentation).

One of the requests in the submission was that I should give some kind of proof that we intend to be together whilst in Nz. Well because of this I gave a background of our situation (my partner has a one year contract). And I said I would be with my partner for the duration of this contract.

The plan was that if we liked it we would stay over there and both look for other work (although I did not state this).

From this they assumed that I only intended to be there for 12 months and therefore only offered me a 12 month visa. in order for this to be amended I will have to pay a further £85. This is a lot of money for me at he moment :(

They require no further evidence, but need the money to amend the visa.

My query is that if everything that I submitted was correct and they need no further evidence, then shouldn't I have been allowed to stay for up to 24 months off the bat and not pay a further £85?

I don't want to cause a fuss because I am terrified that they will reject my application for some reason and I don't want to delay going to Nz any longer (my partner has been over there for nearly 6 weeks now waiting for me).

Any advice? Can I contest the charge or is it my fault? The documentation at no point asked me to state how long I wanted to stay in NZ so the fact a temp partnership visa lets you stay for up to 24 months meant I would be granted this in my mind. Obviously I was wrong?

Thank you :(

Re: Advice please... :(
 

what duration does your partner have on their visa?
and what type is visa ?

Re: Advice please... :(
 

They are an Nz passport holder - born in Nz plus a British passport too!

Re: Advice please... :(
 

ahh ok. not sure what you can do at this stage apart from speak to the person dealing with your application and state that from your understanding you would get the 24 mths as stated on the site. If that person isn't helpful then maybe ask to speak to a manager but make sure that you did read the small print and it wasn't a mistake on your part. Only other option would be to see if you can change it whilst you are over here and see if that is cheaper.

Re: Advice please... :(
 

I have just found this tick box in the form!

http://postimg.org/image/9yx09n5cb/

The tick box asks you whether you intend to stay in Nz for 12 months or longer. I ticked the box because I also provided a chest x ray and medical certificate. If I wanted to stay for up to 12 months, I did not have to provide a chest x ray or medical cert.

Can I use this to argue my case? Can they withdraw my application for any reason? :unsure:

Edit: I also think the worker knows she did something wrong. This was in her email response:

"In your application section D4 you have ticked that you are not planning to be in New Zealand for more than 24 months"

This has no relevance because at this moment I DON'T intend to be there for longer than 24 months but I do intend to stay UP to 24 months and I ticked the correct box for this.

If I ask to speak to a manager will they allow this to be changed?

Re: Advice please... :(
 

No idea if they will still charge you but it does look like they are at fault. So I would speak to the person concerned and point out that you did in fact apply for the 24mth which is why you paid the extra cost for medicals and submitted them with your application.
I'm not sure if it is still up to them how long you are allowed to stay but if you get no where with that person then I would escalate it up to a Manager and ask them to explain why they have only given you a 12mth. It could be because your partner only has a 1 yr contract but again I'm not sure on that.

Re: Advice please... :(
 

Yep thanks for that. I am now armed with more info. They asked for no evidence of my partner's job situation or whether it was contract work/how long etc, so hopefully that should have no relevance especially when my OH has an Nz passport. We will see I guess. :thumbup::thumbup:

Re: Advice please... :(
 

They have made an error and there is a duty of care policy.

Lay it all out as simply as possible and ask them to waive the fee.

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She isn't budging, but she has passed it on to another colleague. What a mess :( I'm so tired from all this :zzz:

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I can't actually believe what is going on at the moment. I have just been told that the office has compared what her colleague would do and her colleague would have done the same. She keeps mentioning Police Certificates if I want to stay for 24 months.

And every time she says that, I explain that I do not need a police certificate because I am not planning on staying for 24 months or longer at the moment. She then said that she could have 'rejected the application' because I didn't provide police certificates. I quizzed this and again had to explain that I did not apply for a visa for longer than 24 months. She then back-tracked.

I asked to speak to a manager and she said she would ask one to call me but couldn't guarantee whether they would speak to me or email me or when they would get back to me.

I am shocked by all of this and have no clue as to what to do :(:(

Re: Advice please... :(
 

Sorry to hear that:(:(
I have to go out now but will have a think about it
:)

Re: Advice please... :(
 

I've had a read round and I'm not sure what you can do apart from take it higher.
Note it does say 'up to' so there is some discretion. However I could find no regulations as to how to decide on length of visa.
I suspect this is the reason, if you gave no indication of wanting to stay for more than the duration of your partner's contract. But as you said, why would you get a medical cert if you were only planning on staying for 12months, that should have made them think a little.
You do need a police cert if you intend to stay in NZ for 24 months or longer so it looks like you would need that in order to get a 2 year visa:
Do they only issue thus type of visa in whole years? I mean, can you only get visas of either 1 or 2 years duration? In which case it may be that you need police and health certs for a 2y visa but neither of these for a 1y visa and there is no inbetween [you said you were not planning on staying for 24m or longer]

Hmmm a complicated mess as you say. Take it higher and try writing to them if you get no luck from the phone call. I think you should tell them of your plans in full, that if you like it then you intend to stay longer and apply for residency. That shows that you have a plan already decided upon for staying longer than your partner's contract and that you understand the process involved. It shows that you understand that you cannot just stay in NZ longer than your visa duration. I am not inferring that you would but it is NZIS's job to make sure of that.
That's all I can think of and others may disagree:unsure:

Wishing you luck and hope you get some good news soon
P:)

ps I wrote a complaint letter to NZIS whilst my SMC application was being messed around with. It had no ill effect on anything and probably speeded up my application given the time scale from then on!. So don't worry about stating your case-as long as you stay calm and polite:rofl:

Re: Advice please... :(
 

Thank you so much for your detailed response :)

I just feel deflated after all the hard work of getting the medical certs, deciding on the visa etc, it has come down to that one thing I said (which I thought wold help).

On the temp partnership visa there is an option which asks to be ticked asking if you want to be in NZ for over 12 months (and less than 24). This is the option I ticked and this is the option which states you need a medical cert and x-ray. Nowhere in the application did it say that I should state exactly how long I wish t be there etc so I didn't think that would even be a consideration. :unsure:

Nothing's going right with any part of the move at the moment. Argh it's the night to feel sorry for myself lol

Re: Advice please... :(
 

This type of visa has three options -

1/ I plan to be in New Zealand for less than six months. You do not need to provide a medical certificate or chest X-ray certificate.
Go to Section D: Character.

2/ I plan to be in New Zealand for between six and 12 months.

3/ I plan to be in New Zealand for 12 months or longer (this includes any time you have already spent in New Zealand). You must provide a Chest X-ray Certificate (INZ 1096) and a medical certificate, unless the notes below indicate that you are not required to at this stage.


The third option is the one I ticked :huh: so they just ignored it it seems. :unsure:

Re: Advice please... :(
 

I would ask them why they ignored it?

Re: Advice please... :(
 

Obviously you wouldn't get a medical certificate unless you had to, so surely that should have made someone wonder about the length of time you were wanting to stay? Why did they ignore that?
The police certificate requirement isn't completely clear either-at one point it says 24m or longer and another it says over 24m-the former implies you would need one for a 2 year visa:confused:

See whether they contact you first but start working on writing to them to explain everything in full as to why you expected a two year visa. Explain your plans with regards to staying longer in full. Your situation sounds reasonable to me-however I am not a NZIS case officer:(
Be humble but firm, you are explaining why you think they made the wrong decision rather than out and out complaining. I fully understand you not wanting to make too much fuss in case they turn you down completely [been there, done that!], I rewrote my letter so many times so the tone was acceptable-neither too complaining nor too 'wet':lol:
I emailed NZ and London and also sent London one via snail mail.

But wait and see if they contact you, you have a reasonable case. All this worry may have been for nothing:fingerscrossed:
Stay strong!!:):)

Re: Advice please... :(
 

Yeah when I was speaking to the lady I tried asking if they didn't see it etc. I tried SO SO hard to be polite as well. But she basically told me that I said I would be going to Nz for the duration of my partner's contract.

It honestly felt like she was saying a lot of Jargon to throw me off. But I read and understood the application fully before completing the forms, so a lot of what she was saying simply did not make sense. But how could I tell her that considering I need them to grant me a visa? :thumbdown:

I will try and switch off for tonight and just get some sleep ready for them to hopefully contact me tomorrow :)

Re: Advice please... :(
 

Had to chase up and was told that someone would contact me some time next week :/

Re: Advice please... :(
 

Can't have them working too quickly:thumbdown:

Re: Advice please... :(
 

Hi,

Sorry, just an observation.

You stated in your first post that as proof to Immigration of your intention to stay together in a relationship with your partner, you would be staying with him in NZ for the duration of his contract!
As you say this contract is 12 months.
I expect you told Immigration that information when you gave a background of your situation ?
Seems to me you painted a picture to Immigration that your partner would only be in NZ 12 months irrespective of his visa or citizenship status and as such you intended to be with him in NZ for the duration and then leave.
I expect this is the reason why you have only received visa acceptance for 12 months.
Only my opinion, but I think you mistakingly backed yourself into a corner with the information you submitted and Immigration have acted on that information. Don't see how Immigration have done anything wrong :unsure:

Regards,

Re: Advice please... :(
 

There was a request from somewhere(can't remember where) where it asked that I show that I intend to be with my partner when I go over there. That was the only kind of proof that I had for the moment (without tenancy agreements or anything). I thought that I would be allowed to decide for myself whether I would want to stay longer :zzz: and the statement is still true. I do intend to stay with my partner for the duration of the contract. I didn't state that I would not be in NZ when the contract ended though :(

However in the actual application I did tick the box for 'intending to stay over 12 months'. I provided the extra documentation for staying for over 12 months as well. I did everything the application asked of me and more (or so I thought). I don't understand the point of the application questions and evidence if they are to ignore them. I'm just going to wait and see what happens. Too trained lol

Re: Advice please... :(
 

Also, when you made the application, how long did you say you had been together with your partner ?
Did you provide the necessary evidence to prove the length of your relationship in the application ?

Re: Advice please... :(
 

Been together for 3 years - evidence of living with each other for 2.5 years, tenancy agreements, photos, wedding invites, financial interdependence, holidays booked together, letters from family/friends backing up relationship, cards etc.

I'm going to give it a few more days and then try to pay for an amendment or keep 12 months and pay for a two year extension over there for $360 (and not $92 as the immigration office incorrectly advised me in order to get me off the phone. And actually this is what annoyed me the most. I was being given completely incorrect information over the phone so that I would accept the decision. Be it cost of visas, necessary documents, etc).

Re: Advice please... :(
 

escapedtonz: that was my first conclusion as well

But

arthurfowler had ticked the 'stay longer than 12m' box and had provided a medical cert that would not be necessary if he only wanted to stay for 12m. This should have made someone question his application in my opinion.
:)

Re: Advice please... :(
 

Yes bit of a strange one to call either way.

Maybe the story of the partnership history led Immigration down a certain path which resulted in the allocation of a 12 month visa, and irrespective that the application contained conflicting info, the case officer either missed that fact or decided the partnership history evidence was the most important factor in deciding the length of visa over the conflicting info on the application ?

Unfortunately we'll have to wait until Immigration get back with an answer. :fingerscrossed:

Re: Advice please... :(
 

I understand how the note on the duration of my partner's contract could have been confused as being conflicting, but if I had applied for a permanent residency, getting the extra medical certs, paying nearly £600 more etc, then would I have also only been granted a 12 month visa? This is what I don't get.

Even if I did mean that we were coming back after the contract had ended, could we not decide to go back a few months afterwards and stay for a further 6-8 months? There was nothing in the application asking me to prove my exact plans for the entire 24 months. Just a box asking how long I intended to stay in NZ and the necessary evidence/certificates for that visa.

I am still awaiting their call/email. I will give a chaser this afternoon :)

Re: Advice please... :(
 

You'd have got a resident visa if you'd done that;)

Let us know how you get on:fingerscrossed:

Re: Advice please... :(
 

Still havent heard anything and just sent an email to my immigration office who (from her out of office) is not back until the 29th. I have no contact for anyone else at the offices. What would they do if I turned up at NZ house? Would they be annoyed? I only work across the street so would be so much easier.

Re: Advice please... :(
 

I wouldn't be waiting around for an answer. I'd have been over the street days ago :frown:

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:thumbup: this is what I will do tomorrow! :)

Re: Advice please... :(
 

Good luck......and be assertive. You've nothing to be scared about. Immigration can't revoke your visa just because you are querying their decision on the length of visa offered.
Sock it to em !

Re: Advice please... :(
 

was just on phone for 30 mins - noone was there at lunch. They are insisting I should have stated how long I wanted the visa for. I said that there was nothing asked of me to state exactly how long I wanted the visa for. The only question regarding length of stay was the option i ticked to stay for longer than 12 months. He said I should have assumed that I should state the length of stay :/

We went round in circles for ever and then said that he would speak to his manager and see what he could do.

Am awaiting response today apparently.

Re: Advice please... :(
 

Update: Still not budging, so I will pay the fee to change the visa :(

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Bugger :(:(:(