emilyward1994

Hello all!

I am new to this, but needed some people to talk to who may have experience with this process!

I am 20 years old, my partner who is New Zealand born is 19 years old. We met in January last year when I went to NZ to study on a student visa. I have family who moved there in 2008 and are now residents (lucky for them). I met my partner through my cousin who is my best friend. They attended the same school, and her partner at the time was very close friends with my partner. We started dating on the 5th of March, a few days after my birthday. (2nd March). We had been seeing each other for a month prior to us making it official. It came to December 2013 and I was due to go home because of my studies ending. I went home to the UK on the 9th. My partner is also half dutch, therefore has a EU passport which means he can live in the UK and work. Which we decided is what he was going to do before I left. He arrived in the UK on the 26th of February this year. We have now been living together with my mum for now 8 months. He pays monthly rent direct to my mothers bank account which I will be using as evidence for a sort of rent book. We have tickets booked to go bak to New Zealand for the 22nd of January 2015. I plan to apply for my visa late November, as obviously medical certificates only last for 3 months. So i've been trying to time in how this all work to make sure that everything is ready for when my application gets sent.

The evidence we have so far is:
- Joint savings account (letter has both of our names on it)
- Rent evidence from his account to my mums
- Letters from my Auntie addressed to the both of us.
- Letters from friends and his parents and also mine confirming our relationship.
- Photos of the both of us together

I can't prove when we first started dating as obviously this sort of stuff is either just through our words or Facebook! so how i'm going to prove that, i'll never know! but I can very much guarantee we have been together for well over a year and a half.

I need some peace of mind, i'm getting very worried now. As obviously I don't want to have to pay for my medical certificate for my application to be declined. He is also going to be paying for half of my application, which he will be sending to my bank account with the reason as to why the money is being sent. Probably something along the lines of 'NZ visa application money'

Can anyone give me some advice?

dannigirl

Am I correct in thinking that in January 2015 you will have been in a relationship for just under 2 years. For the visa do you have to have evidence of living together for 12 months?


Could you at all possible get any joint bills - phone, anything that you can pay together, would it be possible to put a household bill into both of your names and then switch it back in January. A bit of a faff I know. I would print off all FB info that is relevant, seems silly but it's the way of the modern world.

Also provide details of any jobs that you are going to, or what skills you have to be able to contribute getting a job. If you had a firm job offer I think this would help immensely. Bit of a chicken/egg situation but my husband got PR based on our relationship and a firm job offer, the job offer was based on the fact he would get PR though spouse.

Good luck!

Snap Shot

Did you live together when you were on your course of studies in NZ ? As Dannigirl has remarked, you haven't lived together for a full 12 months which is a requirement by NZ Immigration.

New Zealand Immigration need to be satisfied that your relationship is genuine and stable.

Sorry if there's something in your post that I've missed. Why don't you apply now then if you get it, it's in hand before you go to NZ next year ? Why put off applying just because the medical is only good for three months and your ticket is dated next February ? Surely once you have it, you have it ? Sorry to say this but you are putting a lot of pressure on yourself/yourselves.

I'm married to a British born New Zealander. I have Permanent Residency because of my family category visa.

When applying for this, I had to/we had to go through the process of joint bills, photographs, greetings cards addressed to us both, social invitations addressed to us both. For a further cringe, my mother wrote a letter confirming that we were a genuine couple.

I got it in 1997, we had been married and living in Britain for 3 years by then, but we did not have firm plans to emigrate to NZ so I let it lapse.

Back in 2010 we made firm plans to relocate to NZ. So, I wondered if I could get my family visa/PR renewed. Lo and behold I got it renewed !

I had to submit supporting paperwork to confirm that we were still a genuine couple and honest in our intention of moving to NZ. This time, my husband wrote a letter in support of my application. All was in order and I got my PR renewed.

Good luck, I hope you get the outcome you want.

MrsFychan

we included our FB messages, as well as our Skype messages and emails to show proof of length of our relationship. our marriage certificate wasn't even enough.

as for your medical, the 3mth limit is that you have to submit it with your application before it is 3mths old. once Immigration have it the clock stops on it. Be aware that Immigration have their own authorised panel doctors that you have to use and as someone found last week they had quite a wait for an appointment. so maybe for now check out where the nearest one to you are, the cost as they can vary and what their appt wait is.

You say you have already booked flights back for January. have you booked returns ? if not what visa would you be coming in on to allow you to stay if the partnership visa has not been approved by then?

emilyward1994

Thank you for all the replies! so far we have been living together for 8 months, I thought you had to get your medical certificate and include it with your application within the three months. I am glad to know that I can apply for it now as I would much rather do it now than wait!

Yes we will have been together for just under 2 years by the time we go back in January. And I do have Facebook messages between us both from all the way back in 2013 when we first spoke as well. I have asked a lot of my friends who know us personally to write letters. We weren't living together when I was studying, I lived with my Auntie and Uncle who are now citizens. But I might as well have lived at his house because I was there majority of the time! not paying rent obviously, his parents would never ask that of me. But I have a VERY good relationship with his parents which I think will show when they write a letter for me.

I have been speaking with a NZ immigration worker and they said the wait time is about a month which I thought was fine. So is it best that I apply for it now? I also have a confirmed job waiting for me upon my arrival, it's nothing big. But I will be working for my partners sister who is a manager in a bar/restaurant in Christchurch called Speights Ale House. I can get her to write a letter for me or send me a contract if need be. But he is NZ born, so I didn't think it would be such a big deal acquiring the visa as he's only ever lived in Christchurch prior to him moving to the UK to be with me.

I will definitely print off my Facebook info so they can see the date we started dating, but apart from that, that is the only proof I have of the date we got together. I'm going to bring up some photos I have on my hard drive of when we were together. I have a few photos of when we went to Kaikoura for a little holiday whilst I was there that I can probably include.

I've found NZ immigration doctors that I will probably go and see, maybe it would be best to call up and get an appointment and do it sooner rather than later.

Thank you for all the help!

Persephone

You have to have been living together for 12 months to apply for residency under partnership, if not then the application may be deferred.

However that requirement does not exist for the temporary work visa via partnership, as far as I know you just have to be living together for that, no time limit. Your medicals will 'last' for 36 months once lodged with a visa application with NZIS

What is required?

Family Stream

We used to go to Speights Ale house fairly often-usually the one near Tower Junction

emilyward1994

The visa I am applying for is a partnership based temporary visa. But it's more like a work visa under partnership I just have to use that application and then specify the visa I will be needing. Which is obviously a work visa as I have a job offer. Probably should have specified more on which visa I was going with! I will be applying for the residency under partnership once I arrive in New Zealand. Probably 6 months after!

So do you think my evidence will be enough?

Persephone

That makes more sense!

Yes, a work visa under partnership until you've lived together long enough

You've probably got enough evidence but I can't say for certain as it depends on how NZIS view it. Just send in anything you have and they will decide

emilyward1994

Yeah i'll hopefully apply for a residence visa maybe 3-6 months after I arrive in NZ. As we will be living with his parents so I will be paying rent to them.

Getting everything together, should be able to get a doctors appointment in a couple of weeks and get that sorted. Sent my police certificate application off today so i've got to wait 10 days for that to be done. Exciting but so nerve-wracking already!

I've also got my soon to be boss in NZ to write me up a contract that I can include with the application just as a bit more evidence that I have something waiting for me. Anything to me is evidence so i'm just including it for the sake of it.

Thank you for all the help!

Snap Shot

Good on you, Emily. Sweet as.

Would you apply for a visa that allows you to work in NZ if you don't get the outcome you want from your partnership visa application ?

You need to prove you can legally work in NZ or your job offer might as well be dead in the water. You're probably well aware that you are spending money hand over fist for all the things that are needed for your visa application. People who think emigrating is just one long holiday haven't got a clue !

I lived in Christchurch back in 2011 - we turned up there from Britain, it was after the fatal earthquake. Long story. Anyway, is it the Speights Ale House on Bealey Avenue in Christchurch ? Went past it a few times. (I've been to the Speights Ale House in Palmerston North, it was excellent but that's neither here nor there for your circumstances.)

Just think, in 13 weeks you could be going to NZ with your boyfriend for the foreseeable future.

emilyward1994

I am getting everything together for my visa, got my police certificate, medical and chest x-ray certificates back. Now i'm just waiting on my mum to supply a rent book showing that my partner has been living in our house since February this year.

You don't realise how expensive it all is until you get further into your application! just watching all of my savings disappear brings a tear to my eye. But it will all be worth it when/if i get granted the visa!

This is the nerve-wracking stage of it all, collecting all I can. I'm trying to get photos with the dates on but I can't seem to do that. So i'm just going to add the photos in and hope that is all that's needed! we do have quite a lot of photos together, obviously being teens when we started dating that's the thing to do!

I don't know what else I can add to further help our application, i'm just hoping what we have is enough

Snap Shot

Hello Emily. Glad you're ok. Thanks for the update, I was wondering how you were getting along.

With regard to photos, thank God for selfies !

Your hopes rest in a bundle of paperwork and stuff that will be shortly be posted by you the NZ Embassy at the Haymarket in London. (I'm guessing.)

This is unrelated but I've had to get my police certificate from Britain for my American visa as I had to renew my British passport this year and I needed my renewed American visa to go in it.

TommyLuck

Brace yourself for the Migrant Levy you have to pay once/if you are successful.

Few people seem to know about this until you get the letter celebrating your acceptance for the Visa, but before we give you your passport back adorned with the blue sticker - give us some more cash!

By which point, I, like many others I imagine are thinking "I've come this far and spent that much cash, what's another $300 or so bucks?".

emilyward1994

As far as I'm aware I don't pay a migrant levy? My visa isn't a residence visa it's just a work visa under partnership.

I'm just writing up a rent book of all the transactions between my partner Brad and my mum. I may include a print out of one of them as well just for evidence purposes. But I've basically got and included all that I can! Can't really prove our relationship other than Facebook which I have printed a screenshot of my Facebook homepage so if they want to do snooping in those kinds of terms they can as my profile is public.

Getting so nervous! I hope I am successful

Timmy Chch

Wouldn't a young persons working holiday visa be another option before going for the big one next year once you qualify? Certainly cheaper and a lot less effort required! Speights Ale House does a quality buffet breakfast!