When will Partnership Working Visa Start
 

Hello

My question quite simply is: when will my Partnership Working Visa start?
Will I choose the date of entry? Will it be granted on entry? Are there restrictions i.e. require me to travel to NZ within 12 months of my visa being granted?

The problem I have is that my partner and I currently live together, however she will be going back to NZ in May 2019, as her visa is expiring, and I will still have one year left at university. We will be travelling back and forth during this time, however we will not 'legally' or in the eyes of INZ be living together.

So the Partnership Work Visa states that you must be living together when you apply for the visa, so my only option would be to apply for it in May 2019, at the latest, with the hope of going over in July 2020 when I graduate. However this is quite a long time in advance to be granted the visa (I've read that it probably won't take anymore than 3 months processing time).

So I've basically got the opposite problem of most: I need potentially need the processing times to be longer!

Has anyone applied/been granted this visa in the past and have any insight into the restrictions of travelling to NZ?

I know the working holiday visa starts at the point of entry but would rather get the partnership work visa to prepare for residency once we've met the living requirements..

Any help would be appreciated, I've searched all over the government websites, on blogs and even gone as far as to complete the entire visa application short of submitting it to find the answer but I've had no luck :(

Re: When will Partnership Working Visa Start
 

I think you only need to activate it within 12 months so if you are travelling back and forth that should cover it

Re: When will Partnership Working Visa Start
 

Once approved, your visa will be available for activation from the date of approval (if an eVisa) or from the time you receive your returned passport with the visa sticker attached.
Activation date is your choice and only actually activated when you pass through border control in NZ using the visa.
Be aware that the visa must be activated before a certain time period elapses - i.e. before the visa expiry date, which will be printed on the passport visa label or within the paperwork/email/online immigration account for eVisa.
Resident (permanent class) visas carry an expiry period of 12 months, meaning a person MUST travel and cross the NZ border with the visa within a 12 month period, BUT I'm not sure this is correct for the visa you have stated ? I cannot find anything online that confirms the expiry period for this visa and I'd expect the period to be 3 months. This visa is a temporary class of visa only allowing up to 2 years stay (if you can prove partnership and living together for more than 12 months) and normally for temporary class work visas the expiry period is 3 months, not 12 months, meaning you MUST travel and cross the border with this visa within 3 months.
I agree it would be best to apply when you are currently fulfilling all the criteria as leaving it after May 2019 when your parter has returned to NZ will only cause INZ to ask questions and may affect whether you are approved or not.
Assuming you meet all the criteria in May 2019, that visa will be approved pretty quickly.....in a matter of days or a few weeks. 3 months (as you stated) is a long time for this type of visa approval.
There is no chance you can leave it until July 2020 to travel. The visa will have well expired by then and you'd have to re-apply and you may have difficulty meeting the eligibility as your partner would be living in NZ for over a year.