jjay009

Hi

Situation

I am a New Zealand citizen who arrived in Australia 3 months ago and my partner is a New Zealand permanent resident who lived in New Zealand for 4 years. She holds a Sri Lankan passport. We have been together for almost 7.5 years, but never lived together due to cultural reasons. We are planning to get married in end of September 2009. I would like to bring her into Australia as soon as we get married and she wants to work as soon as she gets here. She is already working on her Australian PR and she got her Skill Assessment approved by ACS. According to ACS results letter she not in CSL or MODL. (But she is in SOL) According to Australian immigration website, if she is not in either CSL or MODL, then the processing of the PR application could take years. So we have decided to apply for New Zealand Citizen Family Relationship Visa.

Questions

1. Are we eligible for this visa?
2. Should we be able to apply before we get married (as de facto relationship)?
3. What sort of evidence do we need to supply?
4. How long will it take to grant the visa?
5. Is there an interview for this?

Many Thanks

JAJ

Has she thought about waiting longer and becoming a New Zealand citizen?

Also, if she goes to Australia on a 461 and has a skill assessment, employer nomination for PR may be possible. Also potentially a job matched state nomination, depends on where she goes.