Jo Jo
17th May 2007, 08:38 AM
We've done it!
My boyfriend dropped my application for permanent residence off at NZ House today. The case officer looked through the file and said it was a very straightforward application, and should be processed very quickly. He said their year end for processing applications is the end of June, and they haven’t yet met their quota of partnership applications so all the case officers would be fighting over it and it should all go through by the end of June. So, if you are planning to apply for PR based on partnership, now is a good time to submit it!
My boyfriend and I have been living together for over 12 months, but I was worried we didn’t have enough evidence of our relationship as all the bills are in my name, and we have only just opened a joint bank account and got a joint mortgage. (And I have only just added his name to the council tax account). Our lack of documents wasn’t helped by the fact he had shredded most of his old bank statements etc (grrrr!)
I wasn’t quite sure how to organise the documents. In the end I took the list of evidence needed from the website, and ordered everything under those headings (I had to drop a couple of the headings as we didn't have any documents in those). Then, I produced a numbered list of everything and if a document could go in several sections I listed it once and then cross-referenced it.
Here’s a list of the documents I submitted as evidence of our relationship, and how I ordered them for the application – hope someone finds this useful.
1. Proof of shared residence
In my boyfriend’s name only:
Letter about his company from January 2006
Letter from PADI from March 2006
1 bank statement from April 2006
Invoice from a hotel from April 2006
Letter from his bank from June 2006
Bank statements from February and March this year showing transfers he had made to my account
In my name only:
Bank statements from January, March & May last year (seems a bit random, but I wanted to give documents from the same time period as his documents to prove we were both living at this address)
Bank statement from February 2007
My most recent telephone and electricity bills (I included these just to prove all the bills are in my name).
In both our names:
Council tax bill
Letter from the bank regarding our joint bank account
Our mortgage agreement
I also referred to documents in section 3.
2. Financial dependence or interdependence
Copy of letter from our NZ solicitor regarding the purchase of our house in NZ
Notice of change of ownership of our house in NZ
I also pointed out the transfers from his bank account to mine which I had highlighted on the bank statements, and referred them to the letters from our bank mentioned above.
3. Any documents showing public or family recognition of your relationship
Letter of support from my partner’s family
Three wedding invitations and thank you cards
A christening invitation
All of the above were in postmarked envelopes. A couple of them were only addressed to me on the envelope, but the invitations themselves were addressed to both of us.
A postcard
Christmas cards from 2004, 2005 and 2006 (I’m a bit of a hoarder!) They didn’t even keep most of these.
4. Correspondence (including post marked envelopes) to you and your partner at the same address
I referred them to the relevant documents in sections 1 – 3.
5. Photographs of you and your partner together
I only included about 9 photos – most of them were from weddings and family parties. I stuck the photos to bits of A4 paper, and wrote the event, who the other people were in the pics, and if they were relatives, included this info too.
6. Evidence of the duration of your relationship
I referred them to the documents in section1, section 3, section 5 and section 9
7. The degree of commitment to a shared life
I just wrote here that we have bought a business in NZ, and referred them to the documents in relation to our house purchase in section 2
8. Evidence of communication between you both
I provided three phone bills from July – September 2005 – my boyfriend was overseas at that time and I ran up dreadful phone bills calling him.
9. Evidence of you being committed to each other emotionally and exclusively, such as evidence of joint decision-making, and exclusive sexual relationship, and the sharing of household duties, parental responsibility and spare time.
I provided a copy of an email from lastminute.com which contained the itinerary from a holiday we took together in June 2005, a copy of an e=ticket for some flights from December 2005, and our plane tickets from our trip to NZ at Christmas.
My boyfriend dropped my application for permanent residence off at NZ House today. The case officer looked through the file and said it was a very straightforward application, and should be processed very quickly. He said their year end for processing applications is the end of June, and they haven’t yet met their quota of partnership applications so all the case officers would be fighting over it and it should all go through by the end of June. So, if you are planning to apply for PR based on partnership, now is a good time to submit it!
My boyfriend and I have been living together for over 12 months, but I was worried we didn’t have enough evidence of our relationship as all the bills are in my name, and we have only just opened a joint bank account and got a joint mortgage. (And I have only just added his name to the council tax account). Our lack of documents wasn’t helped by the fact he had shredded most of his old bank statements etc (grrrr!)
I wasn’t quite sure how to organise the documents. In the end I took the list of evidence needed from the website, and ordered everything under those headings (I had to drop a couple of the headings as we didn't have any documents in those). Then, I produced a numbered list of everything and if a document could go in several sections I listed it once and then cross-referenced it.
Here’s a list of the documents I submitted as evidence of our relationship, and how I ordered them for the application – hope someone finds this useful.
1. Proof of shared residence
In my boyfriend’s name only:
Letter about his company from January 2006
Letter from PADI from March 2006
1 bank statement from April 2006
Invoice from a hotel from April 2006
Letter from his bank from June 2006
Bank statements from February and March this year showing transfers he had made to my account
In my name only:
Bank statements from January, March & May last year (seems a bit random, but I wanted to give documents from the same time period as his documents to prove we were both living at this address)
Bank statement from February 2007
My most recent telephone and electricity bills (I included these just to prove all the bills are in my name).
In both our names:
Council tax bill
Letter from the bank regarding our joint bank account
Our mortgage agreement
I also referred to documents in section 3.
2. Financial dependence or interdependence
Copy of letter from our NZ solicitor regarding the purchase of our house in NZ
Notice of change of ownership of our house in NZ
I also pointed out the transfers from his bank account to mine which I had highlighted on the bank statements, and referred them to the letters from our bank mentioned above.
3. Any documents showing public or family recognition of your relationship
Letter of support from my partner’s family
Three wedding invitations and thank you cards
A christening invitation
All of the above were in postmarked envelopes. A couple of them were only addressed to me on the envelope, but the invitations themselves were addressed to both of us.
A postcard
Christmas cards from 2004, 2005 and 2006 (I’m a bit of a hoarder!) They didn’t even keep most of these.
4. Correspondence (including post marked envelopes) to you and your partner at the same address
I referred them to the relevant documents in sections 1 – 3.
5. Photographs of you and your partner together
I only included about 9 photos – most of them were from weddings and family parties. I stuck the photos to bits of A4 paper, and wrote the event, who the other people were in the pics, and if they were relatives, included this info too.
6. Evidence of the duration of your relationship
I referred them to the documents in section1, section 3, section 5 and section 9
7. The degree of commitment to a shared life
I just wrote here that we have bought a business in NZ, and referred them to the documents in relation to our house purchase in section 2
8. Evidence of communication between you both
I provided three phone bills from July – September 2005 – my boyfriend was overseas at that time and I ran up dreadful phone bills calling him.
9. Evidence of you being committed to each other emotionally and exclusively, such as evidence of joint decision-making, and exclusive sexual relationship, and the sharing of household duties, parental responsibility and spare time.
I provided a copy of an email from lastminute.com which contained the itinerary from a holiday we took together in June 2005, a copy of an e=ticket for some flights from December 2005, and our plane tickets from our trip to NZ at Christmas.