[bobbyj]

Hi guys...after a sleepless night worrying about how much evidence I have, I finally submitted my partnership visa application this morning at NZ house. Its a big relief and will be nice to go home tonight and look at the spot where my huge folder of evidence used to sit for months! haha

Had a lovely lady look through the application forms and ticked off all the bits we needed to submit (passports, birth certificate, forms, medicals, police reports)...but when it came to handing over the £460 fee I asked her if she was going to have a look through to see if we have enough evidence for the duration of the relationship. She said she didn't know what they were looking for in the family department (she works on another team) so you can imagine I was a little reluctant to hand over my hard-earned cash without the slightest peek at the stuff by the people at the first stage.

Anyway...only a slight niggle. Overall I'm chuffed to bits to have submitted it and will update everybody when I hear from a case worker.

:)

[suebeenz]

Congrats bobbyj! Natural to feel that mixture of relief and terror at this point. From other people that I know that have submitted proof of partnership, they aren't quite as strict as you might fear. I'm sure you guys will be fine. :cheers

[holland]

congrats xxxx

J and Gx

[Jo Jo]

Congratulations and good luck.

I am sure if there is any more evidence they want to see they will just ask you for it, so your application fee won't go to waste.

When I submitted my partnership application they actually handed loads of it back to me as they didn't need it - the things they were most interested in were proof of address: bank statements, utility bills and that sort of thing.

[wiki]

And in the worst case scenario, they will process your application, but then withhold your blue sticker for a few months until they can judge you've been together 12 months. I heard of someone who applied after only having a joint bank account seven months, and NZIS gave them their blue sticker after another 5 months.

The thing is, they really, really, really want kiwis to fly home, so they will do everything they can to grant a partnership claim.

I can't tell you how worried we were about ours - my UK other half had pretty serious medical issues, and although we had odd stuff like joint English Heritage cards for years, we only had a joint bank statement for a few months... but we got approved after four and a bit months, and looking back, it wasn't nearly as stressful process as it felt at the time.

And the money is an investment in your future - not all investments pay off - but this is certainly one worth taking a risk on.

Good luck.

[bobbyj]

Thanks guys!
I was a bit concerned because we only have about 9 months of evidence of actually living together (although we have been together for 3 years)...but when she completed the cover sheet, the immigration official stated that we had evidence from December last year so they would hold off giving us the stickers until that 12 months was up. Ordinarily I would have waited another few months to be sure, but my parents are going to NZ for a holiday and we really wanted to be out there with them. I told the official that we have already booked flights etc and she said not to worry - if it comes to it, they can transfer everything over to Wellington if the 12 months isn't quite up. Like you say...its a big relief though. I can really look forward to everything now!!

[bobbyj]

Oooh...just one other thing has crossed my mind. The medicals need to be less than 3 months old. If they hang around until December before giving me my blue stickers - that would mean the medicals will have expired won't it? What do you guys reckon? I mean - what if for some reason your application took longer than expected...do they count the beginning of the application from the time you are assigned a case worker?

[wiki]

Don't worry, they count it from the date of your application. Any administrative delay on their part - whether deliberate or accidental - won't make an impact.

[Croft]

Don't worry, they count it from the date of your application. Any administrative delay on their part - whether deliberate or accidental - won't make an impact.

When we got our PR we delayed the full 6 months before getting the blue stickers put in. I sent the passports in about a week before the 6 month deadline, only to get a reply saying my passport would expire in 9 months and to get the full 12 month PR window I should get it renewed. The UK Passport Agency were very impressive - got my passport back within a week and that was on the standard service. I then sent it back to NZ House, by now a couple of weeks beyond the deadline and I expected them to back date it but not. the actually used the current date (which by that time was a month beyond!).