[kiwijock]

Can those of you who have got PR through partnership tell me how long it took from submission of forms to being agreed in principle?

We submitted our application on 3 June 2008 and after not hearing about an allocated case officer within four weeks as we were told we sent and e-mail enquiring and we were then allocated a case officer "who we would be hearing from shortly" and that was 3 weeks ago.

I know I'm being impatient but not sure if I should send another e-mail. We have a buyer for our apartment, :clap and I hate my current job and can't wait to resign but daren't until we hear.

Our application is fairly straight forward me sponsoring hubby, medical fine no children so I guess I hoped we would hear quickly as I have seen posts that people hearing within 4 weeks of submitting.

What is the average time people got agreement in principle?
Should I send another e-mail?

:):):)

[Kiwi-In-Texas]

Hi:

My husband applied for PR through the Partnership Category... We went through New Zealand Embassy, Washington DC...We phoned his Case Officer today and she told us his application had been approved and to expect a letter later this week or early next week...It took 3 months from sending in his aoolication...When we sent in his application he was assigned a Case Officer within a day of the Embassy receiving his application.


Hope this helps, although you are applying in England not USA.

[Clappy]

Going through the London office, my application was submitted on the 19th May, I received an acknowledgement within a couple of days which said up to 4 weeks to be submitted to a case officer, then up to 12 more weeks for a decision.

The first thing that I heard was exactly 4 weeks later which was the Approval in Principle letter.

I think you should try and be a little more patient, you are probably only days away from hearing so long as there are no issues with the documentation and the medicals.

But bear in mind, despite having a satisfactory medical and police certificate, they might be going over the partnership evidence. I have heard of cases on here where they didn't accept the original submission.

[James 1077]

We submitted my wife's towards the end of Jan to NZ House in London and got the blue stickers at the end of Feb.

We did, however, submit in person and said that the flights were booked for the middle of March so they did hurry ours along a bit.

[Nettie 2]

Hi,
I have just looked up my details and I applied for residency on 9th Feb 07 and received a letter advising me of approval in principle on 26th March 07. So, what's that? About 7 weeks. I then sent off the Migrant Levy and passport which I received back with my blue stickers on 3rd April 07.
I know it's hard but be patient.... it will happen! Good luck. :nice1

[dharder]

It took four weeks for us from submission (in person) to receiving the approved in principle letter. We got one letter from them shortly after submitting informing us of the timelines, but we didn't have any separate correspondence telling us that they've assigned a case worker. Not sure if submitting in person makes it any quicker, or pointing out that you have your flights booked, I really couldn't say. We didn't say we had any pressure, and it took just a month. I really think it depends on how much they have to do :)

As others have suggested, you might just want to give them some more time there, it doesn't sound like an unreasonable amount of time has passed yet.

Daniela

[kiwijock]

Thanks for your replies, I know I need to wait a bit longer - just had my hopes high after hearing others experiences of hearing within 4 weeks of submitting.

I guess I'm also worried I didn't submit enough partnership evidence (3 consecutive years of council tax bills with both our names, marriage certificate and photo's from our UK & NZ weddings) but after seeing some of the lists other have submitted was a but worried I didn't submit enough.

Thanks


:) :)

[April]

What's the total cost of applying under the partnership category please?

[Kitten Witten]

Hi April,

For lodging at London office, which we have just done in May, it cost us £825 plus a further £110 to go:

£435 for the residence visa application
£285 for my medical (will obviously be more if you have kids to have medicals done too although they'll be on a cheaper rate than adult...)
£70 for two UK police checks (£35 each as I am from UK and my NZ partner has lived here longer than 12 months)
£10 for getting a copy each of our passports certified by a solicitor
£5 to get sponsorship form witnessed by solicitor (you can tell we found a cheap solicitor! :) )
and about £20 on passport photos for him and me and evidence photos!!

and when (not if, I hope!) we get approval we will also have to pay the migrant levy fee which is currently £110 per applicant (if you do have dependants/children they put a cap on that of £440.

I would say wherever you are in UK shop around for medicals as they do vary and I managed to find one of the seemingly cheapest in London through a bit of perserverence (I did find one for c. £269 but I liked the look of the one I went with....:) I also looked into travelling elsewhere for medical but it turned out no cheaper and some places were £350 plus the travel!

If you happen to live in London can send you links to cheapie solictor (Holloway Rd) and the two panel docs....

Good luck! :nice1

[jeffanar]

My OH applied for his in November last year and got the aprroval letter two days ago.... It obviously takes a lot longer if you're already in NZ!

[James 1077]

My OH applied for his in November last year and got the aprroval letter two days ago.... It obviously takes a lot longer if you're already in NZ!

I've got a friend who applied for hers in Auckland back in October - she has only now been assigned a case officer.

Unfortunately she was here on a working holiday visa so had to pack her job in when she could no longer work - she's hoping they will keep it open for her when she receives PR.

I've got another friend who applied 15 months ago but they keep asking for proof of ongoing relationship - she has pointed out that she provided them with evidence 15 months ago and she is still with the guy now so has more than satisfied the test!

I've suggested flying over to the UK for a couple of week's holiday and reapplying there! :)

[jeffanar]

I've got a friend who applied for hers in Auckland back in October - she has only now been assigned a case officer.

Unfortunately she was here on a working holiday visa so had to pack her job in when she could no longer work - she's hoping they will keep it open for her when she receives PR.

I've got another friend who applied 15 months ago but they keep asking for proof of ongoing relationship - she has pointed out that she provided them with evidence 15 months ago and she is still with the guy now so has more than satisfied the test!

I've suggested flying over to the UK for a couple of week's holiday and reapplying there! :)

Why didn't she apply for a partnership work permit/visa? My OH came over on a WHV, then applied for a temporary work permit and PR at the same time.

A few weeks ago they asked for evidence of our continuing relationship, but only for the last 3 months.

Yeah I really wish we had applied for it before we got to NZ, then he would have been here on PR the whole time and fulfilled the requirements for the IRRV. Unfortunately the move was rather sudden so we didn't have time to do that.

[James 1077]

Why didn't she apply for a partnership work permit/visa? My OH came over on a WHV, then applied for a temporary work permit and PR at the same time.

I think that she thought that the PR would come through nice and quickly so there wasn't any point. Then, whenever she rang immigration, she got fobbed off with a "we are dealing with it" and so didn't push it too hard.

[sophiedb]

Goodness only knows how long mine will take - I know I'm fine medically (consultant will back this up), but it's going to go to the MA, I just know it *sigh*