[minnie_cooper]

Has anyone had recent experience of applying for a partnership visa in London?

OH has just dropped in his application today and the (rude sounding!) person at the desk said "It's taking at least 4 weeks to assign a caseworker, and then approval will take another 3 months after that!!!!

Buoyed up by comments on here like 'it only took 4 weeks for ours to come through' I was expecting things to happen quickly.

We were desperately hoping to be leaving in the first week of July as we thought our case was so open and shut (I'm a NZ citizen, we're unmarried but have lived together for 7 years, with a joint mortgage and a joint bank account AND 2 children. OH passed his medical with flying colours etc.).

Does anyone have any stories to tell of their application in London? I'm utterly disheartened and would like to know what to expect.

:( :( :(

[JandM]

I'm afraid I don't have an easy and optimistic answer for you about timings. What everybody on here's stories boil down to is that when you put your paperwork in for ANY kind of visa, you're in a queue, in the hands of a huge bureaucracy, and it takes as long as it takes the CO to process it, WHEN it gets to the top of their pile and they actually start on your case.

HOWEVER, this doesn't necessarily mean you can't leave when you were hoping to. I believe people in your partner's situation have sometimes been granted a temporary work permit to bridge the gap till their PR comes through - this particular reason isn't mentioned here, but I think it's the same kind of visa. http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migrant/stream/work/worktemporarily/requirements/Familystream.htm Another possibility would be for your partner to travel in as a visitor, get a job offer, and then inform NZIS of that in the hope it would speed up the application, or even try for a job offer while still in the UK. I'm not advising, just going by what I remember of what other forumites have said, but really your best bet is to get advice from NZIS themselves. (If you phone, use the number given for people from abroad on the website, as the other one costs £1 a minute.)

Do you yourself have a job lined up for when you get over there?

[minnie_cooper]

Thanks so much for your reply. We will most definitely look into that.

I don't have a job lined up yet, although have many contacts there in my industry, and can continue working for my UK clients remotely if necessary.

[JandM]

Another thought strikes me - I don't know if it'd be any use or not, as I have no idea of your ages, but might he be eligible for a working holiday visa, or BUNAC IEP (which goes up to 35)? http://www.immigration.govt.nz/migrant/stream/work/workingholiday/unitedkingdomworkingholidayscheme.htm
http://www.bunac.org/usa/workNewZealand/

[napiers]

When I applied for PR through Partnership I was told something similar to you. It went to them at the end of July and within a couple of weeks or so I had a letter saying it had gone to a case worker and then at the end of August I had approval in principle when I wasn't expecting anything till about October. So hang in there and fingers crossed it'll be faster than you've been told.

[minnie_cooper]

Thanks Napiers - it's good to hear someone else's experience - I hope that we're as lucky as you!

And, unfortunately we're both over 35 :) we're 36 and 37.

[mooncalf]

The delay can happen depending on how long it takes for your OH police clearance to come from NZ.

[Flutterby]

we are leaving in August and my application isnt in yet...waiting for my police cert, so i'm hoping it wont take that long either!
Good luck and keep us updated so we know how long it did take.

[jo1966]

Hi, my OH applied in December and we had a case ofiicer very quickly. However, he requested information on the children and the e-mail we sent went astray, once contact was resumed ( we needed passport for holiday) ,OH had the blue stickers in two weeks.
Good luck.

[James 1077]

I was told that it could take up to 4 weeks for a case officer and a few months after that. We had told them of our deadlines though (basically needed PR for OH in 6 weeks max).

The next thing we heard was a few weeks later that OH had been approved - we didn't even get told that we had a case officer!

So I wouldn't worry about it too much - but chase up in about 3 weeks if I were you.