[Karen]

My partner and l (both women) are planning to move out next year on a 2 yr work visa/permit and then apply for PR once there if we feel settled. I've searched the forum but can't seem to find any excate criteria for 'proving' a relationship. The house is in my sole name but the council tax obviously shows the 2 of us live there, some of the bills are in my name and some in her's, we have seperate bank accounts although regularly transfer monies across to each other, we have been on holidays together and have some photos of the 2 of us together (but not with dates on).

Has anyone else got any recent experiance of 'proving' their relationship and does anyone know if the requirements are different for same sex partners as opposed to opposite sex partners? Also, any other forms of proof which may be needed?

All/any help gratefully received.

Karen

[Soon2baKiwi]

Hi Karen

I've sent you a PM.

Regards

[Karen]

Cheers Soon2bkiwi, didn't know about that forum!

Have joined so am planning to bombard them with lots of questions!

karen

[selchie]

There are no differences between same- and opposite-sex de facto relationships. Apparently NZ is "gender blind", which is a breath of fresh air. Proof could include bills containing a common address, either with both names or some in each of your names. Pick some from at least a year ago and some very recent. Photos and statements from friends and family also count, from what our ITA read. There should be more info for you when your packet arrives.

Did you know that NZ Parliment passed a Civil Union bill early this year? Hopefully nothing bad has happened to it since I last looked.

[Avalon]

Karen,

Dont have any direct experience of this, but I did see a couple in NZ house who also had trouble proving their relationship, and we are in email contact with a couple who Cannot do it for the needed length of time and so have had to work round it. In thier case they both ahve to apply separately because they havent been together long enough. Neither were same sex couples, but they still had difficulties. As Selchie says here it makes no difference, so you should face no extra problems!

One of the NZIS officials said they do look at sometimes "odd" peices of evidence - so I dont see why statements and photos cant be used - even if they are not dated. In cases like this - they seem to be looking for genuine realtionships, so Id say a stack of holidays photos covered that nicely!

Good luck!

[Karen]

Phew......sounds like we've been worring over nothing, we knew new zealand has a great atitude to same sex relationships but were unsure how to go about showing a committed partnership!

Hummm......wonder if l can use the bill sharing thing to convince her to take over the credit card repayments???!!!

Karen and Joolz

[Tanya]

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3258434a11,00.html

Tanya

[Tanya]

http://www.immigration.govt.nz/nzis/operations_manual/7157.htm

Might help.

Tanya

[Moorf]

Have PM'd you :)

[Michelle and Richard]

Its excatly the same rules it used to be evidence of 2 years and now its one year of what they refer to as a stable and commited relationship. Any statements, photos, passport stams, holiday tickets will all help, the more the better.

Michelle

[katandbob]

Thanks for the link Tanya, I wanted a list of what was considered evidence, and I logged on to post the question, but now I don't need to

Cheers

Kat

[jonSE]

Karen

As others have said NZIS is gender blind by law. But you have me confused - as I interprete your post you are both going to apply for work visas then after two years apply for PR. Unless I missed something crucial somewhere I infer that neither of you has the right of residence here at the moment? in which case proving the long lasting relationship thing is not relevant unless you are thinking that one of you has a much better chance of getting a work visa than the other?

As far as proving the long lasting relationship thing, they are looking for two kinds of evidence to prove this
(Try and think of what they are trying to prevent - the "marriage of convenience" just to get a right of residence) It happens in the UK although god knows why!

This is best proved by demonstrating you have been together as a couple for as long as you can - holiday pics, christmas cards to both of you anything that may be able to prove longevity - xmas cards from more than one year from the same person.

... and then more official records that prove (as well as being a couple) that you have shared the same place for as long as. Without joint bank accounts it would be good to show joint contribution to living expenses, even if this means showing transfers of money to and fro to pay for bills etc. the fact that some bills are in one name and some in t'others is good. Telephone bills with numbers on is useful - point out both sets of parents phone numbers or something similar. Anything that proves you were both living there.

Hope this helps

I'll reiterate what I said earlier - NZIS is trying to prevent the "marriage of convenience" type of fraudulent residence application. They aren't trying to make it difficult for genuine applicants to get in.

[Do B Brief]

When I applied recently for work/visa permits for myself, wife and kids we had to write a letter of support giving a brief account of how we met and what we did, where we lived etc.

As I had found a job it meant that my wife would get an open work permit along with mine.

If this is what you are trying to do then a letter of support with photos etc would do and NZIS would just make photocopies etc.

Otherwise for work permits, you could both apply individually?

There would be no extra costs involved but may take away some evidence when applying for PR together...hmmm so maybe applying as a couple is the best route.

[Karen]

Sorry - sounds as though l've confused you guys with my original post (it was written at 0130!!)

Joolz isn't able to get a visa in her own right so will be entering on the back of mine. Once there, she's hoping to work part time which won't be a problem l believe? We deliberately haven't applied for PR as we want to make sure we settle first before spending loads on the PR application. If/when we do settle, then we'll apply once we're out there.

Thanks to everyone who's replied to the post as our minds have put at ease with regard to what will constitute as proof - the phone records were a great idea as we've pages of those!!!!

Cheers again, we'll let you know how we progress

Karen

[Jonathon1977]

I am glad you asked this question my partner and I have some similar concerns. We have only been together for about 4 years but we feel it is for life and need to find a way to prove it since the US does not allow for de facto relationships.

We can provide joint bank statements and other joint obligations and we hope that is enough. Please let me know how things progress.