[Oregonkiwi]

hi everyone,
I'm a kiwi and my husband is American. We're planning to move next year. It seems like there are a couple of ways we could handle his visa/residency, I'm not sure what the best way is. I'd really like to hear about how other people handled this and any advice would be great too. Thanks!
Avril

[Diny]

Hi there. My hubby is a Kiwi and he 'sponsored' me - that's how I got my PR. We applied under the family/partnership category.

It was all very straight forward, just had to prove our relationship, send off the usual birth certs, marriage certs, police checks & medicals etc. I had to fill in a certain amount of paperwork but the bulk of it was in his name - he was/is the sponsor (although in reality I filled them all in and he just signed the dotted line - he hates red tape).

The whole process was incredibly easy and only took 3 months from day one to completion - and I've heard that this was quite a long time - others have got PR a lot quicker under this category.

We dealt with the London NZIS from start to finish.

I don't want to be shot down in flames here - or tempt fate and make things go belly up for you, but as long as you can prove your relationship (and you don't have to be married) and you can produce all the necessary paperwork, getting PR is pretty much a done deal - no interviews, no other criteria to meet - all very plain sailing.

Good luck - and please feel free to contact me if I can help you in any other way.

Diny

[Oregonkiwi]

Thanks Diny, I'm glad to hear it went smoothly for you.
We'll probably apply for his residency after we arrive in NZ (seems like it will be a lot cheaper that way especially considering the cost of doing the medicals in the US) but this will mean he'll be coming to NZ on a one-way ticket without residency. I think we would need to get a visitor's visa for him - has anyone done it this way?

[Diny]

Sorry - can't help you on that one. I agree though that applying once you're in NZ is alot cheaper. It cost us stacks !!!

Have you considered buying him a return ticket and then simply not using it, it could still work out a cheaper option.

Good luck.

Diny

[baboonworld]

Hi - Im a kiwi with a Brit partner. We went same route as Diny and he got PR in principle within a month. The fees were probably about £700 all up. But I guess that is a drop in a very large container filled ocean once u start adding up all the costs!

[khhill]

Hi OregonKiwi, I'm an American with a Kiwi husband and getting ready to apply for PR via partnership category. We live in Arizona. I'm only waiting on the FBI Cert. now. (Quick note of advise, request FBI ASAP. It takes 2 months to process and is valid for 6 months after that).

As for applying from New Zealand and the one way ticket, you just need to have a transfer ticket, IE a cheap ticket to Australia, to get through customs.

Although it is cheaper to apply from New Zealand, I decided to apply in the US for several reasons: According to the websites, the processing times for family apps. in Auckland is 12 months! From what I've heard of people who applied through the DC embassy, it takes between 2 weeks and 3 months. Also, if you have health insurance in the US, the medicals could be fully covered. Mine were :raebanana

I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that today will be the FBI day (i'm in the 8th week of waiting).

Cheers!

[Oregonkiwi]

thanks for the advice everyone.

We have pretty stingy insurance - they quibble over every little thing - it's highly likely that they'd say the medicals weren't "medically necessary" and we'd be stuck with a who-knows-how-big bill. That plus the higher application fee are the main reasons we're not doing the application here. Would be nice, though, to have his PR approved before we moved.

How does the transfer ticket work? I've only booked regular return tickets before.

[kiwidebs]

Hi Oregonkiwi

I'm Debs, a Kiwi married to an English bloke who I am sponsoring to come to NZ. Like the others we chose to sort out his PR here in the UK, just so we can 'hit the ground running' as it were in NZ. Hopefully it will mean no holdups with him finding work as soon as possible. I don't fancy trying to support our family (us and two munchkins) just on a nurses salary in Auckland for too long.
Anyway, not sure I can be any more help to you at the moment, but if you have any questions for someone currently going through the process then feel free to PM me.

Debs

[khhill]

Hi OregonKiwi,

The transfer ticket is just a one way flight from New Zealand to Australia. US Citizens can enter New Zealand for up to 3 months without a visitors visa. To get through customs at the airport though, they will need to see either a return ticket, or a ticket leaving NZ for another country within 3 months. If he can't get PR once you're over there for 3 months, then you can apply for a visitors visa (or else take a vacation to Australia and when he re-enters, you get another 3 months). Let me know if I can be of any help.

It's nice to see others who are applying via partnership on the forum!

[Oregonkiwi]

thanks everyone.

We really want to avoid buying plane tickets we don't need so I've been looking into visas. Thought I'd share this email I got from a New Zealand consular officer:

"As your husband is married to a NZ citizen he can apply for a work visa based on marriage. In this way we can waive the outward passage requirement which would allow him to enter NZ on a one way ticket. If he would prefer to apply for a visitor visa we can also waive the outward passage requirement upon sighting evidence of your marriage, a copy of your NZ passport and a letter from you supporting your husband's application."

[jocalla]

thanks everyone.


"As your husband is married to a NZ citizen he can apply for a work visa based on marriage. In this way we can waive the outward passage requirement which would allow him to enter NZ on a one way ticket. If he would prefer to apply for a visitor visa we can also waive the outward passage requirement upon sighting evidence of your marriage, a copy of your NZ passport and a letter from you supporting your husband's application."

This is the way we done it. Difference is I am an Australia citizen, and we are from the UK. But my husband had a one way ticket, with a visitors visa, with the outward bound trip waived. We just took all our evidence to the London Immigration regarding proof of relationship and funds etc, they issued him the visitors visa there and then valid for 9 months. It was extremely straight forward. Came on the visitors visa, after a few days of arriving he was offered a job so went to the immigration office in christchurch and was given a work permit, he now has his pr.

[lee]

Howzit OregonKiwi,

Lee here. I am South African married to a Kiwi and we are living in the UK at the moment. I found the cheapest and most straight forward way was to apply for a work visa on the grounds of the family category section. Sent the documents off with passport, ploice clearance, medical certs etc and recieved my work visa back in 5 UK working days!? Hows that. The work visa cost £80 and all the medical stuff cost £150 and police certificate cost £20. The immigration office said once I am in NZ I can apply for my residency visa which will take between 6-9 months. Not sure how much that will cost in NZ dollars though.

Like I say, I found this super easy to do, no stress at all.

Cheers
Lee