[Terry&Sophie]

Hi all,

Does anybody have any experience in applying for residence as 'partners'? I don't have enough points without a job offer unless I can claim bonus points for having a boyfried on the POL. If we go down that route he might as well be the principle applicant since he gets more points than me. Problem is I'm struggling to find out how we prove we're in a 'stable' relationship. I'm sure I read somewhere that we need to have been living together for 12 months (should just scrape in on that one), and somewhere I read that they like to see photos (oo-er! :oops: ). Can anyone tell me where I can find the info on the immigration website? Or, even better, has anyone been through the same thing?

Thanks

Sophie (& Terry)

P.S. Just told the first member of my family - my sister - about the possible/probable move to NZ. Harsh. She just kept saying 'don't go!' V. scared about telling my mum now :wah :eek :? :uhoh

[Milliemoo]

Hi,

We'll be going through the same thing and I think you need as much as possible. We don't have joint bank accounts but we have the following:
* Council Tax
* Mortgage
* Letters from friends saying what a lovely couple we are I thi :laugh

I think that should be enough, but at a push I also have old valentines cards sent to each other and a few dodgy polaroids! :mrgreen: hohoho

Milliemoo ;)

[Terry&Sophie]

Hi Milliemoo,

We're scraping around trying to find stuff. Terry's only lived here for 12 months, so it's hard to find enough proof. He has found some bank and credit card statements from December that he had delivered to here when he moved in and changed the address. Council tax we don't have :oops: (swindled it a bit and said he moved in April this year) :oops: Really wish we could change that now! The mortgage is in my name, and he didn't start contributing until Feb this year because I was generous! (Again, wish I hadn't been!)

Photos we can do, although we can't prove when they were taken very easily! We've got friends who can verify... does that actually count for anything?

Wish I could turn back time and create more evidence! Otherwise we might have to delay until a year after we started to get joint bills and opened a joint account - January!

Any idea whether we can apply for EOI now, planning to move in Feb, with evidence to prove we've lived together for a year by the time we move? Probably unlikely. :wah :hopeso

Hope your application goes ok. Sounds like you'll have no problems! :nice1

Sophie

[Milliemoo]

Hi,

I don't want to sound like the voice of doom, but if your wanting to move out in Feb I'd get that EOI in ASAP! There's going to be huge backlogs with the number of people applying at the moment. We submitted on Sep1st and although we are down as 'sucessfull' on the NZIS website, I don't expect to recieve our ITA for a number of weeks. Added to that is the probability that they'll be interviwing EVERYONE who is successful without job offers, so you can imagine the delays. I can see it having a knock on effect for everyone going through the process at the moment.

Your timescale also falls over the Christmas period, so you may experience delays in getting police reports and medicals etc.

I know we are planning well ahead, but we don't plan to move until Spring 2006! Of course there's nothing to stop you going out before your PR comes through....plenty of people do it. Just make sure that you let NZIS know where you are and where you can be contacted. ;)

It will be interesting to see what happend over the next few weeks, as there's quite a few of us in the same boat :P

Milliemoo ;)

[Diny]

Hi Sophie

I'm going to NZ under the partner category so I can tell you how the process has been from my side of the fence.

My hubby is a Kiwi - as proof of his NZ citizenship we provided his birth certificate, school reports from way back in the 70's from Palmerston North Boys High School, photocopies of his current and any expired passports. There is a section on the application form where we had to include the details (names and birth dates etc) of his parents and brothers and sister.

Proof of a relationship - we've been married for 15 years so this was an easy one for us. Marriage certificate, 'special' marriage license, evidence of joint bank accounts etc. Utility bills in both names. Copy of solicitors letter regarding house purchase 7 years ago.

However, NZIS are looking for reasonable proof that you are in a genuine relationship. Send copies of any joint bills - even if they are very recent. Used envelopes which have been addressed to both of you (the older the frank date on them the better). Photo's are always good. As many letter/e-mails etc as you can from people who are willing to testify that you have been in a long relationship. Maybe a signed letter from a person 'of standing' in the community (doctor, magistrate, teacher, policeman etc) - all of these will help. What about your land lord? Would he be able to vouch for you?

There's abit of a grey area here though. If you say that your partner has the most points so he should be the principal applicant - I don't think he will qualify to sponsor you. The NZIS sponsorship form states:

IF YOU WISH TO SPONSOR YOUR PARTNER UNDER THE FAMILY CATEGORY - PARTNERSHIP POLICY - PLEASE ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS:

ARE YOU A NEW ZEALAND CITIZEN, OR THE HOLDER OF A NEW ZEALAND RESIDENCE PERMIT, OR THE HOLDER OF A CURRENT NEW ZEALND RETURNING RESIDENTS VISA, OR THE HOLDER OF AN AUSTRALIAN PASSPORT.

ARE YOU THE PARTNER OF THE PERSON YOU WISH TO SPONSOR?

IF YOU ANSWERED NO TO ANY OF ABOVE QUESTIONS, YOU DO NOT MEET THE REQUIREMENTS TO BE A SPONSOR UNDER THE FAMILY CATEGORY - PARTNERSHIP POLICIES.

So ... I don't know what your answer to the questions are but I have a sneaky feeling you won't be able to take this approach.

However .... don't dispair. I will back down at this stage as I know very little about EOI/POL applications. But there's dozens of folks on this forum who will be able to help. It may be an idea to start a new thread with a different title. There doesn't seem to be too many folks emigrating under the family category so you may not get that many people reading your posting if it doesn't apply to them.

I hope I've been of some help to you Sophie. Main thing is ...... there's more than one way to skin a cat. Just because the family category may not be applicable in your case doesn't mean that there's no other way.

Next weekend there is a NZ Immigration 'show' in London ...... I've never been to one but I understand they are very good and will take the time to let you know what ALL of your options are. I can't give you the name of the venue or times etc but there again .... the details are on this forum somewhere.

Good luck and hang in there.

Diny

[Jodie]

Hi Sophi & Terry,

I can probably help a little as we've just gone through the process of getting our work permits here (we've been in Wellington for 2 months now). I had a job offer on the POL, and Darren (my partner for 4 years - for his sins! :laugh ) applied for a work visa off the back of mine. We've also got our Permanent residency application going through at the moment, and our EOI was selected from the pool on the 15th September, so just waiting for the ITA now..... :hopeso (Again, I'm the main applicant on the EOI with Darren as my de facto partner.)

To prove we had been in a 'stable' relationship, we had to show:

- Joint bank account statements
- Joint bills
- Letters from our parents stating when we introduced them to our other halves
- Letters from somebody of standing in the community (one of my Dad's friends is a barrister - he was quite happy to confirm that he knew Darren & I in a relationship for the past 4 years - is there anyone you could ask?)
- Photos - Darrens graduation photos from last year, gran's 50th wedding anniversary party in 2001 etc. Darren's Dad sent us these photos and dated them on the back, and wrote in his letter that he was including the pics and when they were taken. I don;t think they're too worried about being able to prove EXACTLY WHEN they were taken, just that they're not all taken obviously in the same location, at the same time, in the same clothes, with the same hairstyles etc!
- Old landlord letters/tenancy agreements from the UK
- Building/contents insurance from our flat in the UK - it's in my name, but Darren is noted as living in the house too
- Life insurance in both our names
- Mortgage stuff from the UK

I think this was all (phew!) that we took with us to the NZIS office and they were more than happy. (We probably had too much stuff, but it's better to be safe!)

Do you have a Car? If you do and you're both named on the insurance, you can use that. Also, any appliances you've bought together might have both your names on the service agreement or any other paperwork that came from the store?

They also want to know that you intend to stay together for the forseeable future, so we showed them our flight tickets and passport stamps (to show we arrived here at the same time), travel insurance docs (we came over on a 1 year working holiday visa initially, so had travel insurance for a year), joint tenancy agreements, joint bills for here etc...

I think we'll need to supply the same stuff for the PR application, so kept all originals just in case.

Basically, anything that you can find to prove that your together you can use. I think it also depends on which case officer you're dealing with. The first one we saw when we went to the office initially, she wanted LOADS of proof. But when we went back 2 weeks later (after getting loads of stuff sent over from the UK), the guy we saw was quite happy only seeing half of what we had.

How old are you guys? If you're between 18 and 30, you can come on out here on a working holiday visa while everythings being processed to look for work, or if you've already got a job offer, get a work visa while the residency goes through. (that's the stage we're at now.)

Anyway, hope this helps a bit. Just realised how long this post is - sorry everyone!

If there's anything else, give me a shout.

Jodie

PS - where abouts in Bristol are you from? I lived in Hengrove most of my life, well, until I left for Uni in Bournemouth in 1999, and then moved out here in July this year! :nice1

[Milliemoo]

ooohhhh life insurance....forgot about that....thanks Jodie! :P

Milliemoo ;)

[Radders]

Hi this is the info I gave when applying through partnership. I was told if you've got this you don't need the letters/photos that sort of stuff:

My passport/ and birth certificate
By wife's passport to proove she's a kiwi
Marraige cert. - which you won't have
Bank statements going back 12 months or more with the same address for both of us.
Council Tax bill for the last 12 months
Tennancy agreement /( Letter from Landlord if not got one with both names on it)
Pay cheques (again tro prove you've been co habitating
That was pretty much it.

[chuchi]

delete

[Annierobrigado]

hi again

now that these questions arise, i find myself asking them too (when i thought i understood everything already!)

i'm married, does that mean the marriage contract/license isn't enough proof? i have to show other evidence? arent my children evidence too? i pay his bills (which are under his name, but i get to hold the purse so i'm the bill payer :laugh ), sometimes with checks (mine), but if they're older than one year ago i shred them coz i don't want to be a pack rat! :uhoh

pictures we have, as family of course, christmas and new year. do i need to show them as proof too? i could show my entire wedding album if they need to see, or pictures of hubby in the delivery room holding our newborns... oh new zealand! if it werent for this dream... :roll:

what else?

annie

[Diny]

Annie

It's all very confusing isn't it. I may well be wrong (certainly wouldn't be the first or last time) but I understand that if you are married the marriage certificate is by far the best proof you can provide. I understand that if you are in a defacto relationship then you need to go that extra mile with proving a long term, genuine relationship.

However, married or not, it's a good idea to provide as much info/proof as you can right at the very beginning. The more NZIS have to help them make a decision, the better your chances and you run less risk of being asked to supply further documentation.

Sooooo much red tape, but so worth it.

Diny

[chuchi]

hi annie,

are you using an immigration consultant here in the philippines? if yes, can i get the contact information?

if i were to apply for a work visa, do you think it would be ok to use a consultant or should i just go about it on my own? are regular travel agencies knowledgeable on work visas?

thanks,
chuchi

[Annierobrigado]

hi chuchi

no we're not using a consultant (yet). we just followed everything in the nzis (immigration) website, and so far we've just submitted our expressions of interest. like jinkee and jesselyn before me, they've also submitted their eois without consultants, and i think theyve been selected already from the pool. then they will have to gather all the proofs they need to substantiate everything they've claimed in the eoi, which they will submit to nz. i think this is when they are invited to migrate to nz. aahk, i think i have my wires crossed. my husband is the principal applicant, so he knows more about this than i do, i just learn from the people here in the forum.

(jesselyn, help, you know this better!)

a friend from saudi arabia sent us this email attachment, about living in nz. i don't know how to attach it here, but i'll just give you the website and email address, if you like you can contact them yourself. so far, we haven't contacted them, coz we might shell out a big sum and we're not yet prepared to do that.

Nth Dreams_Marketing [dreamnewzealand@yahoo.com]

nthdreams@newzealand.co.nz

their executive director is a kiwi i think, and their office is in bulacan.
will pm you the attached letter.

good luck!

annie


hello diny

thanks for your message, i think i will probably gather all that are pertinent to what i wrote in the eoi, and hopefully the others who will be invited before me will continue to post on this forum their experiences so we who are still waiting will be forewarned and forearmed! :laugh

:cheers
annie

[Dave & Sandra]

The marriage cert. isn't enough - you still have to prove that you have been in a long-term relationship for the last 12 months.

[Terry&Sophie]

Oh, ok, I'd better stop suggesting to Terry that a quick trip to the register office would solve our problems then! ;)

[Raeven]

The marriage cert. isn't enough - you still have to prove that you have been in a long-term relationship for the last 12 months.

This is my understanding, as well.

It is not sufficient to give them a piece of paper (i.e., marriage certificate) that shows only that you have been legally married for 12 months or more. You must also provide the proof that your relationship is stable, ongoing and bonafide.

While we have yet to go through the process of proving our partnership (bonafide marriage) for NZ, we have gone through this exact same process in bringing my husband over from Australia to the US, and it's the same. We provided copies of joint bank statements, wills, health insurance beneficiaries, life insurance policies, bills indicating joint responsibility, notarized affidavits from 3 friends testifying to the validity of our relationship and even a DVD of our wedding ceremony (the last was mostly just for fun, because it only proves we were married -- not that we're happily married now!!). We have prepared the identical information for NZIS for our partnership application. I am confident it will be accepted, because nothing is more grueling than US Immigration. By comparison, NZIS should be a cakewalk.

It's true you may not need all this documentation -- but you might. It depends a very great deal on the individual immigration official you happen to draw. Some may want to see tons of stuff, others not so much. But if you have it, why not present it and possibly save yourself any delays? :nice1

Diny is also correct that the partnership category only applies if your sponsoring partner is a NZ citizen, holder of a NZ residence permit, the holder of a current NZ returning resident's visa or the holder of an Australian passport. This is your very first test before worrying about anything else -- one of you must meet these criteria.

Best of luck to you both!! - Rae

[KD17]

We have not lived together for 12 months, but have been in our relationship that length of time.,

So - are you saying that if we get married all we will need to prove is that we have been together that length of time, or that we have lived together for a minimum 12 months??

If that's the case we had best wait a couple of months to prove how long we have physically shared the same house.

I would have thought that a marriage certificate would have been enough to prove a committed, long term relationship :?

K&D