[Mochaskins]

I am engaged to a New Zealand national who's been living in London for the past six years but still holds a NZ Passport.

We have been together since December 2003. (Evidence on photos, flight tickets, bank transfers, receipts etc) and are looking to head to NZ for January 2007 (via South America in October).

We don't know how long we'll stay (at least a year) so I'm opting for the Work Visa route for now. (I'm 30, but this option gives more flexibility to work than a working holiday visa).

Should we deceide to stay in NZ, how easy is it to apply through the sponsorship/partnership route having entered NZ on Working Visa?... To make it clear, I have not decided to emigrate, but must be aware of the options should we end up wanting to settle there.

If anyone has advice it would be appreciated.
Thanks
Mochaskins

[Oregonkiwi]

Welcome to the forum!
I'm a kiwi with an American husband. We're moving back to NZ in October. For various reasons, we don't want to apply for PR for him until after we arrive in NZ, so we've applied for a work visa for him. (It's currently being processed.) I called the NZ Consulate and spoke to a visa officer who said that applying for a work visa under partnership is very straightforward, and that there's no problem with getting a work visa first and then applying for PR later. The work visa application form even asks, "Do you intend to apply for residence under Partnership policy?"

If you submit police checks and medicals you could probably get a 2 year work permit which would give you plenty of time to decide whether to apply for PR or not.

Just make sure you don't overstay your visa before you apply for PR as that would cause you problems. Otherwise you should be fine.

Try searching the forum, there are lots of useful threads about applying under Partnership and what documentation you need, etc.

Feel free to ask as many questions as you come up with!

[Mochaskins]

:) Thanks... I'll get on with searching!

[Oregonkiwi]

You're welcome! I just thought of something else, (you probably already know this but just in case) - you didn't say whether the 2 of you are living together. To apply for anything under Partnership, you must have been living together for a year. And, if you don't already have a joint bank account, could be good to do that, as NZIS really seems to like joint bank statements.

[Mochaskins]

Yes, we are living together (two years now!).

Good info on the bank account... we didn't have one together as we've got by on transfering regularly between us both. I'll get onto that asap though.

Congrats on your application, by the way!!! :nice1