[hels1977]

Argh please help, it's contradicting itself and I'm going round in circles :(

Okay this linky here says proof that we have been living together for 2 years: http://www.immigration.govt.nz/nzis/operations_manual/4289.htm (E.4.1.10)

And then this linky here says a defactor partner is someone you can proove you have been living together for 12 months: http://glossary.immigration.govt.nz/Partner.htm

And some threads on here say we need photos and stuff, which okay we have a few, not loads though. We currently have no joint account or anything because we just take turns paying and are fairly good at keeping track as we are both "running" a house each so to speak, ie we have nothing joint!

Can anyone give me the up to date correct info on this please? Google is doing my head in :wah

I was working on 12 months, but if it's two years then :no.

[Caroline and Dave]

Hi Helen.
It is definitely 12 months. Also look at this
www.immigration.govt.nz/migrant/stream/live/partner/canimovetonz/whatisrequired/evidenceofpartnership/
I have looked at your first lead and I notice it is dated the year 2000. I have checked our documents and it is now 12 months

Hope this helps
Dave and Caroline

[tigerlily]

If you have bills coming to you at the same address (such as the gas bill for him and the water bill for her) that should show that you are living together. No pictures should be needed, they like official documents much more.

[Lizelle]

photos and stuff will not do it. we have been together 7 years (5 at the time when we applied), but did not really have anything joint, due to some circumstance or the other.

we came with photos, letters from our parents and a letter from an attorney. they kept sending our application back, saying that they need more proof of our relationship. we wrote nzis a letter, explaining our situation, and got it certified and everything, but they still wanted more proof.

in the end we remembered that we lived at the same place while studying, and got the university to send us our last bills, which was to the same address. that was immediately accepted, and we got our permanent residence.

it is definitely 12 months, though.

[Lizelle]

just on the joint stuff, you don't need anything joint if you have a letter or bill or something posted to the same address. we only had that one piece of concrete evidence (if you ignore the photos and whatnot), and that was all they needed.

[hels1977]

Thank you, had a panic last night when I saw 2 years "evidence" :o

[Hannah]

Helen, do a thorough search on this forum for 'partnership' proof. There's lots of advice.
I didn't bother with photos, letters from friends, etc. as i think thats 'soft' evidence compared to more official forms. We had both our names on kids birth certificates, and i also submitted copies of bills with each of our names on and evidence that our individual bank/BS accounts had money going to each other or evidence that we were paying for different bills each.
I read early on when i joined this forum that joint bank accounts were a must and that people were setting up joint accounts well before applying to prove that they were partners. I was really worried, but needn't have been as we didn't have joint accounts and it was never a problem. I think what they are looking for is evidence of financial interdependency. This doesn't mean one person has to fund the other, it just means that you share finances in some way (one pays the phone bill, the other buys the shopping; or one of you is not working and other pays the bills, whatever). We could prove this by cross referencing our individual bank accounts.
Copies of bills, bank statements and kids birth certs were enough. We were not asked for anything else.

good luck!

[Trigirl]

we'd only just been living together a year. but copies of bank statements were enough for us. we didn't have a joint account when we applied as we only set one up after we got married but copies of statements from each account going to the same address was sufficient to prove we were living together and also showed a regular monthly payment from one account to the other and occasional one off payments for holidays and things like that.

[sarahw]

We covered ourselves every which way - photos (dated & place on the back) of us with each other's family & on holidays, joint bills - surely you must have the council tax bill in both names??? All the rest of our stuff was individual but we sent one bill with each of us in & we got both fathers to be referees & write letters about our relationship confirming when we met, how long we'd lived together & how each other was considered part of the family. I handed our application in by hand & they took one look & said 'no problems!'.

[hels1977]

Hello

Thanks for the all the repies! Erm no we have absolutely no bills in the same name, he pays the CT and I transfer money to his account. :yes Although I dare say we'll be on the electoral roll thinking about it as the form has only just been submitted. I do have my bank statement that should be okay though as his comes to the same address (along with other non official stuff) and we have some dodgy photos and can get family statements etc so that should cover us when the time comes :cheers.

[Hannah]

There you go...transferring money to his account. If you supply your bank statements and his bank statements then you can prove that you were helping to pay the bills that are in his name. I highlighted in yellow pen the bits of the bank statement that show where money was transferred on particular dates and just put a covering note explaining (e.g. partner transferred £200 of his salary to my account each month to cover household bills....or whatever)
hannah