# Family category - Partnership HELP please!!



## Hawkins (Mar 27, 2011)

Hello everyone,

I have been researching my little bum off regarding applying for this visa. My girlfriend and I have been dating for the past 2 and 3/4 years and have been living together for two of them. (However we were activity instructors so its kinda hard to prove we lived together for that first year.) 
She came over on an UK ancestry visa which is going to expire at the end of April.. Thus leaving us no choice but for me to go over there. We have spoken about it over the past year and have agreed that it would be the best thing to do. 

I have printed off all relevent documents, including the sponsorship form she needs to fill in. We are hoping to fill everything in and get it sent off as soon as possible so I follow her ASAP (We're looking at August 2011.) So she will be filling in the sponsorship form when she is here, however there is a question in the sponsorship form that asks if she is currently living in New Zealand. She cant state she is when she isnt, but at the end of the month she would be. So We are unsure of what exactly to write. 
I hope this is all making sense so far!

We can prove we've been living together with pictures, letters from family stating they've known we've been in a relationship for such and such a time, all bills are in both our names and we have our tennency agreement for the past year. I felt rather confident that we have enough documentation etc however after reading peoples threads on this website Im starting to panic a little. 

I am 23 in a few weeks time and completely forgot that when I was 19 I was denied a visitor visa to the USA because I couldnt prove I had enough ties in England which would prove I would be coming back. Is this likely to make immigration reject our application? 
I havent been to the USA since January 2007 and applied for the visitor visa in May 2007. 
Would a letter from myself explaining the situation help my case?

Also is the fact that my girlfriend is having to leave at the end of the month while the application is being processed/ sent off hinder our application too?

Would I be able to go on a working holiday visa and apply for a partnership visa IN New Zealand? Would this be a good idea/ better idea?

Thanks for taking the time to read this, I'm completely on edge at the moment!


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## topcat83 (Apr 16, 2009)

Hawkins said:


> Hello everyone,
> 
> I have been researching my little bum off regarding applying for this visa. My girlfriend and I have been dating for the past 2 and 3/4 years and have been living together for two of them. (However we were activity instructors so its kinda hard to prove we lived together for that first year.)
> She came over on an UK ancestry visa which is going to expire at the end of April.. Thus leaving us no choice but for me to go over there. We have spoken about it over the past year and have agreed that it would be the best thing to do.
> ...


It gets complicated, doesn't it?

I think the best thing is if i ask my cousin and his wife, who were in a similar situation. But that may take a couple of days. Watch this space


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## topcat83 (Apr 16, 2009)

Well here's my cousins story - but as she says, this was 17 years ago, and things change.

_I came into NZ on a 3 month visitors visa and applied for residency once I'd had a look around. (I wasn't letting hubby make any assumptions!!) Actually the second step I took was to apply for a work permit and an extension of my visitors visa, it was NZ immigration who suggested the far cheaper way was to go for residency. That was about 17 years ago - so your friends may need to check up on the costs these days.

If they know they will need residency eventually it makes sense to go that route, but I would advise them to start collecting documentary evidence of themselves as a couple as soon as they can. We did manage to gather letters addressed to both of us and ones we'd jointly sent - but only due to mother-in-law being such a hoarder. She'd even kept photocopies of the letters she'd sent to us in Greece!!

Things like Christmas Cards sent to or from them both add weight to the fact that they've been together for a considerable time, and if they have a joint rental agreement, or a tenancy deposit in joint names or a bank account held jointly that also seems to be worth a lot. As we'd been living on a boat with wages in cash, we had none of that so it's not essential. We managed to produce work permits for Corfu issued on the same day at the same office - to prove we'd been living and working together for years. It's just 
that if you are aware of the need for some of this stuff you can keep it instead of binning it all before you get here. Bizarrely we were interviewed and both asked the same question: Who was present at the time when you first met? I could recall about 5 or 6 people from that night, but hubby clearly had no idea, but guessed and was wildly out- luckily the immigration officer just said to him "she'll kill you when she gets you out of here for not remembering every detail of that night". So they do have a sense of humour.

I wish them the best of luck, and if you think we can be of further help - just let us know._


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## Hawkins (Mar 27, 2011)

Sorry its taken so long to respond and say thank you for speaking to your cousin!

My girlfriend left the UK to go back to NZ last Wednesday so things have been a bit crazy really. After doing research I've decided it would be better to apply for residency here instead of over there (Apparently the processing times in Auckland are 9months for residency!!). Now its just gathering up paper work and proving that we've been in a relationship for nearly 3 years!

I've also decided to hire an imigration agent to help with everything just because I am worried about the visa denial when I was 19. Has anyone worked with Kiwi Imigration? Because thats who I have interest in hiring. The price is reasonable (Well.. As reasonable as it can be!) but I havent found much on them apart from their website.

Thanks again for all your help, Im deffinately glad I found this forum!


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## Hawkins (Mar 27, 2011)

Another question I've got.. I've got to do my medical soon, can any one tell me what exactly they do? 
Obviously chest xrays.. I'm guessing a few blood tests.. Urine tests? And how long do I have to wait for the results to be sent to me?

Any help is appreciated immensely! I think I'm getting myself worked up about it all!


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## topcat83 (Apr 16, 2009)

Hawkins said:


> Another question I've got.. I've got to do my medical soon, can any one tell me what exactly they do?
> Obviously chest xrays.. I'm guessing a few blood tests.. Urine tests? And how long do I have to wait for the results to be sent to me?
> 
> Any help is appreciated immensely! I think I'm getting myself worked up about it all!


All the things you say. If I remember our medicals correctly, we actually left the doctors surgery with them clutched in hand. But they do seal them, so you can't peek! I think it's so you don't get the chance to meddle with them, but I wish they'd tell you what they've put in them...


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## dawnclaremaddox (Jan 7, 2011)

topcat83 said:


> All the things you say. If I remember our medicals correctly, we actually left the doctors surgery with them clutched in hand. But they do seal them, so you can't peek! I think it's so you don't get the chance to meddle with them, but I wish they'd tell you what they've put in them...



Hi there, we had our xrays and medicals in mid-March and we came away and read ours as it was left open. The only thing that was was a little unusual was my blood pressure 140/80 when it's normally 100-105/60-70 (doctor put that down to stress), otherwise everything good.


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## cinders (May 31, 2011)

Hawkins said:


> I've also decided to hire an imigration agent to help with everything just because I am worried about the visa denial when I was 19. Has anyone worked with Kiwi Imigration? Because thats who I have interest in hiring. The price is reasonable (Well.. As reasonable as it can be!) but I havent found much on them apart from their website.


Hi Hawkins, I came out on a partnership visa late 2009. Slight difference for me though, as OH & I are married and together 12years at the time of visa application, so lots of evidence. We included some photos, bills with both names, invitations etc in our applicaton.

Although the forms are long, its pretty straightforward, so you may want to save your money and skip the immigration agent. If you do use an immigration advisor, make sure they are registered in accordance with NZ law - check out iaa.govt.nz for more info.

I can't post the link to the medical form but you can find it on the NZ Immigration website - you'll need to print it & fill in the relevant bits. You can see all the things they test for listed on the form. I photocopied mine after the Dr completed it - wanted to keep a copy for reference, just in case.

There is space on the form to explain why you were refused a visa. 

It is really stressful, but once its all done, you'll be wondering why you were so stressed about it all! 

By the way this isn't immigration advice - just sharing my experience! Good luck!!


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