Good news friends and followers! I have received my confirmation of acceptance for the New Zealand Residency Visa. WHAT A RELIEF. I am free to live here in New Zealand indefinitely and in 2 years I can become a permanent resident. Although feels wonderful to get this visa it was not super simple, it WAS NOT easy! If you are currently in the process of going for an NZ spouse visa and are struggling with your application and understanding of how to apply, don’t worry you are not alone and I am here to help. This blog post is to share my experience of applying for the NZ Resident Visa through partnership (sponsored by my boyfriend who is Aussie!), what I did and how I prepared for it. I hope it helps you.
It has been amazing, the amount of positive feedback and comments that have come to me after sharing my original visa example post: How I completed my NZ Partnership Work Visa. I have had so many messages of thank you from people struggling through their applications and just needing a little peer example. This proves that it really does help to hear what someone else did for their application and that some of the information out there can be super vague. I hear ya and I’m here for you!
If you haven’t read this previous post, I suggest having a look, because how I applied for that visa, forms the basis of how I applied for my new residency visa. Check it out here: How I completed my NZ Partnership Work Visa.
If, like me, you have previously had the NZ partnership WORK visa then you shouldn’t find it too difficult to complete in the residency visa application because it is very similar. I was so relieved not to have to do a new police certificate from the UK, or a new Medical Exam because both of these from my previous visa have validity that extended through into the application for my residency visa (more on this below).
One cool thing about the application for this partnership residency visa is that there is was the option to do it all online. (I am not sure if this is the same for those from all countries so be sure to check this.) I was so happy to be able to do it this way because it meant less paper, less faffing around and it kept everything all in one place. (If you are doing it with physical documents – then this post is tailored to an online application to bare that in mind)
TIP! had some relevant documents saved in Dropbox from my previous application to the Partnership Work Visa, I was able to easily use some of these documents. If you are doing an application – try to save all your things into a safe place as you never know when you might need them!
HOW I APPLIED FOR MY PARTNER OF A NEW ZEALANDER RESIDENT VISA
Things I did before I started:
1. Made sure I already had a visa to stay in NZ! – There is no bridging visa for the residency visa so it’s important to be either out of the county or on another work visa if in New Zealand. I had the NZ Partnership work visa that was valid for 2 years which gave me plenty of time.
2. Started to prepare well in advance. – My work partnership visa still had about a year left before it expired but I decided to apply for the residency because, as the immigration website says, it can currently take up to 9 months to be approved and I wanted by current visa still to be valid while I waited for residency.
3. Saved up! – The visa cost me $1200 (ouch!) I made sure I had this sitting ready to go before I applied. For more info on what it might cost you, check out this site: https://www.immigration.govt.nz/new-zealand-visas/apply-for-a-visa/tools-and-information/tools/office-and-fees-finder
4. I read and reread the requirements for the visa on the immigration website – This was to be sure I had my head around everything that I would need in preparation for applying and to make sure there was nothing that was going to take an excessive amount of time and.
5. Gave myself around 2 months to gather everything before putting the application in. – This was to make sure I had everything together and perfectly organised before sending in the application. I didn’t want them decline me on the basis of missing information. (Although I think they would just ask for it before declining if I had accidentally missed something). For all the things I gathered, see below:
Checklist of things I needed to gather:
I gathered all of these things in electronic form into folders as I knew I would need to upload them online once I started my application. I found it useful to get everything together first before uploading rather than uploading as I went – this way I could be sure I didn’t miss anything.
• Police Certificates – A police certificate from Australia (because I have spent more than 12 months there in the last 10 years), Lucas police certificate from Australia – both with fingerprints
• New passport photos – They have to be done within 6 months of applying
• My birth certificate – Make sure you have the long certificate rather than the short one – I had to apply for the certified copy from the UK as my original seems to be misplayed!
• Lucas passport photo page scanned
• My passport photo page scanned
• Lucas’ Partnership Support form signed by the Justice of the Peace – This form (insert link) is your partner’s official support for your visa. It has to be signed by a justice of the peace – we went to Wellington Central Library to do this.
• Proof that we had been living together – This included: Our Tenancy Agreements, Bills, Letters sent to us individually and together)
• Proof of our ongoing relationship – This included: Photos of us together, all our individual and joint bank statements, Web chats and conversations, “Thank Yous” from friends weddings etc.)
• The e-medical number from my previous medical (done within the last 24 months)
• My siblings and parents birth dates and jobs – This is something you will need to enter into the application online.
• A letter to immigration – I just repurposed the letter I sent for my work visa application
Things I wouldn’t need again (but you might):
• New Medical Examinations
• A police certificate from my home country
Disclaimer: Make sure you double check the NZ Immigration Website for your individual needs as they might differ to mine. Mine is only an example of what I did, I cannot tell you for sure what you will need.
Getting my Partner of a New Zealander Resident Visa Application Together:
As I mentioned, the way I gathered things together this was slightly different to how I did my NZ Partnership Work visa because I was going to be applying online this time rather than with physical documents. So to do this I created folders in Dropbox and then began to fill them with all the things I needed checking things off along the way according to the things listed as needed on the Immigration website.
The three folders I created on my desktop were:
- Personal Documents
- Proofs of our Ongoing Relationship
- Proofs of Living together
And then within the folders, it looked like the following:
1. Personal Documents
2. Proofs of our ongoing relationship
3. Proofs of living together
FILLING OUT MY NZ RESIDENCE VISA APPLICATION
Using Real Me:
First things first, when I started to do my application online (much easier than through a physical folder –trust me) I needed to log in! This is done via “RealMe” https://www.realme.govt.nz/ which is an NZ government system allowing you to enter many online services using the same password and securely prove who you are. When I was doing this application, I realised that I already had a RealMe account from previously, so it was easy for me to log in. If you don’t, you can create one. Just go to this page on the Immigration website HERE
I would suggest that once you have this login, remember your details because you are likely going to need to log in several times to get your application complete and ready. You can save what you have entered and keep going back to it, which makes things so easy and convenient and it also prompts you with the things you will need to upload and enter. Phew!
So it’s as simple as that really, you then you simply follow the steps and the prompts and enter all the information that you need to. SO MUCH better than the physical application for the work visa!
I saved my documents onto my desktop until the very last minute before uploading them, to make sure that I had everything in one place and didn’t miss anything. The documents were the last thing I uploaded. I then made my payment and pressed SUBMIT!
After Submitting
I sent in my application on 14 September 2018. I received a notification saying that my application had been received and would then be submitted to a case officer.
A few weeks later I was emailed to say that I needed to upload some more bank statements. (A whole year of statements from our accounts individually and joint) and also to verify that Wellington was not my birthplace! (I must have accidentally uploaded this) – Once this was all done it went to my case officer for review.
On the 11 January 2019, my visa was approved. HURRAY!
Lessons Learnt:
• Read everything thoroughly! I needed fingerprints for both our police certificates from Australia but it was not really clear until I re-read the rules. I only just had enough time to get them as this takes a long time. So make your checklist early and double check it!
• The more you send in the better – Just send in loads of bank statements and letters and bills to be on the safe side and show you are living together.
• It only took mine 3 months to process. This was so much quicker than I expected! But I imagine it can differ so make sure you allow enough time.
• It’s easy once you know how. 😉
So anyway, I hope this helps! Don’t forget to look at my old post on my application for the NZ Partnership Work Visa if this is what you’re applying for!
Good luck with your Partner of a New Zealander Resident Visa Application. I hope my experience can help you.
Let me know how it goes! And if you have any questions about how I completed mine – pop them in the comments below. Please note: I can’t answer specific questions about your personal visa because 1. I am not an immigration advisor and 2. I am not an expert – I have just done it once.
Thank you for reading. Do check out the other posts in my Moving to NZ category for more tips and experience of making the move here. You might find the following posts useful:
9 Essential Tasks for Moving to NZ
Keeping in touch with home when living overseas
Thanks for reading and come back soon!
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Peace
Josie x