Can I bring my partner to New Zealand?

Frequently, I am contacted by New Zealanders who wish to bring their foreign national partners to New Zealand in circumstances where they are not living together with the partner. This includes situations where the couple:

• have lived together only briefly - e.g. following their wedding overseas, after which the New Zealand partner was required to return to New Zealand to their employment;

• have never lived together, and may have only spent time together on holidays;

• have never met in person - e.g. because they met on an online dating app, were introduced online through family or friends, or because it’s a culturally arranged marriage.

If you’re a New Zealander (that is to say, a NZ citizen or resident visa holder) who is currently living together with their partner (whether in NZ or overseas), then you should read my previous post on how to apply for a partnership based visa.

But if you’re not currently living with your partner or have never lived with your partner, and it’s not feasible or culturally appropriate for you to travel to live with them overseas for a period of time, then you may need to consider an application for a visitor visa for your partner. If granted, the visitor visa would enable your partner to join you in New Zealand, with a view to potentially applying for a partnership based visa once in New Zealand and if they’re living with you in a genuine and stable relationship.

If it’s a “culturally arranged marriage”, then potentially your partner might be eligible to apply for a visitor visa of up to 3 months’ duration under the ‘Culturally Arranged Marriage Visitor Visa’ category. Although I’ve had success in all of the visa applications I’ve lodged under this category, it’s a notoriously difficult visa category due to INZ’s strict definition of “culturally arranged marriage” combined with its onerous evidential requirements. I would therefore strongly recommend getting expert immigration advice before proceeding down this path.

For other types of relationships where a person wishes to join their partner living in New Zealand but they have not lived together, Immigration New Zealand (INZ) directs the person to apply for a “General Visitor Visa”. The applicant must meet all relevant immigration instructions to be granted a visa, including the requirement to be a ‘bona fide applicant’ – that is to say, they intend a temporary stay in New Zealand for a lawful purpose (in this case, a “family and social visit”).

One of the particular complexities of these types of General Visitor Visa applications for partners is demonstrating, with evidence, they have a “lawful purpose” (for example, evidence of the genuineness and stability of the applicant’s relationship with the New Zealand partner) and also that the partner will not remain in New Zealand unlawfully; or breach the conditions of any visa granted; or be unable to leave or be deported from New Zealand.

A further complexity often lies in how to accurately describe the relationship in the visa application. Often, it will happen that the couple are still in the process of establishing their relationship and therefore might not consider themselves to be “partners” yet - particularly as INZ defines that term. To further complicate matters there is no option in the INZ forms for “boyfriend” or “girlfriend”. Unfortunately, this can sometimes lead to the visa applicant deciding to omit from their visa application any mention of their New Zealand partner, which can potentially create problems not only with the application but also, potentially, down the road if they apply for a partnership based visa once living together with their New Zealand partner (e.g. prompting INZ to have concerns about the applicant’s ‘bona fides’ or even, potentially, character, if it considers false or misleading information was provided or relevant information concealed).

In conclusion, whilst it is possible to bring your partner to New Zealand if you’re not living together or have never lived together or haven’t yet met in person, it can be complicated, and an application’s success will likely depend on a range of factors relating to the relationship and to your and your partner’s personal circumstances. For that reason, I would always recommend getting expert immigration advice before proceeding with a visa application.

Visit my NZ Partnership and Family Visas web page for further details about my Partnership visa category services or contact me HERE to arrange a free call to discuss whether I can assist and whether you might benefit from an initial consultation.