Navigating Long-distance Relationships while Applying for a NZ Partnership Visa

Long-distance relationships present a unique set of complexities when applying for a New Zealand Partnership Visa. Those complexities will differ depending on the relationship (e.g. whether the couple live together currently, whether they’ve lived together at all and, if so, for how long) and, potentially, on the Immigration status of the supporting partner (e.g. whether they’re a NZ citizen or resident or a NZ work visa holder).

Introduction to the concept of the New Zealand Partnership Visa

A partnership visa is a visa granted to a person who is the “partner” of a New Zealand citizen, NZ resident or holder of a certain type of temporary visa. Partnership visas can be either visitor, work or residence visas.

A person who has lived in a partnership with an NZ citizen or resident for less than 12 months may be eligible for an initial partnership work or visitor visa of 12 months duration, with the potential to apply for a further work or visitor visa of 12 months duration (24 months in total). A person who has lived in a partnership with their New Zealand citizen or resident partner for 12 months or longer may be eligible to apply for a partnership residence visa (and/or a partnership work or visitor visa of 24 months’ duration. Partners of holders of certain types of New Zealand work or student visa may be eligible for a partnership visa (which might be a work visa or a visitor visa, depending on the circumstances) of the same duration as their supporting partner’s visa.

Immigration New Zealand (INZ) defines a partnership to exist where a couple is “living together in a genuine and stable relationship”. Meeting this definition is a critical requirement for the grant of a Partnership Work or Visitor Visa. For the purpose of a Partnership Residence Visa application, however, the couple must “have been living together for 12 months or more in a genuine and stable partnership with a New Zealand citizen or resident”.

The above definition and requirements present a number of challenges for long-distance relationships. For example:

• If you’re a New Zealander who hasn’t lived with their overseas “boyfriend” or “girlfriend” yet or have only stayed together briefly with them (e.g. on short vacations), it’s unlikely they’ll be eligible for any kind of Partnership Visa. But it might be possible for them to apply for a General Visitor Visa for a family/social visit. For that application, they’ll need to meet INZ’s stringent “bona fides” requirements, which include consideration of (amongst other things) their ties to their home country and the nature and extent of your relationship. If a General Visitor Visa was granted and your boy/girlfriend travelled to NZ for their visit, and you subsequently commenced “living together in a genuine and stable relationship” in NZ, they might become eligible to apply for a Partnership Work or Visitor Visa.

• If you’re a New Zealander living in New Zealand and your partner lives overseas but you’ve previously lived together for a period of more than 12 months, they might still be eligible to apply for a Partnership Residence Visa, even if you’re not currently living together. However, their potential eligibility would depend on a wide range of circumstances, including, for example, the recency and duration that you’ve  lived together and the amount of time you’ve lived apart, whether it can be truly said you’ve “lived” together and not just “stayed” together (e.g. in holiday accommodation or while maintaining separate residences), whether you can provide compelling reasons for the periods you’ve lived apart and evidence to show how you’ve maintained your relationship during those periods.

• If you’re currently in NZ on a Work Visa and looking to apply for NZ Residence, and you wish to include your partner who lives overseas in your residence application, then you’ll need to demonstrate you and your partner have lived together for at least 12 months for them to be eligible to be included in your application. 

These are just several of the numerous possible scenarios and issues  that can arise for people in long-distance relationships. Given the complexities and risks involved, I’d strongly recommend anyone in a long-distance relationship contemplating lodging a NZ visa application to seek professional assistance.

Preparing the application

For any type of visa application, it’s all about providing good quality evidence. The onus is on the applicant to demonstrate, on the balance of probabilities, that they meet all of the requirements of a particular visa category (some of which may not be obvious to the uninitiated). In the next section, I discuss how technology can be leveraged to gather some  evidence needed to demonstrate that a genuine and stable relationship exists. But other types of evidence will also be required depending on the type of visa being applied for (e.g. other evidence of the visa applicant’s “bona fides” for a General Visitor Visa application).

In addition to the relationship and other kinds of evidence, the visa applicant will, of course, need to prepare an online visa application form (for which they’ll need a ‘Realme’ account unless they’re applying through an Immigration Lawyer or other agent), and provide a range of identity documents, including a copy of their passport, passport sized photograph, birth certificate and potentially other identity documents, as well as potentially medicals and police clearances.  

The supporting/sponsoring partner may also need to provide completed and signed INZ forms (e.g. supporting partner form or sponsorship form), a copy of their passport and potentially other types of documents (e.g. police clearances).

The specific documents and forms required will differ depending on a number of factors, including the type of application being lodged, the type and duration of visa being applied for, and the circumstances of the visa applicant (including their nationality), so once again I would recommend seeking professional assistance in the application’s preparation.

Leveraging technology in your long-distance relationship

Through the effective use of technology, there is a range of types of evidence you can collect to help you  demonstrate to INZ that your and your partner’s relationship is “genuine and stable” despite not living together or having lived together previously. For example, copies of all your daily text chat and call history with your partner can demonstrate that you are maintaining your relationship while geographically separated. If you’re providing financial support to your partner, copies of electronic fund transfers through the banking system or third party companies such as Orbit Remit or Western Union can be used to demonstrate financial dependence/ interdependence. If you’re a social media user, screenshots of relevant pages can be used to demonstrate your relationship’s genuineness.

However, even with these types of relationship evidence, if the couple has not lived together previously or are not currently living together or don’t have evidence to prove they’ve lived together, this will normally limit the possible visa options

When to consider hiring an immigration lawyer?

My admittedly biased opinion is that you should engage an immigration lawyer at the very outset of the process for a number of reasons.

1. Why take risks with one of the most important applications you’ll ever make?

2. If you and your partner are in a long-distance relationship, your situation will already be complicated, and you’ll need proper advice on the best options depending on your particular circumstances (and no two relationships are identical).

3. There will frequently be additional complicating factors or potential “red flags” you’re not aware of but which your immigration lawyer will be able to identify and help address.

4. Finally, fixing mistakes is usually a far more difficult and costly process than getting it right the first time around. My mantra in these types of applications is, “do it once, do it right”.

Preparing for life in New Zealand post visa approval

If INZ approves your boy/girlfriend or partner’s visa application, they will be issued with an electronic visa or “eVisa”. Although electronic, it’s still recommended they should print and carry a copy of the eVisa letter with them when travelling to NZ.

The eVisa will have recorded on it a “first date of entry”, which is the date by which they must arrive in NZ to activate the visa. Depending on the visa, this will normally be a few months up to a year, so they will have plenty of time to make travel and other arrangements. 

There may also be requirements pre-departure from the government of your partner’s country of citizenship, such as the requirements of the Commission of Filipinos Overseas (CFO) on nationals of the Philippines who are travelling to visit spouses, fiancés and partners.

Partnership Work Visas or Partnership Visitor Visas will normally be granted as multiple entry visas. If your boy/girlfriend or partner has been granted a General Visitor Visa to travel to New Zealand to visit you, that visa might have “multiple entry” travel conditions, even in cases where only a single entry was applied for. However, unfortunately, the wording on multiple entry General Visitor Visas is currently incredibly confusing, and visa holders need to be aware they must not spend more than six months in New Zealand in the 12-month period before the end of their current stay. So, for example, if a traveller on a multiple journey general visitor visa stays in New Zealand for three months, then leaves for three months, they cannot return to New Zealand and stay for a further six months, as they will be spending more than 6 months in the 12-month period before the end of their intended stay. In any event, unless there is a good reason, I would not normally recommend your boy/girlfriend or partner enters and re-enters NZ multiple times on a General Visitor Visa and they might be advised to apply for a Partnership based visa if they become eligible.

Conclusion

As you can see, there are numerous possible scenarios and a wide range of possible issues when it comes to New Zealand visa applications involving a long-distance relationship. I’ve touched on just a few of them in this article, but there are many more and every relationship is unique, so it’s important that you and your boy/girlfriend or partner seek professional assistance on your particular circumstances and potential eligibility before taking the plunge and submitting a visa application.