What To Do If Your Partnership Visa Application Is Declined

Receiving a letter from Immigration New Zealand declining your partnership visa application is a highly stressful situation to be in, and you might not know what to do next. In this article, I provide an overview of the initial steps to take if your visa application is declined, some potential options that might be available to you, and the process and potential outcomes of those options.

What is a partnership visa?

A partnership based visa is a visa granted by Immigration New Zealand (INZ) to a person who is the “partner” of a New Zealand citizen or resident or the partner of a person who holds a certain type of temporary visa. Partnership visas can be visitor, work or (for partners of NZ citizens or residents) residence visas.

Initial actions to take after receiving a visa rejection letter

Before deciding next steps, I strongly recommend seeking professional advice from an Immigration Lawyer as soon as possible. They will be best placed to give you an honest opinion on whether INZ’s decision on your application is correct and whether there may be grounds for:

• requesting a reconsideration of INZ’s decision, if possible

• lodging an appeal with the Immigration & Protection Tribunal (IPT), if possible, either in respect of the merits of INZ’s decision or on other grounds

• potentially lodging an appeal with the NZ courts (e.g. judicial review)

• reapplying to INZ, if possible

• lodging a Section 61 request to INZ if you’re unlawful in New Zealand

• lodging a Special Direction request with the Immigration Minister

An Immigration Lawyer should also be able to indicate the cost, timescales and chances of success of the above options. 

To advise you properly, however, the Immigration Lawyer should first request from Immigration New Zealand a full copy of your INZ file, which will include your NZ immigration history, your previous application(s) and all documentation and evidence lodged in support of the same, all correspondences between you (or your previous adviser) and INZ, and all notes recorded by INZ officers against your file (including, for example, any border alerts that may have been recorded in respect of you, and application assessment notes for your previous applications).

To advise you properly, it’s critically important that your lawyer reviews your full INZ file and thoroughly understands your immigration history. Suppose you’ve used a different immigration adviser for your previous visa applications. In that case, it’s still best for your lawyer to obtain a copy of your previous application directly from INZ rather than from your previous adviser so they can be certain they have a full copy and record of all documents which were provided to INZ with your previous application(s), as well as all written communication INZ had with your previous adviser.

Next steps in the process

The next steps will very much depend on the potential options available to you. Upon reviewing your file, your immigration lawyer’s advice might well be that you have very little or no real prospect of obtaining a visa, which, although difficult to hear, could well save you many thousands of dollars in wasted legal fees and costs (as well as time and emotional investment). But if you do have options (and ones which have merit), then those options will depend on a range of factors, including your current circumstances (including immigration status) and the type of visa application you lodged previously. For example:

• If INZ has declined your Partnership Residence Visa application, there might be grounds for appealing to the Immigration & Protection Tribunal (IPT) within 42 days of INZ’s decision on your declined application

• If you are in New Zealand and your Partnership Work or Visitor Visa application has been declined by INZ and you still hold a valid visa, there might be grounds to apply to INZ to request a reconsideration of its decision to decline your application

• If you are unlawful in New Zealand, there might be merit in lodging with the IPT an appeal on humanitarian grounds against liability for deportation on the basis there are “exceptional humanitarian circumstances that would make it unjust or unduly harsh for you to be deported from New Zealand; and it would not be contrary to the public interest to allow you to remain in New Zealand. This type of appeal, which is known as a “humanitarian appeal”, must be lodged within 42 days of the date you last held a valid visa

• If you are unlawful in New Zealand and either have no grounds for a humanitarian appeal to the IPT or are out of time for lodging such an appeal, there might be merit in lodging with INZ a request pursuant to Section 61 of the Immigration Act 2009 (known as a “Section 61 Request”) that INZ exercises its absolute discretion in favour of granting to you a visa

• Alternatively (and, normally, following a refusal by INZ to grant a Section 61 Request), there might be merit in lodging a “Special Direction” request with the Minister of Immigration to grant to you a visa 

The above are just some of the potential options which might be available to you, and it’s important to seek professional advice before making your choice.

Preparing for your appeal/request or re-application

Your Immigration Lawyer should provide you with a detailed list of the documents they’ll require for your application, request (reconsideration, section 61 request to INZ or Ministerial) or IPT appeal, as the case may be. This should include the different types of documentary evidence needed to address the particular issues or concerns that formed the basis for INZ's declining your previous visa application, as well as potentially other types of documentary evidence to show there are compelling / surrounding circumstances. Strong evidence is absolutely critical to your chances of success. Also of significant importance is the “hook” or “key messages” that should be highlighted in your particular case, which a good Immigration Lawyer will be able to identify and clearly present to the decision maker.

Possible outcomes

If your request, re-application or appeal is successful, you might be granted a visa or directed to apply for one, depending on the circumstances. If you’re unsuccessful, however, then obviously, you’ll need to consider your next steps very carefully.

Why do you need an immigration lawyer?

If you’ve had a visa application declined by INZ, the stakes will be high, and so will the resultant emotional, physical and financial costs involved in pursuing your immigration goals further. Therefore, you’ll want to engage a trusted expert who can help you to consider and weigh up your options carefully, so you can make a fully informed decision. Your lawyer’s advice might save you a lot of money wasted in pursuing the wrong course or courses of action, or making your situation even worse (thereby escalating your troubles and legal costs). If you do decide to proceed further, your Immigration Lawyer will help to ensure your chosen course of action is the best one available given your unique circumstances and then present the clearest and most compelling case possible so as to maximise your chances of success.