Everything You Need to Know About the Partnership Work Visa

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Everything You Need to Know About the Partnership Work Visa

Zealand Immigration
Date : February 27 2025

Everything You Need to Know About the Partnership Work Visa

Table of Contents

The Main Requirements You Need For A Partnership Visa

How To Prove The Stability Of Your Relationship? 

Your partner should be an eligible sponsor, which means:-

Having a Detailed History of your Relationship with your Partner is a must

When applying for a partner visa, evidence typically falls into four key categories

Visas in Partnership Category

The Application Process

Partnership visas are for those who are in a stable and genuine relationship with a New Zealand citizen or resident. If you have begun to live with a New Zealand citizen or resident and want to stay in the country along with them then they can apply for a visa under the partnership category.

You need not apply for a Partnership Visa if your current visa enables a long-term stay or works as a path to Citizenship, but doing so might be the best way to stay with your partner in New Zealand permanently. If you and your partner have chosen New Zealand as your home and want to stay there for the long term or you are unable to take your partner back to your home country by the end of the visa duration, then the best way to settle down together in New Zealand is via a partnership visa.

The Main Requirements You Need For A Partnership Visa

If you wish to have a partnership visa then you must meet the following conditions listed below:-

•   You must be over the age of 18 or 16-17 having parental consent.
•   You must have a good health.
•   Both you and your partner are currently living together for work and residence visas.
•   You are in a good and stable relationship with someone who holds a New Zealand Citizenship or Residence Permit.
•   You must have sufficient proof of your relationship.
•   Able to support each other financially.
•   You must be able to meet character requirements, like a police check.
•   Your partner should not be a close relative i.e. first cousin, sister, daughter or parent.
•   You and your partner should manage finances together, such as bills, bank accounts etc.
•   You and your partner’s relationship is openly acknowledged by friends and family.
•   Your partner must be an eligible sponsor.
•   You should be in a stable and long-term relationship.

New Zealand provides partnership visas to all couples of all genders. The government of New Zealand also recognises same-sex partners and same-sex marriages. Furthermore, the government and people living in New Zealand are very supportive of the rainbow community. Your gender will not be an issue when applying for a partnership visa in New Zealand. All they need is to assess whether you and your partner are in a stable relationship or not, and also you both are eligible to live, work, or study in New Zealand. This inclusive approach also benefits professionals like those seeking Overseas Nurses Registration, ensuring they can build their careers while staying with their partners.

How To Prove The Stability Of Your Relationship?

A stable relationship is determined by Immigration New Zealand, you must ensure that you and your partner are in a committed, long-term, and exclusive relationship. According to Immigration New Zealand, a partnership is defined as two people be it of any gender (over the age of 18 or 16-17 having parental consent) living together in a stable relationship. This could be shown in any form be it a marriage, civil union or a de facto relationship.

Besides this, in a partnership visa application, one can also include dependent children as well and to show that your children must be under the age of 24, single, living with you and financially dependent on you. You need to have custody of your children. If you are bringing them from another country then you must provide evidence as well showing that you have legal permission to relocate or remove them from their home country. Children who are included in partnership visa applications must meet the same identity, character and health prerequisites, in a similar manner to their parental or legal guardian.

Your partner should be an eligible sponsor, which means:-

They must have a current New Zealand Residency Visa or Citizenship.
They are either over the age of 18 or 16-17 having parental consent.
Within the last 5 years, they haven’t sponsored another person on a partnership visa.
Your partner should also meet similar character requirements as you for your visa.
They haven’t sponsored more than 1 other person for a partnership visa.
They may not be allowed to sponsor you if they have been convicted of any sort of domestic violence in the past.

Having a Detailed History of your Relationship with your Partner is a must

This history must include all the necessary details and must include everything you can think of. Some of them are listed below:-

How did you and your partner meet?
Where did you guys meet?
When did you meet?
At what point of time did your relationship become serious?
How do you support each other be it financially, emotionally or physically?
What future plans do you have?
For instance, if you are living apart, then in what ways do you and your partner maintain the level of commitment?

When applying for a partner visa, evidence typically falls into four key categories

There are four key categories of evidence for Partner Visa. Those are financial, household, social, and commitment. You must provide as much evidence as possible for each category. Anything that shows your seriousness, commitment and ongoing relationship is valid. Here are some suggestions for you:-

1. Financial Category
Think about in what ways do you and your partner support each other financially.

Accounts that you both share.
The essential items that you both own together. This may include cars, loans, insurance, credit cards, appliances etc.
Bills and expenses are shared among you and your partner.

2. Household Category
Think about in what ways you can provide evidence of your household’s nature.

You can show your living arrangement.
You can also show any utility that is in both of your names.
Mails that you get which is addressed to both you and your partner.

3. Social Category
If someone asks you to prove the social context of your relationship, you might find it a little bit difficult to do so. All you need to prove that you and your partner’s relationship is accepted socially as being in a serious relationship. Here are some things listed below:-

You should have photos of you and your partner together at events and functions.
You can also show any joint invitations.
If you both have any joint membership of clubs, organisations, or formal groups.

4. Commitment Category
Think about in what ways you can show mutual commitment.

Having knowledge of each other’s family, background or other situations, you could be involved.
The clauses of your wills.
The commitment of long-term.

Visas in Partnership Category

Typically there are 3 types of visa in the partnership category, visitor, work and residency. The requirements for each type are different. Zealand Immigration is here, we specialise in visas for those who are already in New Zealand or would like to extend their stay for a longer duration or forever.

The Application Process

The process for applying is quite the same for visitor, work and residence partner visas. It depends on what type of evidence you need to provide and the conditions you must meet can vary based on specific criteria.

The processing time for each visa is also different, for visitor visas, it could be expected to be done in under 4 months, for work visas, it is usually expected to be done in under 7 months, and for residence visas, it could be expected to be done in under 12 months. You need to hold a current visa during the time of decision-making period. If you think your visa is going to expire soon then you must get in touch with immigration or contact us to extend your current visa without any delay so that you can stay in New Zealand legally and for a longer duration.