Partner of a New Zealander Work Visa
Partner of a New Zealander Work Visa
This visa will allow you to join your partner in New Zealand. You’ll be able to get a job, and in your free time, enjoy New Zealand’s scenery, adventure, culture and friendly people.
Related: Changes to Partner of a Worker Work Visa confirmed
Overview
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With this visa you can
- Come to New Zealand with your partner.
- Work in New Zealand.
- Study for up to 3 months.
Things to note
- You can only have this visa for 2 years, but before it expires you can apply for residence based on your partnership.
- You cannot include dependent children in your visa application, but they can apply for visas based on their relationship to you.
Overview of General Requirements
Your partner’s immigration status
Your partner must be a New Zealand citizen or resident
Your partner must provide one of the following:
- a New Zealand passport
- a New Zealand birth certificate
- a certificate of New Zealand citizenship
- a New Zealand residence class visa.
If your partner is a New Zealand resident because of their citizenship or residence status in Australia, they may provide their Australian passport, permanent residence or resident return visa.
Your relationship with your partner
You and your partner must be living together in a genuine and stable relationship
You must provide evidence that you and your partner are living together in a genuine and stable relationship.
Your evidence should show:
- how long you’ve been together
- how long you’ve been living together
- if you’re 16 or 17, that your parent or guardian supports your partnership
- you spend time together, eg photos together, emails and social media conversations between you
- you share finances and other responsibilities.
To be eligible for this visa, you have to be living together when you apply.
Funds or sponsorship
You must have enough money to live on while you are in New Zealand or have an acceptable sponsor.
You must provide evidence for 1 of the following:
- a salary that supports you for the length of your stay
- that your employer can support you for the length of your stay
- that you have enough funds to support you for the length of your stay
- a Sponsorship Form for Temporary Entry completed by an acceptable sponsor.
Evidence can include:
- cash
- New Zealand bank accounts showing the current balance
- travellers’ cheques
- bank drafts
- recognised credit cards with sufficient credit available
- for group visas, certification from a reputable travel agency.
If you are pregnant, there are additional requirements.
Eligible NZ supporting partner
Your partner must support your work visa application, and be eligible to support a partnership-based resident visa application within 12 months
To be eligible to support a partnership based resident visa application, your partner must not:
- have supported a successful resident visa application for more than one previous partner
- have supported a successful resident visa application for a previous partner within the last 5 years
- have included a previous partner in their own successful residence application, within the last 5 years
- have themselves been included as a partner in a successful residence application, within the last 5 years
- be liable for deportation, or have their deportation liability suspended.
Your partner must complete a ‘Partnership support form for Residence/temporary entry’ as evidence of their support’.
New Zealand citizens and residents can support only 1 partner for residence in a 5 year period, and support only 2 partners for residence in total.
If your partner can’t support you for residence now, but will be able to within 12 months, they can still support your work or visitor visa now.
You can read more about residence in the ‘Self-Assessment Guide for Residence in New Zealand’.
Your partner’s character
Your partner must be of good character
Your partner must meet our good character requirements or be granted a character waiver. We may ask your partner to provide a police certificate from any country they’ve spent 12 months or more in over the last 10 years . This applies whether the time was spent in one or more visits.
Your partner won’t meet our character requirements if they have any convictions for domestic violence or sexual offences. If your partner doesn’t meet our character requirements, we will consider whether they are eligible for a character waiver.
You and your partner’s plans to be in New Zealand
You and your partner must be planning to live in New Zealand for the same period of time
Genuine and stable relationship
A partnership is genuine if it has been entered into on a long term and exclusive basis.
A partnership is stable if it is likely to endure.
Immigration costs
Application cost
This is the fee for Immigration New Zealand to process your application.An immigration levy is payable and is included in the total amount above.
Timeframes
Processing
90% of applications are currently completed within this time. Timeframes are in calendar days.
Related:
Mohamed Anas Sirajur Raheem
BA (Political Studies), LLB (VUW)
Mohamed is a New Zealand Immigration Consultant with VisaEnvoy and an enrolled Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand.
He is a former New Zealand Immigration Officer (Visa Services) and Border Officer at Auckland International Airport. He has several years of experience working in various Government Departments in New Zealand and has also worked as a Licensed Immigration Adviser at a prominent New Zealand Immigration firm.
His areas of expertise and interest are in the fields of General Skilled Migration, Temporary Work (Long and Short Stay), Business visas, Partner, Parent and Child Visa streams.
Mohamed was inspired to pursue a career in immigration by his own migration experiences. Over the years he has assisted individuals, families, large corporations, Professional sportspeople, and Entertainers (singers, speakers, and actors) to come to New Zealand.
