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Hello ...i have a girlfriend who lives in the Philippines. She wants to travel here in New Zealand to live with me. Is there a way to let her live with me permanently?..i know a visitor visa can last 9 months. Does immigration nz decide how long it will last for?...or is it a matter of as long as she has $400 available for each of the 9 months that she can stay that long?..of course i will be a sponsor and she will live with me for that time. I see that imm nz requires that we have lived in a stable and genuine relationship for at least 12 months. How do i bypass this hurdle if she will be here for only 9 months max?. I intend to marry her during her stay. I do not intend to travel there to marry. Also i am a permanent resident. I was born here. Please , any help would be appreciated.
Already Tried: My first attempt at anything.
Hi Welcome to JustAnswer. My first response will follow shortly. Please feel free to follow up if anything is not clear
She can enter as a tourist and you would sponsor her for the initial period. You can of course marry at any time, although does not change the status of the visa. If you have met her before then you can try to apply on the basis that the relationship started when she agreed to come to New Zealand and marry you. You will still need to apply for the family visa before the visitors visa expires, although she may have to get a temporary extention until the application is decided
Ok thanks....
these are the straight facts though...we havent met yet
so i want her to come as a visitor and i will sponser...she will live withme..
so apart from that...there is no way to keep her here?
if we marry...we will be considered partners
but we will not meet the 12 month requierment
also...i have talked briefly with an immigration advisor
he seems to think we can do a culturally arranged marriage
is that possible?
The risks of bringing her here on a visitor visa is that she would lose her job in the philippines. If i bring her here on a visitor visa i want to be completely sure that there is a process avaliable to follow which will keep her here....and not get sent back to the philippines with no job anymore. Life there is extremely difficult. Its a huge risk to bring her here and then fail to keep her here..
You could try a culturally arranged marriage but would need to satisfy Immigration that your culture provides for this. Otherwise you may need to either go there to get the 3 months and bring her back, or she may have to return for the 3 months with you.
So is that it?...to be honest the things youve told me i already knew about. Ive been to the immigration nz website and read everything over and over again. I was just hoping you would have more insight than what was on the webpage and could tell me a sure way to have her here. I guess you do not deal with issues like mine often. Fair enough. So , i guess i got to give you the money now , correct?.
I was hoping you next reply would start off along the lines of ... "OK....this is what you do......." lol ....oh well...
The problem is that there are no simple answers, as in the end the Immigration work on discretion. But cultural marriage I assume will not work. Have you looked at work skills to see if she qualifies? And on a personal note, can you really tell if you want to marry her yet, without having met her.
I guess i should perhaps look at the work visa option, your right. And on that personal note...i bet youve heard this about a 1000 times...but yes i can tell that i want to marry her. Yes i know there are the big scandals about women from the Philippines taking advantage of foreign men for their money etc etc. But what else can i say apart from the typical "im not a fool" type answer. Believe it or not , there are the odd exceptional women over there who genuinely are not that way inclined. And she certainly is one of those exceptions. And i wont wait around any longer to allow her to live in such a poverty stricken corrupted society =)
But thanks for your concern. Its much appreciated. So do i just click accept to send the money now?...Again thanks for your help.
You could almost call it a "culturally arranged marriage" ....with God guiding the arrangement. Hehe sorry just had to add it. But its true. Ok thanks again =)
OK, thanks and good luck
Experience: LLB MMgt FAMINZ 32 years qualified as lawyer
F2.35 Deferring the final decision if the partnership is genuine and stable butless than 12 months durationa. An application can only be deferred if the applicant has been assessed as living together ina genuine and stable partnership with their New Zealand citizen or resident partner but the12 month qualifying period has not been met.b. If, after assessing an application, an immigration officer is satisfied the couple are livingtogether in a partnership that is genuine and stable, but the duration of that partnership isless than the 12 months required, (see F2.5(a)) they may defer the final decision toenable the qualifying period to be met.c. If the principal applicant wishes to be in New Zealand with their partner during the deferralperiod, they may be granted a work visa (once an application has been made) for a periodsufficient to enable the qualifying period to be met and any further assessment of theirresidence class visa application to be completed.