A couple came into the Papatoetoe office with a thick folder and a wedding certificate on top. They had been married for fourteen months. They assumed that was the application. It was not. Immigration New Zealand does not treat a marriage, a civil union, or a big wedding as proof on its own. The officer has to be satisfied that you are living together in a partnership that is genuine and stable. That test sits in the operational instructions, and it is where most partnership files either hold together or fall apart.
If you are preparing a partnership work visa, a partner of a worker visa, or a Partner of a New Zealander resident visa, the evidence is the application. This guide walks through how to build it, and where people usually lose time.
What “genuine and stable” actually means
Under instruction F2.30, an officer must be satisfied of four things, looked at separately and together.
Credibility. What you say, separately and together, has to match the paper. Contradictions in dates, addresses, or how you met are treated as a credibility problem, not a paperwork glitch.
Living together. You share a home, unless there is a genuine and compelling reason for a period apart. Work rosters, study, or a family emergency can explain a gap. “We were saving money in different cities” usually does not, unless the rest of the file shows a real plan to close that gap.
Genuine. You both entered the relationship intending it to be long term and exclusive. The officer is looking at why you are together, not only at how long you have been together.
Stable. The partnership is likely to endure. A short, intense relationship with no shared plans is harder to accept than a quieter one with a joint lease, joint bills, and a clear next step.
For a residence-class partnership visa, you generally need to show you have been living together for at least 12 months when you lodge. Temporary partnership visas can be granted on a shorter period, but the same four elements still apply. Evidence is only counted from when both of you were 18 or older. Anything from before that is set aside.
You also have to have met before the application is made, and you cannot be close relatives within the prohibited degrees in the Marriage Act and Civil Union Act.
Build the file in three piles, not one dump
Officers do not want a random scan of every photo on your phone. They want a timeline. Put the evidence in three piles and date everything.
Shared home. A joint tenancy agreement or mortgage is the strongest single document. If the lease is in one name, add a letter from the landlord or property manager confirming you both live there, plus mail to each of you at that address across the months you claim. Power, internet, and contents-insurance documents help, especially if both names appear. A single letter posted last week does not cover twelve months.
Money. Financial interdependence is more than a joint account that was opened for the visa. Officers look at whether the account is actually used. Wages going in, rent and groceries coming out, transfers between you with a clear narration, shared hire-purchase on a car or appliances, and joint ownership of anything you have bought together. If one of you supports the other, show that support with statements, not a sentence in a cover letter.
Public and family recognition. Photos over time, not twenty shots from one wedding. Messages that show ordinary life, not only “I love you” on Valentine’s Day. Letters from people who actually know you as a couple: a landlord, an employer, a sibling, a neighbour. Birth certificates if you have children together. Travel bookings in both names. Evidence that previous relationships have ended, including dissolution papers if either of you was married before.
A short relationship statement from each of you, written separately, should tell the same story: how you met, when you started living together, who pays for what, and what you are planning. If the two statements disagree on the month you moved in, the officer will notice.
Partnership work visa checklist
Use this as a working list, then trim it to what is real for you.
- Identity documents and partnership evidence form for both of you
- Marriage or civil union certificate, if you have one, plus certified translations
- Evidence you have met, and of living together for the period you claim
- Tenancy, board, or ownership documents covering that period
- Joint or linked bank statements showing real use
- Utility accounts and mail to the shared address
- Photos, travel records, and messages spread across the relationship
- Letters of support from people who know the relationship
- Evidence previous relationships have legally ended
- Police certificates and medicals if the visa type requires them
- Evidence the supporting partner can support you, where that is a requirement of the category
Do not pad the file with duplicate screenshots. A clean chronology beats a 400-page upload.
Red flags that lead to delays or a PPI letter
Potentially prejudicial information letters on partnership files tend to come from a small set of problems.
The address trail does not match. One partner’s bank mail, IRD address, or employer record still shows a different suburb. In South Auckland that often happens because someone never updated a board address after they moved in with their partner. Fix it before you lodge, and explain any overlap.
The relationship is very new, or there is a long gap you have not explained. A three-week holiday together is not living together.
Money does not move between you. Separate finances can be genuine, but you still need another way to show a shared life.
The supporting partner has sponsored someone before, or there is a recent separation that is thinly documented. That is not an automatic decline. It is a file that needs a clear explanation.
Inconsistent interviews. If INZ phones you both and your answers on when you met, who cooks, or where the other person works do not line up, credibility becomes the issue. Practise the facts. Do not script a story.
A PPI letter is not a decline. It is the officer telling you the concern before they decide. The deadline is short. A vague reply, or a bundle of new photos with no dates, often confirms the concern rather than answering it.
What to do next
If your partnership evidence is thin, or you have already had a visa refused on relationship grounds, get the file reviewed before you lodge again. A second application built on the same gaps rarely does better.
Immigration Matters is a licensed immigration advisory based at 137 Kolmar Road, Papatoetoe, Auckland, led by Jagjeet Singh Sidhu (IAA licence 201400260). We check partnership evidence before it goes to INZ, and we act on partnership work and residence applications for couples across South Auckland and the rest of the country.
Book a partnership document check or full representation through the contact page, or call 09 392 0079 / 029 770 7979. If you are also looking at work rights once the partnership visa is granted, the work visa service page sets out how those applications sit alongside a partner application.
Frequently asked questions
Is a marriage certificate enough for a New Zealand partnership visa?
No. INZ says marriage alone is not sufficient. You still need evidence of living together, financial interdependence, and public recognition of the relationship.
How long do we have to have lived together?
For a Partner of a New Zealander resident visa, the instructions require living together for 12 months or more at the time you lodge, in a partnership that is genuine and stable. Temporary partnership visas can be granted on a shorter period, but the genuine-and-stable test still applies.
Can we apply if we lived apart for work?
Possibly, if the separation has a genuine and compelling reason and you can show you remained a couple. The officer looks at the length of the gap, the length of the relationship, and what you did to stay together.
