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Partnership

If you are applying for a visa based on your partnership, find out how we define partnership and what evidence you can provide to show your relationship is genuine.

How we define partnership

We define partnership as 2 people, who live together in a genuine and stable relationship in any of the following:

Providing evidence of your partnership

You must be able to show us that you and your partner are living together in a genuine and stable relationship before we can approve a visa application based on your partnership.

Living together

Living together means sharing the same home as your partner.

This does not include:

Evidence showing you are living together can include:

For some partnership applications – such as a Partner of a New Zealander Resident Visa – evidence of living together must cover a period of 12 months prior to the application being submitted. Make sure you check the category you are applying under to see if we need this from you.

You can provide us with items showing your shared address, dated every few months, to cover the full duration.

These items can be addressed to you both jointly — or individually — as long as we can see that you have both been at the same address for the same period of time.

Having a genuine and stable relationship

Evidence of having a genuine and stable relationship needs to show that:

Evidence can include:

How to supply this evidence

The way we want to receive this evidence depends on how you are applying.

Applying by paper

If you apply by paper for a residence visa, we must receive originals or certified copies. You can send electronically issued documents as we regard those as originals.

Applying online

If you apply online, we accept scanned images — so you do not need to send us originals or certified copies.

Minimum requirements

You and your supporting partner must:

Supporting partners

When you apply for a visa based on your partnership with a New Zealand visa holder or New Zealand citizen, we call that person your supporting partner.

Good character for supporting partners

See also the requirements for supporting partners in the 'Eligible NZ supporting partner' and 'Your partner's' sections for these visas:

How we assess partnership

When we assess your visa application, we consider things like:

We will also look at your living and financial arrangements, including:

If you have not always lived together

If you and your partner have spent time living apart, you should provide information about your separation, including:

We will use the information you provide to assess whether you and your partner have genuine and compelling reasons to have stayed apart.

Note

If you and your partner are coming together through a culturally arranged marriage, the rules are different.

Culturally Arranged Marriage Visitor Visa