Only partners who meet “living together” requirements will be able to apply for a partnership visa from July
The “living together” requirement under partnership visa for joining a New Zealand-based partner – which has over the years almost become the Kiwi-Indian community’s bête noire – has once again come to bite the community as more clarity emerges on the government’s border reopening plan.
The Minister of Immigration Kris Faafoi had told the Indian Weekender that only those who meet the “living together” requirement under the partnership visa rules will be allowed to enter the country in July.
“Partners who meet the partnership requirements (including having lived together) will be able to apply for a partnership visa from 4 July if their partner is in New Zealand on an Accredited Work Visa or other relevant visa,” Minister Faafoi said.
Notably, ever since Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern had first announced the five-phase border reopening plan on February 3, the Indian Weekender had been constantly in touch with the office of the Minister of Immigration to bring clarity on what border reopening means for temporary migrant workers and their families.
This latest confirmation as received on Monday, February 21, will once again dash the hopes of many ethnic migrant communities which were earlier raised by the Minister’s confirmation to the Indian Weekender on the restart of partnership visa processing from July this year.
The previous announcement as reported by the Indian Weekender on February 17 was received with much jubilation and a sigh of relief for thousands of temporary migrant workers who have been locked inside the country for the last two years and forced to be separated from their partners outside of NZ borders.
Not first instance of Indian marriages being disadvantaged for partnership visa
It is important to note that this is not the first instance where relationships based on Indian marriages will be disadvantaged under New Zealand’s immigration rules.
Notably, a vast majority of the Kiwi-Indian community and other ethnic migrant communities from South Asia and other parts of Asia, where “living together” is not a necessary pre-condition to form a conjugal relationship as mandated under the definition of partnership visa in New Zealand’s immigration rules have been experiencing the bias in visa processing.
Earlier, when the government had in September 2020 announced relaxation for partnership visa processing allowing Kiwi citizens and residents to bring their partners to NZ, the relationships based on Indian marriages where the newly married couple did not have the opportunity to live together prior to marrying in a culturally appropriate manner were not considered eligible for a partnership visa.
Successive Immigration Ministers have failed to fully understand the issue.
The issue of partnership-based visas for Indian marriages had first emerged in mid-2019 when the INZ Mumbai office had arbitrarily changed the manner in which it was traditionally assessing partnership visa applications by exercising irrational emphasis on the requirement of “living together,” and resulting in the mass-rejection of thousands of applications.
The Kiwi-Indian community was then incensed with the prolonged delays, which were followed by mass rejection of partnership visa applications resulting in the forced separation of families on the basis of a seemingly racist interpretation of partnership without reflecting upon cultural sensitivities of minority groups in the country.
The issue had then snowballed in a big community resentment and protests leading to immediate intervention by the Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, assuaging concerns around any racial bias against Indian marriages.
Apparently, the then Immigration Minister had made some changes under the category of “Culturally arranged marriage visa” to fix the problem, which most industry experts had then argued was a mere cosmetic change without addressing the main problem.
Immigration NZ had then quietly reverted to the previous standard practise of issuing “General Visitor Visa” in response to couple’s applications for a “partnership-based visa”.
Ever since New Zealand borders were closed in March 2020, the bias against Indian marriage-based relationships had further exacerbated as many clueless recipients of such “general visitor visas” who were under the impression that they had applied and got partnership visas were travelling overseas when borders were closed and since then have been locked out of the country as they do not qualify for an “exception.”
In that regard, once again, many in the Kiwi-Indian community will once again be dejected to find out that their relationships/partnerships will be disadvantaged under New Zealand’s current immigration rules for a partnership visa and will not be able to enter NZ in July.
The “living together” requirement under partnership visa for joining a New Zealand-based partner – which has over the years almost become the Kiwi-Indian community’s bête noire – has once again come to bite the community as more clarity emerges on the government’s border reopening plan.
The...
The “living together” requirement under partnership visa for joining a New Zealand-based partner – which has over the years almost become the Kiwi-Indian community’s bête noire – has once again come to bite the community as more clarity emerges on the government’s border reopening plan.
The Minister of Immigration Kris Faafoi had told the Indian Weekender that only those who meet the “living together” requirement under the partnership visa rules will be allowed to enter the country in July.
“Partners who meet the partnership requirements (including having lived together) will be able to apply for a partnership visa from 4 July if their partner is in New Zealand on an Accredited Work Visa or other relevant visa,” Minister Faafoi said.
Notably, ever since Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern had first announced the five-phase border reopening plan on February 3, the Indian Weekender had been constantly in touch with the office of the Minister of Immigration to bring clarity on what border reopening means for temporary migrant workers and their families.
This latest confirmation as received on Monday, February 21, will once again dash the hopes of many ethnic migrant communities which were earlier raised by the Minister’s confirmation to the Indian Weekender on the restart of partnership visa processing from July this year.
The previous announcement as reported by the Indian Weekender on February 17 was received with much jubilation and a sigh of relief for thousands of temporary migrant workers who have been locked inside the country for the last two years and forced to be separated from their partners outside of NZ borders.
Not first instance of Indian marriages being disadvantaged for partnership visa
It is important to note that this is not the first instance where relationships based on Indian marriages will be disadvantaged under New Zealand’s immigration rules.
Notably, a vast majority of the Kiwi-Indian community and other ethnic migrant communities from South Asia and other parts of Asia, where “living together” is not a necessary pre-condition to form a conjugal relationship as mandated under the definition of partnership visa in New Zealand’s immigration rules have been experiencing the bias in visa processing.
Earlier, when the government had in September 2020 announced relaxation for partnership visa processing allowing Kiwi citizens and residents to bring their partners to NZ, the relationships based on Indian marriages where the newly married couple did not have the opportunity to live together prior to marrying in a culturally appropriate manner were not considered eligible for a partnership visa.
Successive Immigration Ministers have failed to fully understand the issue.
The issue of partnership-based visas for Indian marriages had first emerged in mid-2019 when the INZ Mumbai office had arbitrarily changed the manner in which it was traditionally assessing partnership visa applications by exercising irrational emphasis on the requirement of “living together,” and resulting in the mass-rejection of thousands of applications.
The Kiwi-Indian community was then incensed with the prolonged delays, which were followed by mass rejection of partnership visa applications resulting in the forced separation of families on the basis of a seemingly racist interpretation of partnership without reflecting upon cultural sensitivities of minority groups in the country.
The issue had then snowballed in a big community resentment and protests leading to immediate intervention by the Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, assuaging concerns around any racial bias against Indian marriages.
Apparently, the then Immigration Minister had made some changes under the category of “Culturally arranged marriage visa” to fix the problem, which most industry experts had then argued was a mere cosmetic change without addressing the main problem.
Immigration NZ had then quietly reverted to the previous standard practise of issuing “General Visitor Visa” in response to couple’s applications for a “partnership-based visa”.
Ever since New Zealand borders were closed in March 2020, the bias against Indian marriage-based relationships had further exacerbated as many clueless recipients of such “general visitor visas” who were under the impression that they had applied and got partnership visas were travelling overseas when borders were closed and since then have been locked out of the country as they do not qualify for an “exception.”
In that regard, once again, many in the Kiwi-Indian community will once again be dejected to find out that their relationships/partnerships will be disadvantaged under New Zealand’s current immigration rules for a partnership visa and will not be able to enter NZ in July.
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