Advice for Visa

ahava

So, for those of you that don't know, i'm an american citizen who found love through the PA Forums and moved down to New Zealand as a result. I am currently going through the next step of the process of being able to stay in new Zealand, which is applying for a 2 year work visa.

I have sent in the application with pictures of me and ecco together, support letters from our friends saying that we obviously love one another, etc. And yet Immigration has come back to me saying that they need more evidence of our commitment to one another and out future.

So here is my question. Since finding out that I was moving down here to be with Ecco, I started a blog online about life in general. Living in new zealand, being happy, getting my life on track, etc. This stretches from around last year at this time to around this time. The question is, do I include a link to the blog with the further evidence? Do I provide links to individual posts that talk about me and new zealand and how much I love it and want to be here?

The Blog is not all about NZ, it's about my life, and me. But New Zealand does feature often in it, and one of the things that was on the 'list of things to send' was evidence of commitment to remain not only with ecco, but in new zealand.

Should I provide the blog to immigration? Or print the blog entries? Or just, not include it at all?

I may or may not be overthinking this, but if the visa gets denied, then I have to leave new zealand and go back to the states. And this is not something that I want to do. Please help?

The Ender

Did they explain what they were looking for in terms of more evidence?

ahava

pffft.

If only. If it were that easy I wouldn't be losing sleep. Only thing really is that they're looking for evidence that ecco and I have a genuine and stable relationship and a commitment to stay with one another.

And apparently being married would not save us any trouble, we'd have to do it all the same, we would just have one more piece of paper.

The Ender

-.-

...I've had personal experience with 2 different Visa cases (South Africa & South Korea), and in the latter case, using electronic media as evidence was definitely more harmful than helpful (ultimately I had my Visa denied). Obviously, it's going to vary from consulate to consulate, so take that with a gigantic grain of salt.

Have you & your spouse purchased a home together? Do you have a shared bank account? A car loan that you're both signed to?

Mostly, a consulate will be looking for something that you can't just easily walk away from. They want to make sure that:


A) You're not just going to flake out and get a 'free' Visa, so to speak.

You're not going to be ditched once you go into the country, and left to fend for yourself in an unfamiliar place away from any help.

ahava

we're not married. We are flatting, but only his name is on the lease. But the landlord said that he'd be willing to write up a letter thing for us saying that i've been here since february and that we share household duties. We have a joint bank account, which I provided some statements from already, but I have another letter dated from march addressed to both of us at our address about us going to paperless billing for the account.

I'm leaning against putting the blog information in the evidence, but I am also unsure.

There's also a chance of having an interview at the immigration office if they're still not satisfied.

The other thing that I was thinking of including were the emails from job recruiters that i've gotten recently turning me down for work that I've applied to. To show that I'm actually trying to get a job, but can't because of the visa situation that I'm in.

The Ender

...I just had a quick IM chat with an acquaintance that I trust most in terms of dealing with consulates:

They said that under no circumstances, unless you are directly asked by them, should you tell them up front that you met your spouse on the Internet. Many consulates have a tendency to associate that sort of story with online bridal services & human trafficking.

Again, don't take this as some legal advice or expert testimony or anything - just personal experience. Your mileage may vary, and given that I've never dealt with New Zealand consulates, it may vary a lot.


The most important thing, generally, is showing them that both you & your spouse have some real, tangible things (other than each other) that you'd be jeopardizing if you split (that's why I asked if you had a shared mortgage, car payment, bank account, etc).

Do you have receipts or bank statements you can use to demonstrate that you're helping to pay against the lease?

ahava

yeah, i provided them with bank statements showing money from my bank account down here (while I was working on my temp job over winter) into the joint account from which we pay rent. But i'm unemployed at the moment because i'm only able to work temp jobs on the current visa that i'm on. The next visa would enable me to get a full time job. But since the current one expires in february, nobody seems to have any temp jobs available right now.

but while i was working, i was helping to pay the rent and groceries.

we recently bought tickets to leave from NZ to go back to the states to visit next august. eggs in a basket kinda deal, but the prices were too good to not get the tickets.

we've provided them with emails throughout our relationship, fro the beginning when we started talking and i was still in the states, all the way up until most recently when we were talking about what we needed from the grocery store.

we're finding, or trying to dig up, postmarked envelopes from friends that are addressed to both of us at this address, etc etc.

I could just be freaking myself out, but... the thought of going back to the states right now other than to visit is just overwhelmingly devastating.

The Ender

Well, don't freak out - the consulate, for the most part, is looking to protect you (even if you are sure that you've met Mr. Right, they want to be certain you're not going to end-up in a ditch somewhere in a year), so you can set them at ease when you go for your interview most of the time.

I don't mean to be at all offensive, but:

'Even if my significant other was to have a complete about-face tomorrow, and our relationship ended, he would not / could not realistically throw me out into the street because [X]'

You need to provide the consulate with [X]. And it has to be something other than 'Because he is a nice guy'. It should be something concrete.

ahava

you're not being offensive at all. you're being quite helpful and actually calming me down a bit.

something concrete. that's definitely something to think on.

gonna need to come up with something other than 'because we intend to get married and have children within the next year'. And other than "he simply has no idea how to clean and cook for himself." and other than "we have prepaid money for a gym membership for both of us that is good until may".

something to think about....

Thanks Ender, seriously.

The Ender

No problem.


If you can't think of anything, honestly, just call the consulate and see if you can set-up meeting. In my experience, they're most helpful when you're interacting face to face with them, and they can actually see that you're who you claim to be (remember: these folks deal with a lot of fraud on a day to day basis).

If that doesn't get you further, go to your embassy, explain the situation to them, and see if they can help you bridge the gap.

ahava

i have the immigration officer's email. I sent him an email as soon as I got the letter requesting more evidence. I outlined for him what else we were trying to gather and asked his advice if that was going to be acceptable.

haven't heard back from him yet, but if i don't by tuesday, i might head into the city on wednesday and ask questions. seeing how everything closes for christmas on thursday or friday.

stupid holidays mucking up my happy holiday spirit. :P

TheInspector

Having gone through this with my now-wife, I would say don't omit where/how you met. If they ask and you lie/omit the truth, then it won't go well for you if they do any investigating. Yes, meeting online can have some unpleasant connotations, but it's getting increasingly common nowadays. Say you met online. Give urls, PMs between the two of you. Skype/IM logs, anything you can to show that you've had an online relationship, not just a few messages to arrange meeting in person/visa related stuff.

If you can provide any supporting letters from people who aren't friends & family, all the better. Employers are useful for this, especially if they're public servants/respected professionals (I know, it shouldn't make any difference if your supporting letter is from a lawyer or an artist, but it does).

Give them half a dozen ways to contact the both of you & those supporting you. The people sorting through these applications have huge piles to go through. The last thing you want is for them to shuffle your application to the bottom of the pile because you didn't answer your phone when they wanted to call you before they went to lunch.

Make the application look good. Put it in a ring-bound folder. Give an index, put in tabs and anything you can to make it easy to navigate.

Now the difficult bit: Some visas can have the condition that you intend to leave the country when the appropriate period is up (usually student visas). If this is true, show that you've got something to go back to: family, a job, a house or whatever. This can put you at odds with your evidence stating that you want to be with your girlfriend who's in another country, so word it carefully.

Good luck, I know how difficult & stressful it can be.

Dr. Frenchenstein

I believe if you do find a job (this may just be in an office environment in the US however) your employer can sponsor your Visa, making it way easier for you. It costs them a bit of money though, so i would imagine unless you are super qualified, they'd go with a local over an expat. My company did that for a lady from India. However, once let go from my company she had to find another job QUICK or get the boot. Are you looking at office type jobs?

ahava

They're aware of how we met, they asked for information about any time we spent apart. And we spent the first year or so apart. I was still living in the states and ecco was down here in new zealand. we've provided them with emails over that entire stretch of time, including the emails leading up to his first and second visits to me in the states, and the ones leading up to my moving down here.

We've got a letter from our landlord stating that we've been living together since february and a letter from one of the trainers at the gym stating that we've been going to the gym and have a 6 month contract with them.

We've also got proof of ecco's primary residency being in new zealand (since' he's a dual citizen), and we have proof of correspondence being addressed to us both/individually at this address (with postmarks), plus out bank statements and insurance policies.

So I think we're doing alright on the evidence thing. And if not, then we go in for an interview.

As far as the job thing, the visa that I'm on now is a working holiday visa, I can only work temp/casual jobs. And it runs out in february and while I've applied for jobs, most of them run past my visa date, so I've been turned down. At least until I get my next visa, and then I can get permanent work. So I'm kinda in a rock and hard place for that.

Thanks guys!!