Visa process ‘cruel to keep couples apart’
Thousands of partnership applicants face considerable wait to learn of outcome
Thousands of partnership visa applications are being left sitting in queue if not supported by a New Zealand citizen or resident partner.
Immigration New Zealand confirmed it had made a decision to not treat all partnership visa applications equally at its Mumbai office, where a bulk of temporary partnership visa applications were being made.
Telecommunications technician Balbir Singh, 27, who arrived from India in 2015 on an essential skills visa, has been waiting eight months for news about his wife Manpreet Kaur’s application.
In an update from INZ last month, Singh was told his 24-year-old wife’s application would remain in queue and would only be processed when “priority cases” had been allocated.
“The INZ Mumbai office will only prioritise partnership visa applications for partners of non-New Zealand citizens or residents or general visitor visa applications in situations considered to be an extreme emergency,” the email said.
INZ manager Michael Carley confirmed the agency’s decision to prioritise visa applications only if they had the backing of NZ citizen or resident partners.
“All other partnership visa applications will remain in the queue and will be allocated in order they were received once all priority cases have been allocated,” he said.
About 4905 temporary entry partnership visa applications are in queue, but INZ is not able to provide a breakdown on how many are not priority cases.
Applicants not supported by a
New Zealand resident or partner will also have to wait until a further 4357 residence partnership visa applications have been allocated.
It is stated on INZ’s website that 90 per cent of visas for partners of students are processed within six months, and partners of workers within three months.
Partners of those who hold a longterm work visa of six months or longer can apply under the partnership scheme. However, the priority changes could mean their partners’ work visas would expire even before their application was allocated.
Singh, who returned to India to wed in January, said it had been “painful and difficult” living without his wife.
“We are humans, too, and those on work visas need our spouses here just as much as NZ citizens and residents,” Singh said.
“The priority system is unfair and discriminates. People who applied after my wife are getting their visas, it should be first come, first served.”
Singh’s work visa is valid until January 2022 and he said it would be a struggle to live apart until then if his wife didn’t get a visa.
“It is heartless and cruel . . . What right do they have to keep married couples apart,” he said.
An INZ spokeswoman said some queued applications had been partly processed, but could not be progressed further for reasons that might include the applicants being unlawfully in New Zealand or needing additional information.