Govt’s fresh take on partner visas

Spouses in arranged marriages offered special pathway

The Government plans a new system for foreigners in arranged marriages to make it easier for those in genuine partnerships to apply for partnership visas.

Spouses in such partnerships will be able to apply for a special culturally arranged visitor visa, allowing them to prove the integrity of the partnership before applying for a partnership visa.

“Once they are here, the visitor period will help demonstrate the genuine and stable nature of their relationship in order to get a partnership visa,” Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway said yesterday.

Safeguards will prevent the system being rorted by socalled mail-order brides, including ensuring the marriage wasn’t facilitated by one of those to wed, the minister said.

“An immigration officer must be satisfied that the marriage ceremony genuinely occurred and followed an identified cultural tradition, and there is a genuine intent to live together.”

The issue of partnership visas has been a thorn in the Government’s side, after changes made it harder for spouses in arranged marriages to obtain the visas.

A decision to apply the rules more rigidly — including the requirement for couples to have lived together for 12 months — led to an outcry from the Indian community, with some tearing up their Labour Party loyalties.

New Zealand First MP Shane Jones said people who didn’t like the rules could leave the country, while party leader Winston Peters initially claimed credit for the new interpretation of the rules.

But he quickly backtracked last week when Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said Immigration NZ had made the changes on its own and she wanted them reversed.

Immigration NZ figures show 10 out of 87 applications for culturally arranged marriage visas had been approved as of the end of August.

But in the previous four years — when discretion was more commonly used — more than half were approved.

The new process clarifies:

● Those with a culturally arranged marriage to a New Zealand resident or citizen can apply for a culturally arranged visitor’s visa.

● The visitor’s visa will have strict assessment criteria attached to it to ensure only legitimate arranged marriages are approved and to stop socalled mail-order brides and other potential rorts.

● Once the partner has been living in NZ with their spouse they can begin the process to apply for a partnership visa while proving the legitimate nature of their nuptials.

Lees-Galloway said those who had had partnership visas declined since May will be contacted by Immigration in the next two weeks and their cases will be reassessed.

Those who meet the new criteria will have reapplication fees waived.

The announcement followed some heated exchanges between the Indian community and NZ First MPs.

Peters had told Radio NZ last month that arranged marriages were not real partnerships. “It’s clear as daylight — they’re not partners — full stop,” he said at the time.

“Has New Zealand First had an influence on trying to tidy up the quality of information on which the Immigration Department relies? The answer is profoundly yes.”

But after Ardern’s intervention last week, he said the change to partnership visas was not down to NZ First.