Songs In Blue

First of all, I have to say thank you for all the awesome comments I got on my last post. You guys ROCK! I can’t tell you how much better I’ve felt since writing that. It took a lot to work up the courage, but it was so worth it!

Now that that’s all taken care of, let’s get back to the fun stuff, shall we?

A while ago, I mentioned that I was in the process of getting a Partnership Visa so I could stay in NZ and keep my job. Things changed, and I no longer needed it for my work contract so I put it off until I had enough money and was running out of time on my current visa.

After a couple months of gathering all the evidence we had to prove we were in a ‘genuine and stable relationship’ (emails, pictures, bank statements) and making it look pretty (highlighters are my friend), I finally sent in my application.
But, I forgot to include the fee.

I’m awesome like that.

So I called and begged them to not send my application back and said I’d be in the next morning to drop off the fee. They agreed and soon had everything they needed to judge me. These things usually take weeks to process, so I was left to hold my breath and wait. Which I hate doing. Maybe they knew that because three days later I was approved.

YAY!

This visa gives me another year in NZ, plus I can get permanent work instead of just short term contracts. I can’t wait for the day when I’m a resident and don’t have to worry about things like this. It’s enough to do my head in!

While I’m on the topic, I’m also waiting on some documents from my mom so I can get an Irish passport. My grandpa was born in Ireland and I can gain citizenship through him! That means if I happen to go over to the UK, I can live, work and travel all over the EU! I’m trying to get my younger siblings to do it too, since they might as well! Matt can also get the same thing through his dad, except he’d be on a British passport.
It’s pretty cool that there are options like this out there. Yeah, it might be a lot of paperwork but it’s definitely worth it in the long run.

Last April, I applied for a Partnership Visa with Matt sponsoring me. Unfortunately,  we didn’t have enough evidence supporting our relationship at that point and it was declined.  The lady dealing with my application was really helpful and said she would give me a 1-year Working Holiday Visa instead.  That way I would still be able to work and live in New Zealand then re-apply for Partnership once Matt and I had been living together for a while.

I was going to wait a few more months before doing that, but thanks to work, plans changed.

My 6-month contract with work ends in the middle of April.  I’ve been asking for an extension until August because it would be impossible to find a new job with only 4 months left on my current Visa.  Last week, work asked if I could apply for the Partnership Visa now so they could give me a longer contract or even make me permanent!

There’s a lot of extra paperwork to go along with the 16-page application form, so it’s going to take a couple weeks before I can send it in.  This creates a bit of a problem since I probably won’t be accepted before my work contract expires.  I’m still not sure what will happen in this case…they want me to continue working, but I’m not really comfortable doing that without a contract.  We’ll see how it goes, but I may have to take a couple weeks off.

Good thing is, since I sent in the same application last year, my police certificate and medical forms are still valid so I don’t have to send in new ones! 
This saves me a lot of time and not to mention, money I don’t have. 

The only downside to applying for this Visa early is that it’ll only be good for a year so I’ll have to go through the whole process again before I apply for residence. Overall, I’ve had a pretty easy go with Immigration matters, which is more than most can say.  Hopefully, that luck continues.

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There’s an update for my last post on my sideblog