ZB ZB
Live now
Start time
Playing for
End time
Listen live
Listen to NAME OF STATION
Up next
Listen live on
ZB

Former Minister says Immigration NZ should not assume all partnership visas are fake

Author
Newstalk ZB ,
Publish Date
Mon, 8 Jul 2019, 11:59AM
Photo / File

Former Minister says Immigration NZ should not assume all partnership visas are fake

Author
Newstalk ZB ,
Publish Date
Mon, 8 Jul 2019, 11:59AM

Immigration New Zealand has been unfair in assuming all partnership visa applications are fake, according to a former Minister.

The Government agency has announced the move of their partnership visa processing hub from Mumbai to Hamilton, as the back log of cases grows.

According to former immigration minister Tuariki Delamere, hundreds of couples are lying on their partnership residence visa applications every year.

He told Jack Tame this morning that trying to determine whether a relationship is genuine or not can be difficult and believes partnership visas should be conditional.

However, he says he's had real problems with the Mumbai office, assuming all relationships are fake.

"There has been a very proportion of not genuine relationships, but you shouldn't start from that position of assuming they are all unfair, that's just not right."

He says the New Zealand partner, often females, generally don't realise, themselves, that the relationship is a hoax.

Delamare says there should be a conditional visa to weed out the relationships that aren't genuine.

"What I would suggest to the Minister is make Partnership Resident visas conditional for at least three years. That means that, in three years time, you have to prove you are still in that relationship."

 

 

Take your Radio, Podcasts and Music with you