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Who else has experience with partnership visas?

MiaSter
- 52 posts
October 17, 2011 1:28:05 PM CEST

My boyfriend and I have our first appointment with the IND next Tuesday, and we're wondering what to expect. He's Dutch and I'm American. Specifically, what kinds of questions are they likely to ask us? How long will it likely be untill we're approved? And how long untill I can work? Also, can we expect the fact that we've only known each other for 6 weeks to give us any problems where immigration is concerned?

Thanks in advance!
Deleted Member
- 7374 posts
October 17, 2011 2:12:29 PM CEST

Things have changed a bit since I arrived in 2004, but some things are the same. For one, you can't work until you are approved and have the verblijfsgunning to prove it because that allows you to get your BZN number (the Dutch version of social security number).

The IND are mostly obsessed with your Dutchie's income and contract length. Unless you are underage, I don't foresee any hassle beyond that. I have no idea how long it takes to process and application anymore, but I was part of a unusually long backlog...
MiaSter
- 52 posts
October 17, 2011 2:22:50 PM CEST

Not at all underage, as of a few months from now we're both in our 30s! He's been doing web development for the same company for the last 6 years, so good on that as well, touch wood on everything....
peony
- 779 posts
October 19, 2011 10:16:59 AM CEST

Maybe I am wrong, or something has changed, but I think that you need to be able to prove your relationship for 6 months prior to moving to the Netherlands.
MiaSter
- 52 posts
October 19, 2011 10:50:29 AM CEST

Hmmmm, never heard anything about that, and we did scour the IND website thoroughly. Though when he did speak to someone at IND, she indicated that because we haven't been together that long that we do need to register our partnership ASAP, where registering wouldn't be so important if we weren't in a new relationship. That said, touch wood....
Deleted Member
- 7374 posts
October 19, 2011 11:03:33 AM CEST

I don't think that's required except for non-Dutch EU people sponsoring a non-EU partner. Or KM migrant visa holder partners? Not sure, but the OP should be okay as she's doing a family formation rather than a family reunification?

This post was edited by Deleted Member at October 19, 2011 11:05:53 AM CEST
MiaSter
- 52 posts
October 19, 2011 11:43:27 AM CEST

Coolness, and hope not! I was in a long distance relationship before that ended in tears. :( Not just that, but we do want to get off to the best start possible, and neither of us are exactly young spring chickens anymore!

This post was edited by MiaSter at October 19, 2011 11:47:51 AM CEST
peony
- 779 posts
October 19, 2011 12:22:17 PM CEST

Hm, I am not sure now which one we wanted to do when we first got idea to move here... My partner is Dutch and I am non-EU (same as OP) and I know for sure that we decided to go Belgium route because IND required (among many other things) us to prove our relationship for at least 6 months (letters to same address, registration at the same address etc) and we couldn;t do it since until now we never lived at the country with actuall street names.
Its exactly the same situation for Dutch citizens (morrocan origin) who bring their brides from Morocco - hence proving the relationship.
Deleted Member
- 7374 posts
October 19, 2011 12:29:06 PM CEST

Doesn't say anything about it on the IND website...weirdness.

I just moved here from Canada; the only thing they really cared about was his income and contract length...
MiaSter
- 52 posts
October 19, 2011 12:29:43 PM CEST

Peony - How long ago was this? And did they indicate this requirement to you before you went in for your first appointment? And what is the Belgium route?
MiaSter
- 52 posts
October 19, 2011 12:44:29 PM CEST

Also, was your case "family formation", or "family reunification"? Here's a copy and paste from the IND website:

IND Residence Wizard

Marriage or relationship
Who will be able to come to the Netherlands for marriage or a relationship?

You want to rejoin your spouse or partner in the Netherlands. This is called ‘family reunification’. You were already a family when you lived abroad together.

You want to live with your spouse or partner in the Netherlands; you have not lived together before. This is called ‘establishing a family’. When you started a relationship or got married, you were already living in the Netherlands. Your spouse or partner was living abroad at this time.
peony
- 779 posts
October 19, 2011 12:52:11 PM CEST

ok, I checked the ind and this is what it says -
"You are married to, or have a registered partnership with, someone who lives in the Netherlands, or you are the unmarried partner of someone who lives in the Netherlands. If the marriage took place or the (registered) partnership was formed at a time when the principle applicant had his or her main residence in the Netherlands, this is classed as family formation. All other cases are classed as family reunification." So your case is family reunification and thats when it gets tricky.
Accroding to the IND website if you are not married/registered partners then you need to give IND "Declaration of relationship" and "Questionare for stay with a partner". Both ask questions on how long is the realtionship, how did you meet etc. I can't find now where it says 6 months, but it doesn't really matter - you have interview on tuesday so you will hear what they say soon.

MiaSter - I did Belgium route - that means I moved with my Dutch partner first to Belgium and got residence permit there and then moved to the Netherlands. Its a loophole in EU law that says basically that if you get residence permit in certain countries you can freely move to another EU country. I still had to apply for dutch residence permit when i arrived here, but it was a formality. All this was less then 2 years ago, I moved to the Netherlands a bit over a year ago.
peony
- 779 posts
October 19, 2011 12:54:15 PM CEST

MiaSter said:
Also, was your case "family formation", or "family reunification"? Here's a copy and paste from the IND website: IND Residence Wizard Marriage or relationship Who will be able to come to the Netherlands for marriage or a relationship? You want to rejoin your spouse or partner in the Netherlands. This is called ‘family reunification’. You were already a family when you lived abroad together. You want to live with your spouse or partner in the Netherlands; you have not lived together before. This is called ‘establishing a family’. When you started a relationship or got married, you were already living in the Netherlands. Your spouse or partner was living abroad at this time.

yes, but read what I wrote - did you register your partnership (or gotten married) while you still lived in US? If not it is family reunification.
MiaSter
- 52 posts
October 19, 2011 1:10:25 PM CEST

We haven't registered our partnership yet, although we have registered our intent, sent off a form to the IND, and waiting on them to give their consent so that we can go ahead and register it.

Though from what you mentioned, "If the marriage took place or the (registered) partnership was formed at a time when the principle applicant had his or her main residence in the Netherlands, this is classed as family formation.", ours will be family formation, as the primary residence for both of us is the Netherlands and we'll be registering our partnership in the very near future.

I do want to make sure we've got everything straight though. Our appointment is Tuesday....
Deleted Member
- 7374 posts
October 19, 2011 1:13:26 PM CEST

peony said:
ok, I checked the ind and this is what it says - "You are married to, or have a registered partnership with, someone who lives in the Netherlands, or you are the unmarried partner of someone who lives in the Netherlands. If the marriage took place or the (registered) partnership was formed at a time when the principle applicant had his or her main residence in the Netherlands, this is classed as family formation. All other cases are classed as family reunification." So your case is family reunification and thats when it gets tricky. Accroding to the IND website if you are not married/registered partners then you need to give IND "Declaration of relationship" and "Questionare for stay with a partner". Both ask questions on how long is the realtionship, how did you meet etc. I can't find now where it says 6 months, but it doesn't really matter - you have interview on tuesday so you will hear what they say soon. MiaSter - I did Belgium route - that means I moved with my Dutch partner first to Belgium and got residence permit there and then moved to the Netherlands. Its a loophole in EU law that says basically that if you get residence permit in certain countries you can freely move to another EU country. I still had to apply for dutch residence permit when i arrived here, but it was a formality. All this was less then 2 years ago, I moved to the Netherlands a bit over a year ago.

Ahhh...I had to go to the actual form. Bleh. It does have a declaration that was not previously there.

So now the process is officially more difficult than it is in Canada. There, they eliminated the income requirement for partners entirely about a year after I moved here. However, they have a 2-year living together requirement if you're unmarried, I think...and you basically have to send Citizenship and Immigration Canada every letter, card, photo, etc etc etc that proves your relationship AND fill out this same kind of declaraton (only in more detail).

When I moved here, yeah there was paperwork, as well as the income and contract requirement, but we didn't have to prove the length or depth of our relationship.

This somewhat sucks, MiaSter. I might inquire on the Legal forum about this. Avocado may be able to clarify or confirm things prior to your appointment...

This post was edited by Deleted Member at October 19, 2011 1:14:14 PM CEST
peony
- 779 posts
October 19, 2011 1:19:40 PM CEST

It would be a family formation if you already registered it before applying. If you don't have it registered then its not, It dessn't really matter, both cases have same application. But in your case when you filled in purpose of stay you filled
"You are the unmarried partner of someone (the sponsor) who lives in the Netherlands (322, 342)" and then you needed to provide IND with 4 appendixes -proof of income, sponsor declaration, declaration of relationship and questionare for stay with a partner. In last 2 you needed to fill in the lenght of relationship (with dates and all).
MiaSter
- 52 posts
October 19, 2011 1:19:51 PM CEST

Hmmmmm, looking at the form right now too, and at first glance, this looks like that's probably exactly why the lady on the phone told my BF that we need to register our partnership. I see that that declaration is necessary if he's bringing me over as an unmarried partner, but not as a wife or registered partner. Still looking at the form now.
MiaSter
- 52 posts
October 19, 2011 1:26:40 PM CEST

Aha, ok, and we would be registered partners by now if we didn't have to wait on the IND to give their consent!!!! Not only that, but we still have out appointment for Tuesday the 25th.

Now we were told that, as my visitor's permit allows me to stay in the EU until the 24th of November, that as long as they've begun our dossier on us that I don't have to leave. So, for those who have had to obtain IND approval before registering their partnership or getting married, how long did it take? Slightly worried now, as I've only got just over a month on my visitor's permit, and it's my understanding that once we register our intent to register our partnership, we do have to wait at least 2 weeks. :(
peony
- 779 posts
October 19, 2011 1:28:35 PM CEST

IS this the first time you saw this form? HAven't you already sent it to IND with all the documents they ask for?

If this is going to be your first appointment with IND, then this is the actuall one when you will give them your application form and all the documents. If you are not registered partners now, you will need to fill in application as unmarried/unregistered partners and do all proper appendixes.
This post was edited by peony at October 19, 2011 1:31:28 PM CEST
MiaSter
- 52 posts
October 19, 2011 1:30:49 PM CEST

Yikes, and this is where it gets frustrating for us, as we would be registered partners as of a couple of weeks ago if we didn't have to wait on the IND to give their consent! Which means it seems fair that they should still treat us like registered partners. So now what's the best thing to do I wonder?

This post was edited by MiaSter at October 19, 2011 1:34:56 PM CEST
peony
- 779 posts
October 19, 2011 1:42:03 PM CEST

Its normal that you have to wait for their approval for registering - the reason is that many dutch nationals bring "import brides".
If I were you I would fill in the IND form properly - now you are not registered partners and that is all that IND will care about.
MiaSter
- 52 posts
October 19, 2011 1:56:28 PM CEST

Do you have any idea how long we'll have to wait? I just went through our documents, and we submitted a Form M-46A on the 5th of October, so it's been 2 weeks now, very worried. If all else fails, then we plan to show IND the copy of the form that we made for our records when we go in for our appointment.

And also, if we do fill out the form as we're unmarried partners, are they likely to tell us on the spot that we're not eligible and that I have to get out by the 22nd of November, when my visitor's permit runs out?

Thanks for the information by the way. Slightly stressed, but better for us to know this now rather than at the appointment! :)
peony
- 779 posts
October 19, 2011 2:28:40 PM CEST

I have no idea how long you will wait for approval, but even if it gets to you tomorrow, you might not be able to become registered partners by tuesday. Ask in legal forum, maybe one of the lawyers will reply. I don't even know if you manage to become registered partners by tuesday would IND accept that since when you asked for appointment and registered yourself you were not. If that makes sense to you at all.
For sure bring the copy of request to IND appointment either way, it can only help.
I can't tell you will your application pass if you fill it in as unregistered partners (and they won't tell you that on the spot either, you'll have to wait for them to send you "solution" by mail), but I am sure that if you fill it in as registered partners while you are not, it will be rejected. One solid advice is -never lie on application form to IND.
MiaSter
- 52 posts
October 19, 2011 3:01:19 PM CEST

Good stuff, and we were explicitly told that I won't have to leave while our application is being decided, so I would think that 3 months would be plenty of time for us to be able to register our partnership, but no telling. We simply went ahead and scheduled this appointment when my BF called them and explained our situation thoroughly.

I've gone ahead and put this on the legal forum so far, just one response, and all looks good so far. :)
qed
- 41 posts
February 11, 2012 9:30:19 PM CET

www.buitenlandsepartner.nl