Not Keeping Up

Being well behind the play, I wouldn't even make the B team these days.  Mr B's visa application for New Zealand has been wildly complicated by the time I spent living in Greece and now they are asking us to provide proof for each of the last 10 years that we have lived in (and continue to live in) what they describe as a stable and lasting relationship.  I wish their website had said that when we started this application.  Just before leaving for New Zealand I went through my filing cabinet and destroyed bin loads of paperwork that appeared to me to have no further use.  Now the fact that much of it had my address on it and was dated over the last 10 years would have helped to establish that we really were living together all that time (and 10 years before that too).

The problem is that when we go on holiday I photograph Mr B, he photographs me - and not always in the same places.  We don't do selfies together - particularly not in restaurants or at intsagramable tourist attractions (or at home for that matter).  We don't keep Christmas cards addressed to both of us much beyond February - and who dates xmas cards anyway (if they even send them these days)?  Or wedding invitations/dinner party invitations/holiday bookings.....  They asked for postmarked envelopes showing address and date (really???) Does anyone post anything these days and if they do does it go in a window envelope? Does it get a postmark with a legible date or an automated bar code thing?

STRESSED.

I don't keep tax, bank statements or pay slips beyond 6 years. We are really hoping that the Council can produce back records of council tax registration.

Tearing hair out.  Mr B must be feeling worse as he is dealing with house sale and is an executor of his father's estate, along with being given 7 day deadlines to collate and upload each tranche of evidence that NZ Immigration ask for (5 year worth of evidence in each request).

I guess we should be pleased that someone is reviewing it in timely fashion but their deadlines for response re a bit unrealistic.  I wonder if they would let me visit them in person with my laptop and show them 20 years worth of our lives together rather than asking us to produce specific pieces of evidence taken out of the context of the rest of it and presented in isolation.