I answered “Never Married” in my Expression of Interest Form question A15 because of the following two reasons.
I was, in fact, not married when I applied for my permanent residence. I was born and raised in China and came to New Zealand when I was 17. In our culture, one is either married, or never married. Therefore, I answered “Never Married” in the EOI form.
To my understanding, you are in a de facto relationship if you are living together as a couple, but not married. J and I were only boyfriend and girlfriend, and we certainly did not live together as I was in New Zealand and he was in China. Therefore, I did not consider myself being in a de facto relationship at the time of application.