A Comprehensive Guide to the New Zealand Parent Resident Visa

What is a Parent Resident Visa?

A Parent Resident Visa is a type of New Zealand resident visa which you can apply for if you have a New Zealand citizen or resident child who is eligible to sponsor you and you meet the other Parent Category requirements. The Parent Resident Visa is a two-stage process: first, you submit an expression of interest (EOI), which goes into a pool, and if selected, Immigration New Zealand (INZ) will issue you a formal invitation to apply. No documentation is required for the EOI stage, but quality documentation (which demonstrates the requirements are met) is crucial to success in the application stage.

Eligibility Requirements

To be eligible for a Parent Resident Visa under the Parent Category, applicants must:

1. Meet health and character requirements

2. Have a minimum standard of English, or pre-purchase English for Speakers of Other Languages tuition to the specified level

3. Have no dependent children

4. Have at least one sponsoring adult child (aged 18 or older) who:

   • Meets the family relationship requirements and

   • Meets the sponsorship requirements, including the minimum income threshold requirements

5. If the applicant is jointly sponsored by two people, have sponsors who each meet the requirements, including the joint sponsorship requirements

6. Meet the evidential requirements

Family Relationship Requirements

A sponsoring adult child includes:

• A biological or adopted child of the applicant

• A child of the applicant's partner (whether or not the partner is included in the application) if that child has lived with the principal applicant for a predominant period of the child's life between the time their relationship with the principal applicant began and until the time the child turned 18 years of age.

A legal guardian or grandparent may be eligible to apply under the Parent Category.

A Legal guardian applicant and their partner may be eligible if:

1. Both the sponsor's parents died before the sponsor attained the age of 18 years

2. The applicant had legal guardianship of the sponsor (that is, custody of the sponsor and the right to control the sponsor's upbringing) before the sponsor attained the age of 18 years

3. The applicant was the most recent legal guardian of the sponsor

A sponsored adult child's grandparent and their partner may be eligible if both parents of the child are deceased. Only one grandparent and their partner, or one legal guardian and their partner, may be sponsored under the Parent Category.

Sponsorship Requirements

A sponsor or sponsors on a Parent Category application can be:

• The adult child of the principal applicant

• The adult child of the principal applicant and that adult child's partner (joint sponsorship)

• The adult child of the principal applicant and one other adult child of either applicant included in the application (joint sponsorship)

A maximum of two people can act as sponsors in a Parent Category application. A sponsor can sponsor a maximum of six parents.

Each sponsor must:

• Meet a number of requirements to be an acceptable sponsor, including that they must:

  • Have been a New Zealand citizen and/or New Zealand residence class visa holder for at least three years immediately preceding the date the application they wish to sponsor is made

  • Be ordinarily resident in New Zealand and for each of the three 12-month portions within the three years immediately preceding the date the application they wish to sponsor is made, have spent a total of 184 days or more in New Zealand

• Meet the relevant minimum income requirement for sponsors (discussed below)

• Agree to meet various undertakings in respect of the applicant(s) for the required sponsorship period, including ensuring the sponsored applicant or applicants have accommodation, maintenance while in New Zealand, and outward travel

• Must not be a dependent child

• Must sponsor the applicant or applicants for a sponsorship period of 10 years

Minimum income requirement for sponsors

The sponsor or joint sponsors must:

• Have a total income that meets the minimum income threshold

• Meet that income threshold for two 12-month periods within the 3 years prior to their EOI being selected

• Demonstrate that income through the evidential requirements

The calculation of the minimum income threshold must take into account the applicants plus any other parents who are already being sponsored. For example, if an adult child has previously sponsored 2 parents, then they and their partner sponsor 2 more parents, they will need to meet the income requirements to sponsor 4 parents.

The two 12-month periods may not overlap. If there are joint sponsors, the 12-month periods must be the same for both sponsors.

The income of a sponsoring adult child's partner may only be considered if:

• The partner is acting as a joint sponsor

• The partner has been living with the sponsoring adult child for a period of at least 12 months in a partnership that is genuine and stable, and they meet the requirements for the recognition of a partnership

Minimum income thresholds

The minimum income threshold for sponsors under the Parent Category is based on the following:

• 1.5 times the median income if sponsoring a single parent

• An additional 0.5 times the median income for each additional parent sponsored

• An additional 0.5 times the median income (combined) if two people are acting as sponsors

The minimum income thresholds for one sponsor and two (joint) sponsors are set out in tables on the INZ website, which is updated periodically in accordance with changes to the New Zealand median wage data provided by Statistics New Zealand. At the date of writing, the tables can be found here.

As mentioned above, the sponsor or joint sponsors must meet the income threshold for two 12-month periods within the 3 years prior to their EOI being selected. Therefore, they effectively need to count backwards 3 years from the date the EOI is selected from the pool to identify the 3 year period from which they may choose the two 12-month periods.

Note that the income threshold required to be met for each 12-month period is calculated based on the median income that is in effect at the end of each 12-month period the sponsor is providing evidence for. So, for example, if one of the 12-month periods ends on 31st July 2022, the median income that was in effect on that date applies.

And for anyone thinking about excluding their partner from their Parent Category application (for example, because their sponsor or sponsors can only afford to sponsor one parent) with the intention of later applying for residence for their partner under the Partnership Residence category, note that this is not permitted under the Immigration rules.

The minimum income requirement for sponsors is often one of the trickier parts of a Parent Resident Visa application, particularly when it comes to identifying the two 12-month periods and providing the correct evidence (discussed below).

Required Documents

There is a potentially wide range of documentary evidence that may be required to support a Parent Category Residence visa application. The amount and complexity of evidence can vary depending on the parent(s), the sponsor(s), the nature of the family relationships, and the source or sources of income for the sponsor(s).

Given that the Parent Category is, at the date of writing, a paper-based application, all documents submitted to INZ must be either originals or certified copies of originals. Below I've highlighted a number of the key areas and types of evidence that may be required.

Family relationship evidence

Evidence is required to demonstrate a parent's relationship to their sponsoring child or children. This includes, for example, birth certificates establishing the relationship of the children to the parent; or household registration documents, if these establish the relationship of the children to the parent; or evidence of adoption, which establishes the relationship of the children to the parent. Other evidence establishing the relationship of the children to the parents may also be provided or requested by an immigration officer.

Where the applicant is a grandparent (because the sponsoring adult child's parents are deceased), evidence of the sponsoring adult child's relationship to the grandparent must be provided (including, for example, birth certificates), together with evidence of their parents' deaths (i.e. death certificate or other evidence where the death certificate is unobtainable).

In certain cases, evidence will also need to be provided to demonstrate the sponsoring adult child is not dependent. Where the child is 20 years of age or less and unmarried, then he or she is presumed to be dependent and will be required to provide evidence to demonstrate independence. For children aged 21 to 24, evidence of actual independence may be required.

Minimum income requirements evidence

Evidence is required to show that the sponsor(s) meet the minimum income requirement. Evidence of meeting the minimum income requirement must be demonstrated through the sponsor(s) annual Inland Revenue tax statements or Summary of Income, whichever is relevant to their employment status.

INZ Instructions provide the following explanation of the evidential requirements for sponsor's income:

• Only taxable income that is recorded on New Zealand's Inland Revenue tax statements (Summary of Income) of the sponsor(s) will be recognised when calculating a sponsor's income.

• For self-employed sponsors, only taxable income recorded on New Zealand's Inland Revenue Final Tax Summary at the end of the three most recent financial years will be considered when calculating a sponsor's income.

• Income earned by another legal entity, such as a company or a trust, cannot be included unless it has been paid directly to the sponsor in the form of shareholder-employee salary or dividends or is income derived from the trust. This income must appear on the Inland Revenue tax statements of the sponsor(s).

Things can get complicated when a sponsor is relying on a mixture of PAYE income and self-employed income or self-employed income (only). In the case of a self-employed income earner (wholly or partially), INZ advises that the sponsor can nominate any two 12-month dates within the 36-month window, but the income documents submitted must be through a finalised income tax return, which is for a financial year only (1/April/YEAR to 31/March/YEAR) and, therefore, an apportioning of income may be required. 

Evidence the sponsor is ordinarily resident in NZ

Evidence is required to demonstrate the sponsor(s) is to be considered 'ordinarily resident' in New Zealand, which may include correspondence addressed to the sponsor/s, employment records, travel movements outside of New Zealand, banking records, rates demands, Inland Revenue records, mortgage documents, tenancy and utility supply agreements, documents showing that the New Zealand partner's household effects have been moved to New Zealand.

Partnership evidence

Where the adult child's partner is acting as a joint sponsor, evidence will be required to demonstrate that s/he has been living in a genuine and stable partnership with the adult child for at least 12 months. Furthermore, where a partner is included as a secondary applicant, evidence will be required to demonstrate that the secondary applicant meets INZ's requirements for inclusion of partners in a residence visa application (i.e. that the principal applicant and secondary applicant have been living together in a partnership that is genuine and stable for at least 12 months). 

In addition to the above evidence, other documents that are required for an application include passports, police certificates, medical/chest x-rays, and the necessary signed and completed INZ forms. 

There is a range of other potential types of evidence and documents that may be required depending on the circumstances of the applicant and their sponsor/s.  

Application Process

The number of residence visas that can be granted under the parent category is currently 2,500 per year. EOIS are placed in a ballot and selected randomly every 3 months (normally in February, May, August and November (generally on the second Tuesday of the relevant month). EOIs remain in the pool for two years, following which they will expire and be removed if not selected. An applicant can only have one EOI in the pool at a time.

An immigration officer may invite a person to apply for a resident visa under the Parent Category if they are satisfied that:

• The information provided does not indicate the presence of any health or character issues.

• Claims about the English language are credible, or the applicant has the intention to pre-purchase ESOL tuition.

• it is credible that the parent's relationship to their sponsoring adult child(ren) and any other children they have will meet requirements when the parent/s are granted residence.

• it is credible that the sponsor(s) will meet the sponsorship requirements when the parent/s are granted residence.

• The sponsor(s) is likely to meet the minimum income threshold for two 12-month periods within the 3 years prior to the EOI selection date.

• if joint income is required, it is credible that the requirements for joint sponsorship will be met when the parent/s are granted residence.

If their EOI is drawn from the pool, an applicant has only four (4) months within which to lodge their applications with INZ, after which the invitation will expire. There is no ability to extend this deadline.

Currently, applications under the Parent Category must be lodged with INZ in paper format, with all documents being originals or certified copies of originals. INZ has signalled its intention to move the application to its online platform, but no timeframe has been given for this.

Processing Time and Costs

At the date of writing, the estimated processing time at INZ for the processing of Parent Category Residence Visa applications is approximately 8 months.

The EOI fee is currently $430, and the application fee is currently $3,610, increasing to $5,360 from 1st October 2024.

Conclusion

While applications under the Parent Category can seem simple enough, there are a number of potential 'fish hooks', particularly in relation to the minimum income requirements for sponsors. There may be complexities due to the family relationship itself or the sponsor's income, which increases the risk of an application not meeting the requirements. In view of these complexities and risks, as well as the high stakes involved (you may only get one chance, especially if there's a subsequent health issue which excludes you or your partner from eligibility) and the significant INZ application fees payable (particularly from 1st October 2024), I’d always recommend seeking professional assistance from an immigration lawyer if considering whether to lodge an EOI or application under the Parent Category.