Parents
Parent Retirement Category
The Parent Retirement Category allows individuals who have an adult child who is a New Zealand citizen or resident in New Zealand to apply for a Resident visa to live in New Zealand permanently.
To be eligible an applicant requires an annual income of NZD60,000 and an additional NZD1million to transfer and invest into New Zealand for a period of four years. A further NZD500,000 in assets or funds to meet settlement fund requirements is also required along with meeting usual health and character requirements.
Parent Category
New Zealand citizens and residents are able to sponsor their parents to come and reside in New Zealand. It is recognised that many migrants have parents offshore and providing the opportunity for them to join their families in New Zealand, offers that much needed support network. After the category was suspended in 2016, it was overhauled and reopened post-covid in October 2022. To be eligible for this visa the applicant (and their partner) must:
- have a child who has been a New Zealand citizen or resident for at least 3 years, and who has no conditions attached to their resident visa (other than those related to travel)
- who agrees to sponsor the applicant/partner and
- who meets the minimum income requirements
A parent may be sponsored for the Parent Resident Visa by either; the adult New Zealand citizen or resident child, jointly by the adult child and their partner or jointly by the adult child and another adult child of a parent included in the application. For example, the minimum income for one sponsor is 1.5 times the New Zealand median wage for one parent (NZD92,539.20) and increases by half the median wage for each additional parent. As the median wage is updated each year, so will the amount the adult child needs to earn.
A sponsor must have earned at least the minimum income required for two years in the three-year period before an expression of interest is selected. It is important to correctly calculate which two 12 month periods a sponsor will use to have their income assessed on.
Whilst this category does offer a pathway to residence for those with adult children residing lawfully and permanently in New Zealand, it is not a certainty with initial Expressions of Interest being randomly drawn from the pool periodically, to ensure that the number of places available (ie visas) is filled.