The Parent Resident Visa enables New Zealand residents and citizens to sponsor their parents for residence in New Zealand, to support skilled migration. You can permanently reside in New Zealand with a New Zealand citizen or resident child, provided they earn enough money and agree to sponsor you.

The Parent Resident Visa process involves submitting an Expression of Interest (EOI), which if selected and meets requirements, an Invitation To Apply (ITA) is issued by Immigration New Zealand (INZ). Only ITA-eligible individuals can apply for residence within 4 months. The cost of a Parent Resident Visa starts from NZD $3180.

INZ can approve a maximum of 2000 visas per year to people who submitted EOIs before the restart of selections was announced on October 10, 2022. These EOIs are in a queue and selected in date order, with the oldest selected first.

A maximum of 500 visas a year can be granted to people who submitted EOIs on or after October 10, 2022. These EOIs are placed in a ballot and are selected randomly. EOIs in the ballot expire 2 years after they are submitted.

Once all the EOIs in the queue submitted before October 10, 2022 have been selected, the full amount of 2,500 visas will be available to people with EOIs in the ballot.

Approval of Expression of Interest

If you submitted an EOI under the Parent Resident Visa before October 12, you can withdraw or update it. The Parent Resident Visa restarted on October 12, 2022 with different requirements for sponsors:

• Sponsors will now need to earn 1.5 times the New Zealand median wage, and this limit will increase by half the median wage for each joint sponsor or additional parent.
• Two adult children, not just an adult child and their partner, can now jointly sponsor a parent.
• Other requirements for the Parent Resident Visa have not changed.

Parent Resident Visa expression of interest (EOI) selection process

If your EOI is selected it will be assessed against the new requirements. When you submit your Parent Resident Visa EOI it goes into a ballot.

To apply for a Parent Resident Visa, you must first submit an expression of interest (EOI). If INZ selects your EOI, INZ may invite you to apply for residence. INZ randomly select EOIs every 3 months by ballot. The ballot contains EOIs received from October 12, 2022. The first selection was on August 8, 2023.

How the ballot works

• Selections occur in February, May, August and November, and generally take place on the second Tuesday of the relevant month.
• To be included in a selection your EOI must be submitted by the last day of the month before the selection. For example, submit your EOI on or before 31 July to be in an August selection.
• INZ select enough to reach 500 visa approvals each year.
• EOIs in the ballot expire after 2 years.
• You can submit your EOI online or using the paper form.

Once EOIs are selected they go through a checking process. Checks generally take around 2 weeks. After INZ checks your EOI you will either be invited to apply for residence or advised if your EOI will be declined. Remember, EOIs submitted before the month of the draw are eligible for selection from the ballot pool. Also, grandparents and legal guardians may be able to apply for residence under this category. However, if you have any dependent children, you are not eligible for this visa. Parents and grandparents can also apply for a Parent and Grandparent Visitor Visa which is a 3-year visa that comes with multiple-entry travel conditions.