Caroline Ryan, Licensed Immigration Adviser said, ‘This announcement from the Government is good news that parents can again join their adult children in New Zealand’.  INZ said there will be a cap of 1,000 parents to join their children each year.

A single person sponsoring one parent needs to earn twice the New Zealand median income – about $106,000 a year.  If sponsoring two parents, $159,000 a year.

Joint sponsors for one parent will increase to $159,000 a year and $212,000 a year if sponsoring two parents.

All changes have now been announced on Immigration New Zealand’s website.  Caroline Ryan, Licensed Immigration Adviser said, ‘New applicants will be able to submit new EOIs in February 2020 when the visa reopens’.  If you have an existing EOI, you can either:

• Update your EOI to meet the new requirements; withdraw the EOI and apply for a refund of your EOI fee; or leave your EOI in the queue – if you think you will meet the visa’s new requirements.

There will be changes to the visa.  Immigration New Zealand are

• Limiting the number of people who can get the visa each year to 1,000.
• Changing the financial requirements that sponsors and applicants need to meet, and
• Changing the 2-tier system to a single system

The visa will reopen with new financial requirements that applicants and sponsors must meet.

New Zealand Immigration will update the income levels for sponsors each year based on the New Zealand median income.

The current median income is NZD $53,040.

If your sponsorship is based on your personal income, you will need to earn before tax:

• NZD $106,080 to sponsor 1 parent
• NZD $159,120 to sponsor 2 parents.

If you are using both you and your partner’s income, you will need to earn between you:

• NZD $159,120 to sponsor 1 parent
• NZD $212,160 to sponsor 2 parents

Applicants can submit new expressions of interest from February 2020 when the visa reopens as it is temporarily closed until then in order that INZ can prepare their systems for the new requirements. New EOIs will begin to be selected in May 2020.

INZ has said that existing residence applications are not affected.  ‘If you have made an application for a Parent Resident Visa, it will be assessed based on the visa requirements at the time you applied. This means that Parent Resident Visa applications we were processing on the date of the announcement will be assessed based on the criteria that applied to the previous Parent Resident Visa’.

There are other visa options available to parents and grandparents.  Parents of New Zealand citizens and residents can apply for residence under the uncapped Parent Retirement Resident Visa.  INZ says applicants need to be able to invest specific amounts of money in New Zealand.

Parents and grandparents can also apply for a Parent and Grandparent Visitor Visa. This is a 3-year visa that comes with multiple-entry travel conditions.

The post Parent Resident Visa appeared first on Capital Immigration Services.

Caroline Ryan, Licensed Immigration Adviser said from 4^th October, the annual cap on temporary visas that can be granted under the Seasonal Work scheme has now increased by 1,550 to 14,400.

On the Recognised Seasonal Employer Limited Visa, you can come to New Zealand for a short time to work in New Zealand’s horticulture and viticulture industries. Applicants must first have a job offer.

Since it came into effect in April 2007 The policy allows the horticulture and viticulture industries to recruit workers from overseas for seasonal work when there are not enough New Zealand workers.

INZ states workers must meet health and character requirements and provide evidence of arrangements to leave New Zealand at the end of their stay.

People employed under the RSE policy may stay in New Zealand for up to seven months during any 11-month period. Exceptions to this are workers from Tuvalu and Kiribati, who can stay for nine months because of the distance from New Zealand and the cost of travel.

‘Unless employers can show they have pre-established relationships with workers from other countries, they may only recruit workers under RSE policy from these countries: Fiji; Kiribati; Nauru; Papua New Guinea; Samoa; Solomon Islands; Tonga; Tuvalu; and Vanuatu’.

In the first year, 1550 more visas will be available for workers from the Pacific to come to New Zealand under the Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme.

An increase in the second year is conditional on the industry proving it is making horticulture and viticulture sectors easier and more attractive for New Zealand workers.

“The cap on the number of temporary visas that can be granted to employ foreign seasonal workers is set to rise by 3150 over two years to 16,000,” Immigration Minister Ian Lees-Galloway said.

In the first year it will increase by 1550 to 14,400 for 2019/20 and if approval has also been given for the cap to be raised then it will increase by a further 1,600 places to 16,000 in 2020/21.

Mr Iain Lees-Galloway said the industry would also need to make sure more accommodation was built for workers.

He said restrictions would be placed on the further use of residential housing by seasonal workers to prevent New Zealanders being squeezed out of local housing by the increased cap.

“New Zealand is dealing with a housing crisis left to us by the previous government. So, this year restrictions will be placed on the further use of residential rental housing by RSE employers to accommodate RSE workers,” Mr Lees-Galloway said.

“I continue to encourage the industry to do more to accommodate its workforce and make sure Kiwis aren’t squeezed out of local housing by an increase in the RSE cap”.

He said areas that are deemed to have low housing pressure will be exempted from the restriction.

The post An Addition of More than 10,000 Visas for Seasonal Work appeared first on Capital Immigration Services.