From February 2020, you can apply for a
Parent Resident Visa again, although there will be changes to the criteria you
need to meet.
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.