The Parent Category reopens, with a relaxing of the criteria making the news extra sweet

Last week INZ announced that, following a hiatus that has in practice lasted many years, the parent category is set to reopen and is going to do so with a more relaxed set of criteria. 

What the Parent resident visa process will look like, is summarised below. 

The process

• It will continue to be a two-stage process: an Expression of Interest followed by a paper application if invited to apply.

• When an EOI has been assessed as acceptable, INZ will issue an invitation to apply, allowing 4 months to collate the necessary evidence to support the claims made in the EOI and lodge a paper application.

The criteria

• Eligibility under the parent category will continue to centre around the immigration status and income of the sponsors.

• Sponsors can be an adult child, an adult child and their partner, or can now also be two adult children. The sponsor(s) must have already been NZ citizens/residents for at least 3 years and be ordinarily resident in NZ. The sponsor(s) must also meet an income threshold detailed below.

• Where there is one sponsor, the income threshold to sponsor one parent is going to be set at 1.5 times the median wage and increases by a factor of 0.5 of the median wage per additional parent. Where there are two sponsors, the threshold to sponsor one parent is set at 2 times the median wage and similarly increases by a factor of 0.5 ofthe median wage per additional parent.

• The income test runs backwards for a period of 3 years from the date an Invitation to Apply is issued, with the sponsor(s) now needing to meet the applicable income threshold in just two of the three preceding years. The income threshold is calculated based on the median income, as set in Immigration policy, on the last day of each year of the three-year period. For example, if an Invitation is issued on 1 November 2023, the income period will run from 1November 2020 until 31 October 2023 and the income threshold will be based on the median wage in INZ policy as at 31 October 2023, 31 October 2022 and 31 October 2021.

• In addition, the parent(s) must meet general identity, health, character, and English ability requirements.

Timing

• The number of parent applications that can be decided in each year is increasing from 1000 to 2500.

• The first EOI selection for new EOI’s will occur in August 2023. Older, pre-COVID EOIs will start to be processed from 14 November 2022.

• New EOI’s will be selected by quarterly ballot, initially capped at 500 per annum, while older EOI’s will be cleared in date order and given a 2000 per annum allocation until cleared.

• It is as yet unknown how long it will take to clear the older EOI’s but INZ has indicated that processing times will be added to the website in due course.

• New Expressions of Interest will be valid for 2 years from submission.

• A sponsor’s obligations remain in place for 10 years from the parent(s) first day as a resident. Any parent previously sponsored from 2017 onwards will be factored into the income threshold assessment.

The re-opening of the Parent residence category has been eagerly awaited by many residents and citizens who have emigrated to New Zealand in recent years. That such welcome news has come with the furtherrealisation that the criteria are also being relaxed, will surely be the cherry on top and see a significant increase in uptake of this visa class.