The objective of the Refugee Family Support Category is to help refugees living in New Zealand to settle by allowing them to sponsor family members for residence. We welcome 300 sponsored people (including their partners and dependent children) to settle in New Zealand each year under the Refugee Family Support Category.
The Refugee Family Support Category has replaced the previous Refugee Family Quota ballot system.
Refugee Family Support Category overview
Bringing your family to New Zealand under the Refugee Family Support Category is a three-stage process.
- You register as a sponsor.
- We select your registration.
- Your family members apply for residence.
The registration system
The Refugee Family Support Category has a two-tier registration system. Priority is given to tier one sponsors who meet our tier one sponsorship requirements – these people have a more immediate need to bring their family to New Zealand.
The table below shows how the process works.
Step 1 |
Registrations from tier one sponsors are given first access to the 300 places available each year. They are put in a queue.
Registrations are selected from the tier one queue until the 300 places are filled. |
Step 2 |
| If any of the 300 annual places are still available, we will call for registrations from tier two sponsors. |
Step 3 |
| The tier two registrations we receive are put into a ballot, and selected randomly. |
Step 4 |
| If their sponsor’s registration is selected from the tier one queue or drawn from the tier two ballot, family members can apply for residence under this category. |
Sponsorship requirements
To find out more about sponsorship requirements:
Residence requirements
To find out about the requirements that the people applying for a residence visa or permit must meet:
Update on Refugee Family Support Category (RFSC)
The information below is current as at Monday, 27 July 2009.
Total registrations received under the RFSC to date
- As of 27 July 2009, 1153 registrations have been received, this represents 4378 people,
- 713 of the 1153 registrations have been returned due to sponsor's failure to meet eligibility requirements.
Update on tier one queue
Registrations between 7810773 and 7875914
- As of 27 July 2009 all applications within this range have been drawn from the tier one queue.
- 191 sponsors have been verified as eligible tier one sponsors and have been issued with Invitations to Apply for Residence for the relatives they nominated in their registration form.
- This has resulted in 164 applications for residence (representing 547 people).
- The remaining sponsors within this range have been informed they do not meet tier one requirements, or that more information is required to complete verification of their application.
Registrations greater than 7875914
Registrations will be drawn from the tier one queue for second stage verification throughout 2009/2010.
Registrations greater than 8003952
Registrations will be drawn from the tier one queue for second stage verification throughout 2010/2011. This will be reviewed in February 2010.
New registrations (registration number not yet assigned)
It is anticipated that new registrations received from now will be waiting up to two years before they are drawn from the tier one queue.
No tier two ballot in 2009/2010
As sufficient registrations have been received and provisionally entered into the tier one queue to fill the number of places available under the Refugee Family Support Category for this financial year, there will not be a tier two ballot in 2009/2010.
There will be another update posted on this website in February 2010.
Living in New Zealand
For general information on New Zealand, take a look at the Discover and Decide section of our website.