We are increasing the number of visas available each year from 1000 to 2500.

Changes for sponsors

We are lowering the income requirements for sponsors and allowing 2 adult children, rather than just an adult child and their partner, to combine their income to sponsor parents.

A sponsor now needs to earn 1.5 times the New Zealand median wage rather than twice the median wage. This limit increases by half the median wage for each joint sponsor or additional parent.

These new requirements apply to existing expressions of interest and those we receive from 12 October 2022.

Sponsorship for the Parent Resident Visa

New EOIs to be selected by ballot 

Any EOIs we receive from 12 October 2022 go into a ballot. The first random selection from the ballot is in August 2023, then every 3 months after that.

EOIs must be submitted before the month of a ballot draw for them to be eligible for selection in that draw.

There will be 500 visas available each year for EOIs selected by ballot.

From May 2023 EOIs can be submitted online on the Immigration New Zealand website.

EOI expiry

EOIs that have not been selected from the ballot expire after 2 years. Those submitted closer to the ballot selection can stay in the ballot pool longer before expiring.

Existing EOIs will be added to a queue

Existing EOIs — these are EOIs we received before 12 October 2022 — will be added to a queue and selected in the date order we received them. We begin selecting them from the queue on 14 November 2022 and continue to select them every 3 months after that.

It will take time for us to determine how long it will take to select all existing EOIs. Accurate timeframes will be added to our website.

Parent Resident Visa EOI selection process

If you have an existing EOI in the queue we will contact you and give you the opportunity to update or withdraw it.

If you do not get an email from us you may need to update your contact details using the process to update your EOI.

If you withdrew your EOI because you could not meet the previous income limit set before October 2019 we will invite you to resubmit an EOI to the queue.

Withdraw or update an existing EOI

An existing EOI can be updated in response to the new requirements, for example, joint sponsors may want to add an adult child, or withdraw their EOI.

Anybody who withdraws their EOI can request a fee refund.

EOIs selected will be assessed against the new requirements. Once we select it we will not refund the fee even if it is declined.

Update or withdraw your parent visa expression of interest (EOI)

We appreciate some people may have had to wait a long time since submitting their EOI to the existing queue, and that their situation may have changed during this time.