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.

There is no rush to submit an EOI

EOIs that have not been selected from the ballot expire after 2 years. This means there is no rush to submit an EOI now. If you submit it closer to the ballot selection in August you can maximise the amount of time it stays in the ballot before expiring.

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

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

Existing EOIs

Existing EOIs — these are EOIs we received before 12 October 2022 — will be selected in the date order we received them. We begin selecting them 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 this 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.

You may withdraw or update your existing EOI

If you have an existing EOI you can change it in response to the new requirements, for example you may want to add an adult child as a joint sponsor, or you can withdraw it.

If you withdraw it you can request a fee refund.

If your EOI is selected it 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 you may have had to wait a long time since submitting your EOI to the existing queue and that your situation may have changed during this time.