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Sponsorship for the Parent Resident Visa

You can be sponsored by your adult New Zealand resident child or citizen, or jointly by them and their partner or another adult child, if they earn enough.

Who can sponsor you

You can be sponsored for the Parent Resident Visa by:

your adult New Zealand citizen or resident child
jointly by your adult child and their partner, or
jointly by your adult child and another adult child of a parent included in the application.

Your sponsors need to be New Zealand citizens or residents who have been resident here for at least 3 years.

If you are being sponsored by a child and their partner, they must have been living together for at least 12 months.

Your sponsors must earn enough

They must have earned at least the minimum income we require for 2 years in the 3-year period before you were invited to apply for residence.

The minimum income they need changes depending on if you have single or joint sponsors.

To calculate your sponsor or sponsor's minimum income

You need to know:

if you have 1 or 2 sponsors
how many parents are being sponsored — this includes any parents they are also currently sponsoring
which two 12-month periods your sponsor will use to have their income assessed on
what the New Zealand median income was on the last day of each 12-month period that your sponsor’s income will be assessed on.

You can use the minimum income tables to check the New Zealand median wage for the past 3 years and how much your sponsors need to have earned.

Note

We will continue to use NZD $27.76 an hour as the median wage until 27 February 2023. From 27 February 2023 we will use NZD $29.66, unless your role is exempt.

New median wage to apply from February 2023

Minimum income table: for 1 sponsor

This starts at 1.5 times the New Zealand median wage for 1 parent, and increases by half the median wage amount for each additional parent.

Effective date	NZ median wage	1 parent	2 parents	3 parents	4 parents
January 2022 onwards	NZD $57,740	NZD $86,611.20	NZD $115,481.60	NZD $144,352	NZD $173,222.40
January 2021 to December 2021	NZD $56,160	NZD $84,240	NZD $112,320	NZD $140,400	NZD $168,480
January 2020 to December 2020	NZD $53,040	NZD $79,560	NZD $106,080	NZD $132,600	NZD $159,120

Minimum income table: for 2 sponsors

This starts at 2 times the median wage for 1 parent, and increases by half the median wage amount for each additional parent.

Effective date	NZ median wage	1 parent	2 parents	3 parents	4 parents
January 2022 onwards	NZD $57,740.80	NZD $115,481.60	NZD $144,352	NZD $173,222.40	NZD $202,092.80
January 2021 to December 2021	NZD $56,160	NZD $112,320	NZD $140,400	NZD $168,480	NZD $196,560
January 2020 to December 2020	NZD $53,040	NZD $106,080	NZD $132,600	NZD $159,120	NZD $185,640

Example

Ann and Brian want to move to Auckland to be close to their children Claire and Diana who both live there. Claire and Diana have agreed to jointly sponsor them.

Ann and Brian are invited to apply for residence on 25 November 2022. This means the 3-year period where we can assess Claire and Diana's income goes from 25 November 2019 to 25 November 2022.

Claire and Diana must choose two 12-month periods in the 3-year period where they show they can meet the income threshold. As they are joint sponsors, they must use the same 12-month periods.

Diana was on parental leave from June 2019 to June 2020 so her income was lower during that 12 months. The sisters decide to use these two 12-month periods to show they meet the income threshold:

August 2020 to July 2021
August 2021 to July 2022.

Claire and Diana check the minimum income tables for 2 sponsors and look at the column for 2 parents, since that is how many people each of them are sponsoring, then check the amount needed in each year.

The first period ends in 2021, so they need to show that the total of both their income over that time was NZD $140,400.

The second period ends in 2022, so they need to show that the total of both their incomes over that time was NZD $144,352.

How the minimum sponsor income is calculated

The amount a sponsor needs to earn to sponsor one parent is:

1.5 times the New Zealand median wage for a single sponsor
2 times the New Zealand median wage for joint sponsors.

The minimum income increases by half the New Zealand median wage for each additional parent, up to a maximum of 6 parents.

NOTE

We update the New Zealand median wage each year, so the amount they need to earn will change depending on which years they include with your application.

We only consider taxable income

For us to count your sponsor's income it must be taxable and appear on their Inland Revenue summary of income or Final Tax Summary.

Request a summary of income | Inland Revenue

If your sponsor has already sponsored a parent

If your sponsor has already sponsored 1 parent or more, we include that parent in their minimum income calculation.

For example, if your adult child previously sponsored 2 parents then they and their partner sponsored 2 more parents after it reopens, they will need to meet the income requirements to sponsor 4 parents.