Parent Resident Visa

Visa details

You can apply to live in New Zealand permanently if you have a child who is a New Zealand citizen or resident. They must earn enough money and agree to sponsor you.

Length of stay

Indefinitely

Quota
Each year

2500

Cost
From
NZD $3300
Processing time
EOI
selection
With this visa you can
  • Live, work and study in New Zealand.
  • Include your partner in your residence application.
Things to note
Open

This visa has reopened with changes to sponsor requirements. We started selecting expressions of interest (EOIs) again on 14 November 2022.
Parent Resident Visa restarts

Who can apply

The criteria and evidence below will provide you with the information you need to meet the requirements of this visa.

View All Evidence

Expression of interest

You must complete an expression of interest

You must complete a ‘Parent Category Expression of Interest Form’ telling us about:

  • your identity, character and health
  • your English speaking ability — if you do not speak English, you must agree to pay for English language lessons if your application is approved
  • your family
  • your partner, if you have one
  • your sponsor or sponsors, including their income.
Tips

  1. You do not need to include any evidence with your expression of interest (EOI).

    If your EOI meets the requirements, we will enter it into a ballot which will be selected from every 3 months, starting in August 2023. EOIs remain in the ballot for 2 years before they expire.

  2. You can use the ‘Parent Category Guide’ to help you complete your EOI.

    Parent Category Guide (INZ 1207) PDF 424KB

Invitation to apply for residence

You must be invited to apply for residence

If we select your expression of interest (EOI) from our selection pool, we will invite you to apply for residence.

If you are invited for residence we will send you a 'Parent Category Residence Application' form.

We will ask you to:

  • complete the form
  • provide evidence to support the claims you made in your EOI.

You have 4 months to send us your application.

You can use the 'Parent Category Guide' to help you complete the 'Parent Category Residence Application'.

Parent Category Guide (INZ 1207) PDF 424KB

Tips

  1. You can use the ‘Parent Category Guide’ to help you complete the ‘Parent Category Residence Application’.

    Parent Category Guide (INZ 1207) PDF 424KB

Identity

You must provide proof of your identity

Acceptable photos

Tips

  1. Also provide a copy of your Identity card.

  2. Also provide your Kartu Keluarga.

  3. If you’re not a French national, also provide a copy of your carte d’assuré.

  4. Also provide a copy of your livret de famille.

  5. You don’t need to provide any identity documents until you’re invited to apply for residence.

Health

You must be in good health

You must have a chest x-ray and a medical examination as proof of your good health.

Getting an x-ray or medical examination

Tips

  1. You don’t need to have an x-ray or medical examination until you’re invited to apply for residence.

Character

You must be of good character

If you are 17 or over, you must provide a police certificate from:

  • your country of citizenship
  • any other country where you have spent 12 months or more over the last 10 years, even if you did not spend that 12 months all in one visit.

Good character

How to get a police certificate

Tips

  1. You don’t need to provide any Police Certificates until you’re invited to apply for residence.

  2. Police Certificates must be less than 6 months old when you apply for residence.

  3. If you provide a police certificate that is not in English, you must provide an English translation.

    This includes police certificates that record no convictions.

English language

You must be able to speak English

If we invite you to apply for residence we’ll ask you to provide one of the following:

  • an acceptable English language test result
  • evidence you have an English speaking background
  • evidence you can speak English for other reasons.

English language test results for a Parent Resident Visa

Tips

  1. You don’t need to provide evidence you can speak English until you’re invited to apply for residence.

  2. If you don’t speak English at the required level, you can agree to pay us for English language lessons before you’re granted a visa.

Bring partner

Your partner must meet the requirements for this visa

You must provide evidence:

  • of your relationship with your partner
  • that your partner meets the identity, character, health and English language requirements for this visa.

Partnership

Tips

  1. You don’t need to provide evidence your partner can speak English until you’re invited to apply for residence.

  2. If your partner doesn’t speak English at the required level, you can agree to pay us for their English language lessons before you’re granted a visa.

  3. If your partner holds temporary entry visas based on their relationship with you, they must be included in your residence application.

Dependent children

You must have no dependent children

We’ll ask you about your family when you complete your expression of interest.

Dependent children

Your sponsor’s income

Your sponsoring child, or them and their joint sponsor, must earn enough to sponsor you

Your sponsor can use their own income or combine it with either their partner’s income or another adult sibling. You can have up to 2 joint sponsors.

The amount your sponsor or sponsors need to earn is based on the New Zealand median income, and increases by half the median wage for joint sponsors and for each additional parent.

Sponsorship for the Parent Resident Visa

Sponsorship

You must have at least one adult child who is eligible to sponsor you

For your child to sponsor you, they must be a New Zealand citizen or resident and:

  • be 18 or over
  • have been a New Zealand citizen or resident for at least 3 years before you apply for residence
  • live in New Zealand
  • have spent 184 or more days in New Zealand in each of the 3 years before you apply for residence
  • agree to meet your living costs for the first 10 years of your residence, if you’re unable to
  • agree to cover the costs of sending you home, if necessary
  • be able to give us Inland Revenue tax statements as evidence of their income.

If you are invited to apply for residence, we will send you a 'Sponsorship Form for Residence'. We will ask your adult child to complete the form.

Tips

  1. Your child may include:

    • your natural child
    • your adopted child
    • your partner’s child, if you lived with them for most of their life and until they turned 18
    • your grandchild, if their parents died
    • a child you were the legal guardian of. This only applies if the child’s parents died and you became their legal guardian before they turned 18. You must also have been the child’s most recent legal guardian.

Your sponsoring child’s immigration status

Your sponsoring child must be a New Zealand citizen or resident

You must provide an original or certified copy of your child’s:

  • New Zealand passport, birth certificate or certificate of citizenship, or
  • New Zealand Resident Visa, or
  • Australian passport.
Tips

  1. Your child must be 18 or over for us to consider them an adult.

  2. If your child is a New Zealand resident, their visa must be free from section 49 conditions.

    If your child has section 49 conditions, they’ll be listed on their visa label.

Your sponsoring child’s place of residence

Your sponsoring child must live in New Zealand

You must provide evidence your child lives in New Zealand, which may include:

  • letters or bills addressed to them, eg power bills
  • employment records
  • records of benefit payments from Work and Income
  • tax records from Inland Revenue
  • mortgage or rental agreements
  • documents showing their belongings have been moved to New Zealand
  • any other documents that show they live in New Zealand.
Tips

  1. Your child must also be a New Zealand citizen or resident.

Your relationship to your sponsoring child

You must be the parent or legal guardian of the sponsoring child

You must provide evidence that confirms your relationship to your child, which may include:

  • birth certificates
  • adoption papers
  • any other documents that confirm your relationship to each other.

If you’re the sponsoring child’s grandparent or legal guardian and their parents died, you must provide original or certified copies of parents’ death certificates.

If you became the legal guardian of a sponsoring child after their parents died, you must provide evidence you had custody of the child and you had the right to bring them up until they turned 18. Evidence may include:

  • legal documents naming you as the child’s guardian
  • documents showing the child lived with you after their parents died
  • medical and school records showing you acted in the role of a parent after your sponsoring child’s parents died.
Tips

  1. You can provide household registration documents if these confirm your relationship to your child.

  2. Grandparents of New Zealand citizens or residents may be considered for residence under the Parent Category if their grandchild’s parents died.

Process and costs

The information below will help you understand the process, timeframes and costs involved in applying for this visa, so you can plan ahead and have the best chance of submitting a complete application.

Notes

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How to submit

Payment methods and receiving centre details if applicable.

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Conditions

These are the conditions that you must meet once you have your visa.

Entry permission

You must apply for entry permission when you arrive in New Zealand. You can do this by completing an arrival card, which you are given on the way to New Zealand.

Arriving in New Zealand

Notes

  • You can be refused entry permission if:

    • you don’t meet our character requirements
    • your circumstances have changed since you were granted a visa
    • you refuse to let us to take your photo, or provide us with your fingerprints or an iris scan, if we ask you for them.

Travel

You can travel in and out of New Zealand as often as you like until your travel conditions expire.

To travel after that, you will need to apply for and be granted either:

  • a Permanent Resident Visa
  • a variation of your travel conditions, which would allow you to return to New Zealand at a later date. 
Notes

  • Your travel conditions will expire 10 years from the date you first arrive in New Zealand as a resident. Your visa label and approval letter will detail the date that your travel conditions expire.

    If you are outside of New Zealand when your travel conditions expire, your visa will expire as well.

Work

You can work in any occupation for any employer in New Zealand.

Study

You can study in New Zealand.

Keep your visa in a valid passport

If you want to travel, your visa must be in a valid passport.

If your passport expires, you must apply to transfer your visa to a new passport before you can travel.

Transferring my visa to a new passport

Notes

Sponsorship

For ten years after your resident visa is granted, your sponsor must meet the following sponsorship obligations:

  • provide suitable accommodation if you don’t have your own place to live
  • ensure your health and welfare needs are met
  • pay any costs associated with your deportation and repatriation (if required).
Notes

  • If Work and Income make welfare payments to you during this time, we may consider that your sponsor is not meeting their obligations to care for you.

    If your sponsor does not meet these obligations, we may determine that you have breached your visa conditions and you will be made liable for deportation as a result.

    Your sponsor may have to repay any money spent by the New Zealand Government or a third-party as a result of them not meeting their obligations.