Parent Retirement 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. You will also need to meet our income and investment requirements.

Length of stay

Indefinitely

Cost
From
NZD $5260
Processing time
90% within
57 months
With this visa you can
  • Live, work and study in New Zealand.
  • Include your partner in your visa application.
  • Apply for permanent residence after 4 years of keeping your funds invested in New Zealand.
Things to note
  • If we approve your residence application in principle, you’ll have 12 months to transfer your investment funds to New Zealand.
  • If you want to come to New Zealand to investigate investment opportunities, you'll need to apply for work visa. If your partner wants to come with you, they'll need to apply for their own work or visitor visa.

What you need to apply

Check if you are eligible to apply for this visa and what supporting documents and information you need to provide.

View All Evidence

Identity

You must provide proof of your identity

Acceptable photos

Tips

Also provide a copy of your Identity card.

You must also provide your Kartu Keluarga.

If you are not a French national, you must provide a copy of your carte d’assuré.

You must also provide a copy of your livret de famille.

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

If you’ve submitted a general medical and chest x-ray certificate in the last 36 months, for another visa application, you don’t need to resubmit one.

Character

You must be of good character

If you, or anyone else included in your application, are aged 17 or older you must provide a police certificate from:

  • all the countries you are a citizen of, and
  • any other country you have stayed in for 12 months or more over the last 10 years, even if it was not all in the same stay.

How to get a police certificate

Good character for residence visas

Tips

Police certificates must be less than 6 months old at the time you apply.

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.

Your child’s immigration status

Your 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

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

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 child’s place of residence

Your 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

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

Dependent children

You must have no dependent children

We’ll ask you about your family when you complete your residence application.

Dependent children

Tips

If you have dependent children, you won’t be eligible for this visa. 

Your relationship with the sponsoring child

You must be the parent or legal guardian of your child

You must provide evidence of your relationship with your child, such as original or certified copy of your child’s full birth certificate, or adoption papers.

If you’re the legal guardian of a sponsoring child, you must provide:

  • evidence the child’s parents are deceased, and they died before the child turned 20
  • documents, including medical and school records showing you had custody of the child, and the right to control the child’s upbringing before they turned 20

If you’re the grandparent of a sponsoring child, you must provide:

  • evidence the child’s parents are deceased, and they died before the child turned 20
  • legal documents naming you as the child’s guardian
  • documents, including medical and school records, showing you had custody of the child, and the right to control the child’s upbringing before they turned 20.
Tips

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

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

Your relationship with your children

You must provide evidence of your relationship to all of your other children

You must provide evidence that confirms your relationship to all of your other children, including:

  • your biological and adopted children, and any other children you were the legal guardian for
  • any of your partner’s children, who lived with you and your partner as part of your family before they turned 17.

Evidence may include:

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

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

Investment funds

You must have NZ $1 million or more to invest in New Zealand for 4 years

You must nominate the type, location and value of the funds and/or assets you intend to invest. Evidence may include:

  • bank statements
  • title deeds
  • property valuations
  • share certificates
  • business ownership documents
  • asset valuations.

The value you can claim for your nominated funds, depends if they are owned by you, or jointly by you and another person. If you own an investment jointly with:

  • your partner, you can claim the full value of the investment, as long as you and your partner are in a recognised partnership
  • someone who isn’t your partner, you can only claim for the part of the investment that you own.

Partnership

Tips

The funds and/or assets you nominate for your investment can’t be borrowed, or have a loan or bond against them.

The funds you nominate for your investment must be on top of your annual income and your settlement funds.

Source of investment funds

You must have earned or acquired your funds lawfully

The evidence you provide will depend on how you came by your funds. It may include:

  • tax returns or certificates
  • pay slips
  • business financial statements
  • business shareholdings
  • dividends
  • receipts for property sales
  • bank certificates
  • share trading profits
  • evidence of gifted money
  • probate and other evidence of inherited money.
Tips

It’s OK if your funds were gifted to you, as long as the gift was unconditional and lawful, and was earned or acquired lawfully.

If the funds were earned or acquired in a way that isn’t lawful in New Zealand, we won’t be able  to approve your visa application.

Transfer investment funds

You must transfer your investment funds to New Zealand

You must transfer your investment funds to New Zealand.

You must transfer your investment funds directly from your bank account to New Zealand through the banking system.

If we approve your application in principle, you’ll have 12 months from that date to transfer and invest your funds.
 
Transferring investment funds

Tips

You can apply for a temporary visa to come to New Zealand and investigate investment opportunities.

Specific Purpose Work Visa

We cannot extend the timeframe for transferring and investing your nominated funds.

Applicants must ensure their funds meet currency exchange and transfer requirements in place in China.

The following organisations have previously demonstrated they have acceptable QDII products:

  • Bank of China
  • China Construction Bank
  • ICBC
  • Guosen Securities Company Ltd

Settlement funds

You must have at least NZ $500,000

You must provide evidence you have the funds and/or assets to cover the required settlement funds, which may include:

  • bank statements – you must be able to access  the funds from New Zealand
  • title deeds
  • property valuations
  • share certificates
  • business ownership documents
  • asset valuations.

The value you can claim for your settlement funds, depends if they are owned by you, or jointly by you and another person. If you own your settlement funds jointly with:

  • your partner, you can claim the full value of the investment, as long as you and your partner are in a recognised partnership
  • someone who isn’t your partner, you can only claim for the part of the investment that you own.

Partnership

Tips

Your settlement funds must be on top of your annual income and your investment funds.

Annual income

You must have an annual income of NZ $60,000 or more

You must provide evidence of your income. This may include documents that show you have:

  • a pension
  • earnings from rental properties
  • dividends from share portfolios
  • interest from investments
  • profits from owning a  company
  • share market trading profits.
Tips

Your income can be earned by you alone, or together with a partner you’ve included in your application.

Bring partner

Your partner must meet the requirements for this visa

To bring your partner, you must provide evidence:

  • of your relationship with your partner, like a marriage certificate
  • that your partner meets the identity, character and health requirements for this visa.

Partnership

Acceptable investments

You must invest NZ $1 million in acceptable investments in New Zealand for a minimum of 4 years

You must provide documents from a trusted professional like a chartered accountant or solicitor that confirm:

  • your full name
  • the amount invested in NZD
  • the date you started your investment
  • the investment type
  • the names of any organisations you invested in
  • the number of shares or bonds you bought in any organisations.

Acceptable investments: parent and temporary retirement visas

Tips

If you already have funds invested in an acceptable investment in New Zealand, we can start your investment period from the time we approve your residence application in principle.

Once your funds are invested in New Zealand, it’s OK to transfer funds between acceptable investments.

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.

Notes

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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 a paper arrival card or a digital traveller declaration. If you are completing a paper arrival card you will be given this on the way to New Zealand.

New Zealand Customs and Biosecurity also check that you meet their entry requirements.

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.

Invest in New Zealand

You must keep at least NZ $1 million invested in an acceptable investment in New Zealand for 4 years.

Notes

We ask for evidence you have kept your funds invested at the end of the second and fourth years you are in New Zealand.

You will have 3 months to provide the evidence.

It is OK to transfer funds between acceptable investments.

If you already have funds in an acceptable investment in New Zealand when you apply for residence, we can start your investment period from the time we approve your application in principle.

Acceptable investments: parent and temporary retirement visas

Managing your acceptable investments

Contact details

You must let us know if your address or other contact details change during the 4-year investment period.

Notes

We’ll need to keep in touch with you to check you’re meeting the conditions of your visa.

If we’re unable to confirm that you’re meeting the conditions, you may not be able to stay in New Zealand.

Work

You can work in New Zealand.

Study

You can study in New Zealand.

Travel

You can travel in and out of New Zealand for the first 2 years of your 4-year investment period.

If we confirm that you’re meeting all of the conditions that apply to the first 2 years of your investment period, you can apply for a variation of conditions to allow you to travel for the last 2 years.

Notes

If you’re not meeting the conditions of your visa, you may have to leave New Zealand.

If you’ve met all the conditions of your visa at the end of the 4-year investment period, you may be granted a permanent resident visa.

A permanent resident visa allows travel in and out New Zealand free from conditions.

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

To transfer your visa, you must:

  • send us your old and new passports
  • complete an ‘Application for Transfer or Confirmation of a Visa’
  • pay a transfer fee.

Application for transfer or confirmation of a visa

Application for Transfer or Confirmation of a Visa (INZ 1023) PDF 375KB

Fees, decision times and where to apply