E6.15 Sponsorship undertaking

1. Sponsorship creates a responsibility for the sponsor to ensure the sponsored person’s needs for accommodation and maintenance while in New Zealand, and repatriation or deportation are met.
2. A sponsored person may have the means to fund any part, or all of their own maintenance, accommodation, and repatriation or deportation, but if they do not, or refuse to, the sponsor is required to provide these directly or pay for the cost of providing them.
3. The undertaking for which a sponsor is responsible, and in relation to which a debt is recoverable from the sponsor, are:
   1. accommodation, meaning suitable accommodation for the sponsored person in New Zealand, where the sponsored person does not have the means for their own accommodation; and
   2. maintenance, meaning the reasonable costs of essential provisions needed for the sponsored person’s health and welfare in New Zealand, where they do not have the means for these. This may include but is not limited to food, clothing and medical treatment where required; and
   3. repatriation, meaning any costs associated with the sponsored person leaving New Zealand at the end of the sponsorship period if the person:
      • does not have the means for their own departure (or refuses to pay for it); or
      • is liable for deportation; and
   4. deportation, meaning any costs that are incurred during the sponsorship period in relation to the sponsored person’s deportation, which could include the costs of locating, detaining and maintaining the person, and their travel costs in being deported.
4. Sponsorship undertakings are in effect from the date the sponsored person arrives in New Zealand, or if they are already onshore, from the date the sponsored visa is granted, until the earliest of:
   1. the date the sponsored person is granted a new visa with a new sponsor or no sponsorship requirement; or
   2. the date the sponsored person leaves New Zealand without further travel conditions allowing them to return to New Zealand on the sponsored visa; or
   3. the date the sponsored person is deported from New Zealand.

Effective 29/11/2010