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If your son or daughter has settled in New Zealand, there are three official ways for you, the parent, to come and stay with them for more than a holiday: a long visitor visa (the Parent Boost Visitor Visa), a residence visa won through a draw (the Parent Resident Visa), and a residence visa that needs a large investment (the Parent Retirement Resident Visa). This post explains each in plain words, and which kind of family each one suits. If the words "visitor", "resident" and "permanent resident" are new to you, our explainer on visas, permanent residence and citizenship covers them in a few minutes.
You are the parent of an adult child who is a New Zealand citizen or resident, or you are that child and want to bring your parents over. You want to understand the money rules before anyone fills in a form. If you are instead bringing a partner or children with you, read our post on accompanying family.
A visitor visa lets you be in a country for a period of time; it does not let you settle there. The Parent Boost Visitor Visa is unusual only in how long it lasts.
Immigration New Zealand (INZ) grants the visa for up to 5 years, and you must arrive in New Zealand within 6 months of it being granted. You can apply for a second one, but INZ states that you can only ever hold 2 Parent Boost Visitor Visas.
There is also a compulsory break. During the third year of your visa you must leave New Zealand for a health and insurance check, and stay outside the country until INZ confirms you have met the conditions of the visa. INZ says this can take up to 3 months.
Somebody has to show they can support you, and INZ accepts either of two things.
Your child (the sponsor) can show enough income. For one sponsor supporting one parent, the figure is NZD $72,800 a year; if your child and their partner sponsor you together, it is NZD $109,200. The amounts rise for each extra parent, and the page carries the full list. The sponsor must have earned at least the minimum in 2 of the past 3 completed tax years, and must spend at least 184 days in New Zealand each year.
Or you can show your own means: a yearly income of NZD $33,663.24 for a single applicant, or NZD $51,182.56 with a partner, or a lump sum of NZD $170,000 for a single applicant, or NZD $260,000 with a partner.
You must hold health insurance for at least the first year, and after that each time you visit. INZ requires cover of at least NZD $250,000 each year for emergency medical care, NZD $100,000 each year for cancer treatment, NZD $250,000 for repatriation and NZD $50,000 for return of remains, from an insurer rated A (strong) or the equivalent. Repatriation means being flown home if you fall seriously ill.
You will need a chest X-ray, a medical examination and police certificates from the countries you have lived in, as for most New Zealand visas; our post on police certificates and medical exams walks through both. The third-year check repeats the medical and the insurance evidence.
A resident visa lets you live in New Zealand indefinitely. The Parent Resident Visa is the family route to it, and it has two hurdles the visitor visa does not: a draw, and a much larger income test for your child.
You do not apply straight away. You first submit an expression of interest (EOI), a short form saying who you are and who your sponsoring child is. INZ then randomly selects EOIs every 3 months by ballot, in February, May, August and November. A ballot is a random draw: every EOI in the pool has the same chance. INZ selects enough EOIs to reach 2,500 visa approvals each year, which is the cap on this visa.
If your EOI is not picked, it stays in the pool for the next draw, and it expires after 2 years. Once selected, your EOI is checked and you are invited to apply for residence.
Your child must be 18 or older, a New Zealand citizen or resident for at least 3 years, living in New Zealand, and present there for 184 or more days in each of the 3 years before you apply. Your child's partner, or a second adult child, can join them as a joint sponsor.
The income test is set against New Zealand's median wage, the middle wage across all workers in the country. One sponsor supporting one parent must earn one and a half times the median wage; for two parents, twice the median wage. Joint sponsors must earn twice the median wage for one parent and two and a half times for two. The current dollar figures are on that INZ page. The income must have been earned in 2 of the 3 years before the EOI was selected, and only taxable income on Inland Revenue records counts.
You must be in good health and of good character, with the same medical and police certificate evidence as above. You must speak and understand English, or pay for English classes in New Zealand. And you cannot apply if you have dependent children, meaning children who still rely on you.
Sponsorship is a legal promise, not a formality. For 10 years after your resident visa is granted, your child must provide you with suitable accommodation if you have none, make sure your health and welfare needs are met, and pay any deportation or repatriation costs if they arise.
This is a residence visa with no ballot, for parents who have significant money of their own. INZ requires at least NZD $1 million invested in New Zealand for 4 years, at least NZD $500,000 in settlement funds, and an annual income of at least NZD $60,000. Settlement funds means money to live on, held separately from the investment. Your adult child must be a New Zealand citizen or resident living in New Zealand, and you must have no dependent children. Health and character checks apply as usual. After meeting the investment conditions for 4 years, you may be granted a Permanent Resident Visa, which lets you travel in and out of New Zealand indefinitely.
Families often combine them: a parent visits on a Parent Boost visa while an EOI sits in the ballot. That is allowed, but the visitor visa gives no advantage in the draw. If your family is weighing Canada as well, our comparison of Canada's parent sponsorship and super visa covers the equivalent choice there.
Our report assesses the Parent Resident Visa and the Parent Retirement Resident Visa as New Zealand pathways. From your answers it checks the sponsoring child's side of the Parent Resident Visa (age, citizenship or residence, time spent in New Zealand), works out the income test against the median wage for your number of sponsors and parents, and checks whether you have dependent children. For the retirement visa it checks the adult-child and dependent-children rules and lists the investment, settlement funds and income as steps to complete. The expression of interest, the English requirement, the health and character checks and the sponsorship obligations appear as checklist steps, because they are things you do rather than facts we can verify.
The report does not assess the Parent Boost Visitor Visa. It is a visitor visa rather than a route to residence, so this post is where we describe it.
Start with our New Zealand page to see the pathways the report covers. When you are ready, the free questionnaire takes your family's details, including your sponsoring child's, and the free results summary shows where the parent residence pathways stand.
Answer our free questionnaire and see your eligibility summary instantly. You only pay to unlock your full personalized immigration report.