Parent Resident Visa NZ: Requirements, Income Rules and the Selection Process

Bringing your parents to live in New Zealand permanently is possible, but it is not quick, and it is not simply a matter of filling in one form. The Parent Resident Visa is the main residence route for parents of New Zealand citizens and residents. It runs on a capped, two-stage system: your parent first lodges an expression of interest (EOI), and only if that EOI is selected can they apply for residence.

The rules changed in a significant way on 5 October 2026. Immigration New Zealand (INZ) replaced the old selection settings with a hybrid model that favours people who have been waiting longest, while still giving newer applicants a chance. This guide explains how the visa works now, what your sponsoring child must earn, the health, character and English requirements, what it costs, and what life looks like once the visa is granted. If you are comparing family routes more broadly, our guide to resident visas in NZ sets out how the different residence categories fit together.

What the Parent Resident Visa actually gives your parent

The visa lets your parent live in New Zealand indefinitely. They can work and study here, and they are sponsored by you, their adult child, for the first part of their residence. After holding the Parent Resident Visa for 10 years in a row, they can apply for a Permanent Resident Visa, which allows them to travel in and out of New Zealand indefinitely.

Parents can include their partner in the application, provided they can show evidence of a genuine relationship. Who counts as an eligible parent is wider than some families expect. Alongside natural and adopted parents, INZ recognises grandparents and legal guardians in certain situations, for example where the sponsoring child was raised by a grandparent or by a legal guardian after their parents died.

The two stages: EOI first, application second

Nobody applies for this visa directly. The process always starts with an expression of interest.

Stage one: the expression of interest

Your parent submits an EOI to INZ and joins the parent category EOI pool. There is no way to skip the pool or pay for priority. Only one EOI per person is allowed in the pool, and INZ removes duplicates.

The EOI is not a formality. Much of what INZ later checks, including who the sponsor is and whether the sponsor’s income is likely to meet the threshold, traces back to the details entered at this stage. Getting the EOI right matters, because a selected EOI leads to an invitation with a hard deadline attached.

Stage two: selection, invitation and application

INZ holds four selections a year, in February, May, August and November, generally on the second Tuesday of the month. To be in a selection, the EOI must have been submitted by the last day of the month before it.

When an EOI is selected, INZ checks it, which generally takes around 2 weeks. If the EOI stacks up, INZ issues an invitation to apply (ITA). Your parent then has 4 months from the invitation to lodge the full residence application, and INZ does not extend that deadline. People whose EOIs are not selected are not contacted, so silence after a selection round means the EOI simply stays in the pool for next time. The application evidence includes birth certificates that show the relationship between the parent and the sponsoring child.

What changed on 5 October 2026

From 5 October 2026, every valid EOI sits in a single parent category EOI pool, and selections are made under what INZ calls a hybrid selection model. At each selection, approximately 90 percent of EOIs are selected in date order, earliest first, through the queue. Around 10 percent are selected through a random ballot. INZ describes the change as providing a fairer and more predictable process for families, while continuing to give newer applicants an opportunity to be selected.

The essentials:

• The annual cap is unchanged. INZ can approve up to 2,500 Parent Resident Visas in principle each financial year.
• The eligibility rules themselves did not change. Only the way EOIs are picked for an invitation changed.
• The first selection under the new model is scheduled for Tuesday 10 November 2026.
• Existing EOI holders were moved into the new pool automatically on 5 October 2026 and did not need to submit a new EOI or take any action.

How queue positions were worked out

For people who kept an EOI continuously in the system, the queue position is generally based on the date the original EOI was accepted into the pool. That includes people who lodged a replacement EOI within 90 days of their previous one expiring. If the gap was longer than 90 days, the current EOI’s submission date is what counts.

INZ was still finalising queue positions when the new model launched and said it would contact EOI holders directly with their position. It also asked people not to contact INZ to ask for their position.

EOIs no longer expire after two years, with a catch

Under the new settings, an EOI no longer automatically expires after 2 years, as long as the holder confirms they still want to stay in the pool. INZ emails a reminder, and the holder completes a Confirmation of EOI form within 6 months of each 2-year anniversary. There is no extra fee for confirming. If nobody confirms, the EOI expires and is removed from the pool.

Who can sponsor, and what sponsorship involves

Every Parent Resident Visa applicant needs at least one sponsor, and the sponsor must be their adult child, aged 18 or older. A sponsor can be a natural child, an adopted child, a partner’s child who lived with the parent for most of their life until turning 18, a grandchild, or a child the applicant legally guarded after the child’s parents died.

The sponsor must:

• be a New Zealand citizen or resident, and have held that status for at least 3 years before the residence application is made
• live in New Zealand, and have spent 184 days or more in New Zealand in each of the 3 years before the application
• if they are a resident rather than a citizen, hold a visa without section 49 conditions

Two people can sponsor jointly. The combinations INZ allows are the adult child plus their partner (the couple must show a genuine relationship and at least 12 months living together), or the adult child plus another adult child of a parent in the application.

Sponsorship is a serious, long commitment. The sponsor agrees to meet their parent’s living costs for the first 10 years of their residence in New Zealand, and to cover the cost of sending them home (repatriation) if that ever becomes necessary. Income is proven with Inland Revenue tax statements, not bank letters or employer references.

The sponsor income threshold

This is the requirement that stops most applications. The threshold is tied to the New Zealand median wage, and it is assessed over past earnings, not current salary promises.

From 30 April 2026, the median wage INZ uses is NZD $72,800 a year. A single sponsor needs to earn at least 1.5 times the median wage to sponsor one parent, which is $109,200. Each additional parent adds another half of the median wage. With two sponsors, the starting point is 2 times the median wage.

Number of parents	One sponsor	Two sponsors
1 parent	$109,200	$145,600
2 parents	$145,600	$182,000
3 parents	$182,000	$218,400
4 parents	$218,400	$254,800
5 parents	$254,800	$291,200
6 parents	$291,200	$327,600

How the income test works in practice:

• The sponsor must have earned at least the required amount in 2 years within the 3-year period before the EOI was selected. Those are two separate 12-month periods, and joint sponsors must use the same two periods.
• Only taxable income counts, as shown on the sponsor’s Inland Revenue summary of income or Final Tax Summary. Income that does not appear there does not count.
• Self-employed sponsors need to have filed their tax returns, because their income is read from those returns. INZ uses the financial year, 1 April to 31 March.
• Parents a sponsor already sponsors count toward the total. Sponsoring a second parent later is not assessed in isolation.
• The threshold that applies to each 12-month period is the one set by the median wage on the last day of that period, and INZ updates the figures as the median wage moves. The previous setting, for example, used a median wage of $69,804.80, which put one sponsor and one parent at $104,707.30.

Because the test looks backwards at filed tax income, families often need to plan this years ahead. A sponsor who has just crossed the threshold has not met it yet.

Health and character requirements

Your parent, and their partner if included, must be in good health and of good character. Most of the evidence is only gathered once an invitation arrives, because the documents have short shelf lives.

Health

Applicants complete a chest X-ray and a medical examination. The medical evidence must be less than 3 months old when INZ receives it, which is why booking medicals before selection is usually wasted money. Certificates from the last 3 years can sometimes be reused. One exception: applicants from China, Hong Kong or Macau who apply there need a fresh chest X-ray if they have spent 6 months or more in China since their last X-ray and are coming for 6 months or more.

Character

Anyone aged 17 or older needs police certificates. They must be less than 6 months old when the application is lodged, and they are needed from each country of citizenship and from any country where the applicant has spent 12 months or more in the last 10 years.

English language requirements

Your parent must speak and understand English, or agree to pay for English language lessons in New Zealand before the visa is granted. This pre-purchase option is a genuine feature of the category, not a loophole. Evidence can come from an English-speaking background, citizenship, work or study history, or a test result that meets INZ’s minimum score. Test results must be no more than 2 years old when the application is made.

Fees and costs

There are two INZ charges, plus the cost of medicals, X-rays, police certificates and any translations.

The EOI fee. The fee set in Schedule 4 of the Immigration (Visa, Entry Permission, and Related Matters) Regulations 2010 is NZD $450 for an online EOI and $575 for a hard copy EOI. Applicants in the Pacific fee band pay $435 online or $555 on paper.

The residence application fee. INZ’s official fees tool showed NZD $5,360 for a Parent Resident Visa application from an offshore applicant (checked for an applicant in the United Kingdom on 5 October 2026). The amount you pay depends on where the application is made, and INZ reviews its fees, so check your own figure in the fees tool on immigration.govt.nz before you budget. Budget on top of that for the medical examination and chest X-ray in your parent’s country, police certificates, and certified translations of anything not in English.

How long the whole thing takes

Be realistic about this visa. The long wait is not the application itself, it is the queue. EOIs sit in the pool until selected, and with a 2,500 annual cap and a queue that INZ is still ordering, selection can take years for EOIs lodged now. The ballot share gives newer EOIs a small chance of an earlier selection, but it is a chance, not a plan.

Once selected, the pace picks up. INZ’s checks on a selected EOI generally take around 2 weeks, and the invitation then gives your parent 4 months to lodge the application with all evidence inside its validity windows. INZ publishes current decision times for residence applications in its fees and decision times tool, and those figures move, so check there for the latest position rather than relying on anyone’s estimate, including an adviser’s.

After the visa is granted

Your parent can live, work and study in New Zealand indefinitely. Two obligations run alongside that freedom. First, your obligations as sponsor last for the first 10 years of their residence: you are responsible for their living costs and, if it comes to it, repatriation costs. Second, the 10-year mark matters for travel. After holding the Parent Resident Visa for 10 years in a row, your parent can apply for a Permanent Resident Visa, which carries indefinite travel conditions. Until then, if your parent’s situation changes, for example they need a new passport, the residence and its travel conditions need attention before they travel, not after.

Partners of New Zealanders follow a completely separate route, by the way. If the person you are trying to bring over is your partner rather than your parent, look at the Partner of a New Zealander Work Visa instead, because the sponsorship and income rules are different.

The alternative for longer visits: Parent Boost Visitor Visa

If residence is years away, or your parents want long stays without giving up their life overseas, INZ offers the Parent Boost Visitor Visa. Applications opened on 29 September 2025. It is a multi-entry visitor visa built for parents and grandparents of New Zealand citizens and residents who want extended time together.

Key points from INZ:

• It costs NZD $3,000 for most applicants, including the fee and immigration levy. Pacific fee band applicants pay $2,450. The International Visitor Conservation and Tourism Levy of $100 also applies.
• INZ estimates the majority of applications are processed within 4 months.
• There is no English language requirement.
• Health insurance is compulsory for the whole stay, with minimum cover of $250,000 a year for emergency medical care, $100,000 a year for cancer treatment, plus repatriation and return of remains cover.
• During year 3, holders must leave New Zealand for a further medical assessment offshore and stay out of the country until INZ confirms their health is acceptable.
• After 5 years, a further visa can be applied for from offshore, so two visas back to back give roughly a decade of long stays.

Parent Boost is not a pathway to residence, and holding one does not improve your parent’s place in the residence queue. Your parent can hold an active Parent Resident Visa EOI while on Parent Boost, but only one visa at a time. For shorter trips, the Parent and Grandparent Visitor Visa allows stays of up to 6 months at a time, and 18 months in total across any 3-year period.

Common questions

Can both of my parents apply together?
Yes. A partner can be included in the application, but the sponsor income threshold rises with each parent, and parents already sponsored count toward the total.

My EOI has been in the pool since 2023. Do I need to do anything about the October 2026 change?
No. Valid EOIs moved into the single pool automatically, and your queue position is generally based on your original EOI date if you kept an EOI in place continuously, including any replacement lodged within 90 days of the old one expiring. INZ will email you about your queue position, and you will need to confirm every 2 years that you want to stay in the pool.

Can my parent work in New Zealand on this visa?
Yes. It is a resident visa, so they can work and study without restriction.

What if my parent does not speak English?
They can still be granted the visa by agreeing to pay for English lessons in New Zealand in advance. The lessons are arranged before the visa is granted.

Does getting a Parent Boost Visitor Visa help a residence application?
No. It is a visitor visa only. It lets your parent spend long periods here while the EOI waits, but it has no effect on selection.

You can browse more of our visa guides in the Visa & Immigration section, and check the Parent Resident Visa page on immigration.govt.nz for the current requirements before your family commits to the process.

Sources

• Immigration New Zealand, Parent Resident Visa: https://www.immigration.govt.nz/visas/parent-resident-visa/
• Immigration New Zealand, 2026 changes to the Parent Resident Visa EOI selection process: https://www.immigration.govt.nz/process-to-apply/once-you-have-a-visa/bringing-family-to-new-zealand/coming-to-new-zealand-on-the-parent-resident-visa/2026-changes-to-the-parent-resident-visa-eoi-selection-process/
• Immigration New Zealand, Changes to the Parent Resident Visa Category (news centre): https://www.immigration.govt.nz/about-us/news-centre/changes-to-the-parent-resident-visa-category/
• Immigration New Zealand, Parent Resident Visa category hybrid selection process now in place (news centre, 5 October 2026): https://www.immigration.govt.nz/about-us/news-centre/parent-resident-visa-category-hybrid-selection-process-now-in-place/
• Immigration New Zealand, Getting help to come to New Zealand on the Parent Resident Visa (sponsor requirements and income): https://www.immigration.govt.nz/process-to-apply/once-you-have-a-visa/bringing-family-to-new-zealand/coming-to-new-zealand-on-the-parent-resident-visa/getting-help-to-come-to-new-zealand-on-a-parent-resident-visa/
• Immigration New Zealand, Parent Boost Visitor Visa FAQs: https://www.immigration.govt.nz/process-to-apply/once-you-have-a-visa/bringing-family-to-new-zealand/parent-boost-visitor-visa-faqs/
• Immigration New Zealand, Fees, decision times and where to apply: https://www.immigration.govt.nz/new-zealand-visas/apply-for-a-visa/tools-and-information/tools/office-and-fees-finder
• New Zealand Legislation, Immigration (Visa, Entry Permission, and Related Matters) Regulations 2010, Schedule 4 (version as at 24 November 2025): https://legislation.govt.nz/secondary-legislation/pco-drafted/2010/241/en/latest.pdf