Immigration New Zealand (INZ) has announced that August 8th will mark the day when it will pick expressions of interest (EOIs) from a queue of numerous individuals seeking to sponsor their parents for migration to New Zealand. Currently, the queue comprises 5,000 applicants who have entered since the restart of the Parent Visa Category on October 12th last year. However, only 500 visas are annually approved.
INZ’s Chief Operating Officer, Stephen Vaughn, explained that this category allows New Zealand residents and citizens to sponsor their parents for residence, thereby supporting skilled migration. Yet, some immigration lawyers have criticized the program’s low success rate, pointing out that the limited number of visas (500) corresponds to approximately 250 expressions of interest, considering each typically represents around two people. Consequently, the odds of obtaining a visa are approximately 2%.
To address this, INZ is implementing a selection process from two separate queues: one for EOIs submitted before October 12th and another for those after that date. The agency has not disclosed the size of the first queue but has announced plans to select enough to reach 2000 visa approvals annually until no EOIs remain.
The selection process prioritizes the oldest EOIs, with some applicants having waited since November 3, 2014. For the second queue involving EOIs received from October 12, 2022, selections will be made at random until the 500 visa approvals per year quota is reached.
On August 8th, INZ will choose 200 EOIs from the ballot. To be included in this selection, expressions must be submitted before August 1, 2023