16 March 2023
John
[FYI request #21847 email]
Ref: DOIA 2223-1792
Tēnā koe John,
Thank you for your email of 16 February 2023 requesting, under the Official Information Act 1982 (the
Act), the following information:
1. Number of Parent Resident visas approved since the category reopened in 2022 (month-by-
month).
2. Current estimated timeframe for a decision to be reached on a Parent Resident visa after the
application is selected from the pool. (Timeframe that applicants can expect from now on)
3. Average timeframe for a decision to be reached on a Parent Resident Visa after the
application is selected from the pool (from already completed applications) since the
category reopened in 2022.
4. Breakdown of nationalities of the applicants for the Parent Resident visa category that
already had a decision made since the category reopened in 2022. (Nationality of the parent,
not the sponsor).
Our Response
Questions One, Three and Four:
The Parent Resident Visa Category was paused in 2016 and restarted on 12 October 2022 with reduced
requirements for sponsors. To apply for a Parent Resident Visa, applicants must first submit an
Expression of Interest (EOI) and be invited to apply for residence. An EOI goes into a queue or ballot
depending on when we received it. Immigration New Zealand (INZ) selects EOIs every three months
from two sets:
- The queue of EOIs received before 12 October 2022 (The first selection was 14 November 2022)
and
- The ballot of EOIs received from 12 October 2022 (The first selection is August 2023)
Once an EOI has been selected from the pool and an applicant has been issued an Invitation to Apply
(ITA), applicants have four months (from the ITA issue date) to submit their resident visa application.
As at 6 March 2023, INZ has approved one Parent Resident Visa application since the category reopened
in 2022. The application was made by a Great Britain national and approved in January 2023. It took INZ
13 working days to process the application from the date the application was made to when it was
completed.
Question Two:
Information on visa processing timeframes is available on the INZ website:
https://www.immigration.govt.nz/new-zealand-visas/visas/visa/parent-resident-visa
We are unable to anticipate future processing times as this can vary due to many reasons, such as how
quickly someone applies for the visa from the date an ITA was issued, how well prepared the application
is, if we are reliant on third party checks where we don’t have control of the timeframe, the volume of
applications we receive, and the level of resourcing we have dedicated to this visa category
You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of the Ministry’s response to
your request, in accordance with section 28(3) of the Act. Information about how to make a complaint
is available
at www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or freephone 0800 802 602.
If you wish to discuss any aspect of your request or this response, please contac
t [email address].
Nāku iti nei, nā
Michael Carley
Principal Advisor, Border and Visa Operations
Immigration New Zealand
