8 December 2025
DOIA-REQ-0023552
Jaskaran Walia
[FYI request #32726 email]
Tēnā koe Jaskaran,
Thank you for your email of 4 November 2025 to the Ministry of Social Development (MSD). On 6
November 2025, MSD transferred your request for the below information to the Ministry of Business,
Innovation and Employment (MBIE), to respond to under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act):
I am writing to confirm the if the cards listed below… …would result in breach in Section 49(1)
of parent resident visa holder by Immigration New Zealand or these are simply a discount
counts.
Community Services Card
Supergold card
AT Total Mobility card
My questions is to seek confirmation how… …Immigration New Zealand treat these cards i.e.
as accessing welfare payment or simply a discount card.
This is to ensure we don't breach the Section 49(1) condition on parent resident visa that says
"Accessing welfare payment from work and income during your 10 year sponsorship period
would be considered a breach of Section 49(1) conditions and may make you liable for
deportation"
On 4 December 2025, we wrote to advise you that your request was not a request for information
that is held by MBIE, however we would still respond to your query as general correspondence.
Our Response
The sponsorship undertakings to which sponsors agree to in acting as a sponsor in a Parent Category
resident visa application are set out
at immigration instruction R4.10. The undertakings for which a sponsor
is responsible for includes, but is not limited to:
• 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
If costs are incurred by the Crown or a third party because any part of the maintenance needs of a
sponsored person were not met, the sponsor is considered to have breached their sponsorship
undertaking. If costs are incurred by the Crown or a third party as a result of a sponsor breaching their
sponsorship undertakings:
• the visa holder is deemed to have breached the conditions of their visa and will therefore
become liable for deportation; and
• these costs are considered to be a debt owed by the sponsor, and the sponsor is liable to be
pursued by the Crown or the third party to recover this debt.
Sponsors agree to undertake these obligations by completing the relevant fo
rm INZ 1024 – Sponsorship
Form for Residence for applications under the Parent Category. Sponsors must agree that if the
sponsored person applies to MSD for, or is paid, any welfare assistance during the ten-year period in
which residence is sponsored, that MSD may provide INZ with any information it receives regarding the
sponsor’s failure to meet the sponsorship undertakings. The declarations made by sponsors in the form
include, but are not limited to:
• Sponsors must understand that the sponsorship period is for ten years from the
parent’s/grandparent’s/legal guardian’s first day in New Zealand as a resident.
• Sponsors agree to provide all necessary financial support to the sponsored person(s) for the
duration of the sponsorship period.
As set out on the Immigration New Zealand (INZ) website for the
Parent Resident Visa, If Work and
Income make welfare payments to the visa holder during the sponsorship period, INZ may consider that
the sponsor is not meeting their obligations to care for the visa holder. If the sponsor does not meet
their obligations, INZ may determine that the visa conditions have been breached and the visa holder
will be made liable for deportation as a result. The sponsor may have to repay any money spent by the
New Zealand Government or a third-party as a result of the sponsor not meeting their obligations.
We understand you have received a response from MSD, confirming that the Community Services Card
(CSC) and the Super Gold Card (SGP) are not considered forms of welfare assistance by MSD. As the
application for and use of these cards are not considered a form of welfare assistance, the use of such
cards, on its own, would not constitute a breach of the visa conditions that Parent Category resident
visa holders and their sponsors are subject to. The application for and use of a mobility card with your
local travel authority, on its own, would also not constitute a breach of these conditions.
However, should costs be incurred by the Crown as a result of sponsors not meeting their sponsorship
undertakings for the essential maintenance of the visa holder, for example, by the visa holder receiving
welfare payments, or accommodation costs, such costs could be considered a breach of the visa
conditions.
In the event that INZ considers a breach of resident visa conditions may have occurred, in most cases,
the visa holder will be given an opportunity to comment before a decision is made on the visa holder’s
deportation liability. Where deportation liability has arisen under section 159 of the Immigration Act
2009 (breach of resident visa conditions), section 159(2) sets out that persons liable under that section
have a right of appeal against their deportation liability on the facts of the case and on humanitarian
grounds.
We trust this information has been helpful.
Nāku noa, nā
Emma Atkins
Manager
Ministerial Services Team
Immigration New Zealand
Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment
