Don’t Forget Mum & Dad

For a number of migrants who are successful in making the move to New Zealand, one of the first thoughts they have, once settled here is bringing across mum and dad, and that can potentially be two mum’s and two dad’s for a couple. Often this is something that people are thinking about, even before they have moved themselves and I often find myself discussing parent options alongside the options for the adult children.

For parents to be able to make the move, is important for many different reasons. Often, the adult children rely on their own parents as a form of support to grandchildren, which reduces childcare costs. There is the ongoing social benefits that come from family units staying together and of course there are the concerns for parents who live in countries with poor healthcare or social service benefits. Whatever the reason, for many migrants, the ability to bring their parents here at some stage, is just as important as their own ability to secure Residence.

For New Zealand it is a bit of a tricky thing to manage - on the one hand, we understand the social impacts and the fact that we might not get those skilled applicants, if they are unable to secure Visas for their own parents. On the other hand, there is an increased cost for the country, given parent applicants are generally not coming here to work and will end up using our healthcare services far quicker than someone coming here as a skilled migrant.

In reality it all comes down to costs and New Zealand being able to balance the future costs and demand on health and social services against the possible benefits we might get, by allowing parents to come across.

We have always had a parent category (both temporary and permanent), which have undergone numerous changes and even pauses over the last 10 years. There is now also the potential for new parent visa pathways to be created, with our recent change in Government.

For those migrants considering the options for their parents, we hope this article sheds a little light on the what is available now and what might be on offer in the near future.

Tips for a Longer Stay

There are creative ways to keep parents here for up to two and half years under current Visa rules.

Temporary Visa Options

Under the current rules, there are primarily two ways that a parent/grandparent can secure a temporary stay in New Zealand, and with a little bit of creative thinking, the total period of time they can accumulate is up to two and a half years. We also have other options for those looking to retire here (which can include parents, but not just parents) that allow a temporary stay, but we wont detail those here.

As a first step parents can of course travel here as general visitors, because visiting family is considered to be a genuine reason for being in New Zealand. Depending on where you are coming from and the passport you hold, you will either be given an initial stay of six months or three. You can then extend that up to nine months and then again up to a total of 12 months as a visitor (provided you are not sponsored). Those applications can be done onshore, in NZ, without you having to leave.

However at the end of that 12 months, and under ordinary visitor visa rules, you would then need to leave NZ and remain outside of the country for a certain period of time before coming back - the same applies to all visitors (parents or otherwise).

There is however a way that parents can return sooner and that is by applying, after the initial general visitor visa, for a specific parent/grandparent visa. This parent/grandparent visa must be applied for from offshore, however you dont have to wait, if you have already been here as a general visitor for 12 months. You could come for 12 months as a general visitor, leave and then as soon as you are outside of NZ, file the parent/grandparent visa (the next day).

The parent/grandparent visa provides a visa valid for three years, but allows you to stay here for three, six month blocks. This means, once approved, you can return and stay for six months - then you must leave, but you could come back the next day (e.g. hop over to Australia for a weekend), and stay another six months, leave once more and return for the final six months.

In total, and with a few trips offshore you could spend two and a half years here, pretty much consistently. Not a bad effort, although it does require a bit of travel in and out - worth the effort I suspect.

Often people go straight for the parent/grandparent visa first, which is fine, but then once they have spent those three lots of six months in NZ, they have to stay away for what could be up to 18 months. By stacking this visa on top of the general visitor visa first, you extend the time significantly.

Staying Permanently

We have two options for parents to secure Residence, the difference coming down to money.

Parent Residence

When it comes to parent’s being able to remain here permanently, we have two specific options - the difference between them being how much money you can bring to the equation.

The fist option, referred to as the Parent Category, involves you having a sponsor (your adult child) in NZ, who will effectively commit to supporting you for 10 years when your Visa is approved. You still get access to healthcare and can work etc., but for any costs to the State, your sponsor is responsible. It is a complicated process, with lots of criteria, but here are the nuts and bolts:

• Your sponsor must have been Resident in NZ for at least three years before you submit your application for Residence.

• Your sponsor must meet income requirements either themselves or jointly with their partner. Income requirements are based on the median wage and are different depending on the number of sponsors and number of parents applying. Median wages change each year.

• As the applicant you cannot have any dependent children.

• You must meet health, character and minimum English requirements.

The system works on a ballot, so eligible parents submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) which goes in to a pool. INZ then draws from that pool, periodically and selections from the pool are random. However as this is a capped category, INZ can only select a specific number of EOI’s each time. In short this means you dont know when or if you will be selected.

The second choice is the Parent Retirement Category which works very differently. You need to have a child in NZ but they do not have to have been resident for three years and their income is not considered. You are not sponsored, but instead you must be able to invest funds in to NZ, have sufficient settlement capital and earn an annual income (from pensions, investments, work etc.). The basic requirements are:

• Must have an adult child living in NZ as a Resident, although they could have secured Residence a week ago and you would still be eligible.

• You need to have the equivalent of NZD$1.0 million in funds available to transfer to NZ to invest for a period of four years. The funds can be jointly owned with your partner and you can nominate any form of assets you like as long as you can prove ownership and lawful earnings.

• You need to have an additional NZ$500,000 available in settlement funds, which does not have to be transferred or invested in New Zealand.

• You need to earn the equivalent of NZD$60,000 over the 12 month period, immediately preceding the date you apply.

• You need to meet health, character and minimum English requirements.

For this category there is no ballot or EOI system - you simply prepare the application and submit this to INZ. Processing times are currently between 18 and 24 months. Once approved in principle, you will have up to 12 months to transfer your investments funds to NZ and commence the investment process - once that is complete your Resident Visas will be granted.

Those are the two options available to parents at this stage, although I would suggest that the first one (the ballot system) is likely to be reviewed (and should be) because it is overly complicated, hard for most applicants to understand, particularly in terms of the income requirements, and offers no certainty in terms of timing or outcome - owing to the ballot system. Stay tuned would be my advice to those looking at these options.

Looking Ahead

There are proposals for a long-term Visitor Visa and potential changes to Residence pathways.

Coming Soon

In the lead up to the 2023 general election both National and Act (parties that now form a Government with a third partner) referred to the introduction of a longer term Visitor Visa. They were based on a similar idea - a visa valid for five years, allowing parents to visit and stay for extend periods, potentially renewable for another five years, subject to providing health insurance as an option and meeting health and character checks. There is no official policy out yet, but it is likely we will see that within the course of this year.

Fundamentally there is nothing wrong with this, as it allows for parents and grandparents to spend more time with their children and grandchildren, particularly during the early years. It allows the skilled migrants the opportunity to have their parents here, supporting them and their children and reduces costs with parents having to shuttle back and forth.

However, there are always unintended consequences and one that I can see right away is the fact that a visa that allows a parent or parents to remain here for five years and then another five years (so a decade) could be seen by some as a means to try and stay permanently. You dont go somewhere for 10 years without potentially setting down some roots and for those over retirement age, it would be much harder to extract themselves from NZ to return to their country of origin after that period of time. There could be a lot of requests to the Minister at the end of a decade, pleading for mum and dad to be able to stay. Their is no suggestion that this visa would allow any work rights (although arguably they could offer part-time work rights) and there is no access to any pensions or benefits.

Obviously the devil is in the detail and so we need to see what is on offer when it is has been formally created, however I see this as a mixed message for many migrants and their parents and of course subject to change as new Governments come in to power. It might be here today, gone in three years time.

On the Residence front, there has been no significant proposal released by any of the coalition parties, in terms of parent residence, however pre-election there was discussion by the former Government over the existing standard parent category ballot system. It needs a review, because it is overly complicated, for no good reason.

I have often thought that we could also restructure this category because if cost is the issue, then it could also be the solution. Much like Australia, we could simply build that cost (that parents will impose on the health system) in to the Visa process, making them pay a healthcare levy, which would essentially pre-pay those costs. It would make it simpler, easier and more effective overall.

Need Help?

If you are a parent, looking to join your children and grandchildren in New Zealand, then our advice is to stay on top of the changes we are likely to see in the near future. There is every possibility that we may see any new visas being “capped” and so those that are up to date, are more likely to be utilize these pathways. You can also look into how the current temporary visa settings can be used to maximize your time here as well and we can explain that strategy in more detail.

If you are looking to migrate here under one of our skilled migration pathways and considering options for your parents and their plans for the future, then we can discuss both your and their situation in the one call. Obviously we can’t predict what the future might hold, but it never hurts to establish what the options are today.

Until next week.