Family Category

Looking to reunite with family in New Zealand? Whether you are in a relationship with a New Zealander, the parent of NZ citizens or Residents or wanting to bring dependent children in to New Zealand there are a range of family-based Visa options available.

Partners

One of the most commonly used and largely misunderstood family-based Visa pathways is for those looking to bring their foreign-national partner in to New Zealand. There are options for both temporary and Resident Visas, often both needing to be explored in order to stay long-term.

The rules for partners differ depending on the Visa you are applying for. For example to apply for a temporary Visa based on your relationship to a New Zealand citizen or Resident, you have to be living together, however there is no minimum time required under the rules. For Residence applications, that minimum is 12 months. How you prove your relationship and the period of time required can become confusing to understand.

Relationships are also not created equally and everyone’s situation is unique - unfortunately those different situations are all pushed through a very narrow system, being assessed by immigration officers with little time or understanding of how to assess each and every different scenario.

Securing any Visa as a partner requires a careful review of your situation, planning - to establish the different Visas required and clear guidance on the documentation required to prove your relationship. All things that the team at Turner Hopkins can provide.

Parents

New Zealand currently offers two pathway for parents, with one of them having been recently reopened after many years of closure.

• Parent Category - requiring you to have an adult child living in NZ as a Resident for at least three years and earning a particular income. This category has recently reopened with a new ballot style selection system in place and lower income thresholds for your sponsoring child than were previously in force.

• Parent Retirement Category - this category also requires you to have an adult child living in NZ as a Resident but no timeframe on how long they must have lived here for. You need to invest NZ$1.0 million in to New Zealand for four years and have $500,000 in settlement funds available, along with an annual income of NZD$60,000 (or currency equivalent). The Parent Retirement category is open to applications.

If you are considering making the move to join your adult children, living in New Zealand, contact us today for an assessment against the current criteria and for updates on the future of the parent category.

Children

In most cases, dependent children move to New Zealand with their parents under the same original Residence application - for example someone coming to New Zealand as a Skilled Migrant can include dependent children (biological or adopted ) up to the age of 25. This means that we don’t often see a lot of separate applications for dependent children.

However there are cases, particularly where children may be from a former relationship, where dependent children need to apply in their own right. These applications require you to prove your relationship to the child, their dependence and in some cases that you have the right to remove the child from its country of Residence. Sometimes straightforward, often complex.

Make your family whole again…

Our team have built up years of experience in helping family members reunite through the maze of different Visa options. Whether you need to reunite with your child, parent, or partner, we can help you through the process, with clear, concise and accurate advice along the way.

Get in touch with us using the contact form on this page, or give our team a call to explore your options today.