If you have an adult New Zealand citizen or resident child who earns enough and agrees to sponsor you, you may be able to live in New Zealand permanently.
You need to send an Expression of Interest explaining how you meet the requirements and be sponsored by your child, or your child and their partner. If you meet all the criteria you will then be invited to apply for a residence class visa.
If you submitted an EOI before this visa closed
You can choose to:
• update your EOI to meet the new requirements, or
• withdraw your EOI and apply for a refund of your EOI fee.
What your sponsor or sponsors need to earn
Your sponsors need to have earned the correct income, based on the New Zealand median income, for 2 out of the 3 years before you applied for residence.
the New Zealand median income is updated each year, so the amount they need to earn may change depending on which years they include in their application.
How the 3 year period is defined
The 3 year period where your sponsor’s income is assessed starts from the end of the month before you were invited to apply, and ends 36 months before that.
The median income for each year is the median income that was in effect on the last day of each 12 month period.
To calculate your sponsor or sponsor’s income
You need to know:
-if you have 1 or 2 sponsors
-how many parents are being sponsored — this includes any parents they may have sponsored before
-the date of the last day of the month before you were invited to apply, and
-what the New Zealand median income was on the last day of each year that your sponsor’s income will be assessed on.
Minimum income for 1 sponsor
This starts at twice the median income for 1 parent, and increases by the median income amount for each additional parent.
Minimum income for 2 sponsors
This starts at 3 times the median income for 1 parent, and increases by the median income amount for each additional parent.
Only taxable income is considered
Sponsor’s income must be taxable and appear on their Inland Revenue summary of income.
If your sponsor has already sponsored a parent
If your sponsor has already sponsored 1 parent or more, that parent will be included in their minimum income calculation. For example, if your adult child sponsored 2 parents before the visa closed, then they and their partner sponsored 2 more parents after it reopens, they will need to meet the income requirements to sponsor 4 parents.