Kia ora,

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Minister of Transport | Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety |
Deputy Leader of the House

 

Private Bag 18041 |Parliament Buildings | Wellington 6160 | New Zealand

Office phone: +64 4 817 8847 | Email: [4][email address]

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4. mailto:[Michael Wood request email]

OIA22-542

Kia ora,

I am writing to acknowledge receipt of your Official Information Act request dated the 13th of October 2022. You have requested the following information:

"1:- There was also a high expectation that the NZ government would provide some long-term visitor visa options for the parents of the migrant communities. However, there was no announcement regarding that.
With the newly introduced ballot system, only a lucky 2500 would be able to be with their families, and the rest of the parents will have just one option of 3 years visa, which is not helpful. In 3 years multiple entry Parent Grandparents Visitor visa, the person has to be out of NZ for 18 months which leaves just 1.5 years in NZ out of 3 years, and every time person applies, they have to go for tough medicals. They also need to exit NZ every 6 months, But the total duration is only 18 months out of 36 months of visa duration.

On the other hand, Canada and US provide 10-year parents visitor visas. Australia provides 3 and 5 years visas to the parents, who don't have to exit every 6 months.

Please advise if you are working to introduce long-term continuous visitor visas for parents, like 3,5,10 years, as now the residency quota is too low.
Can you share the details of the undergoing work, like any documents etc., as MBIE/INZ has shown in some OIA responses that such options were discussed in the past?

2:- If not, is your government having this thing on priority, and when will you introduce options for the such visa as elections are due next year?

3:- Also, are you considering an option for longer-term continuous visitor visas for those parents who have been in the old EOI queue since 2016?
They have waited a lot, and it will take another 3-4 years for the existing queue to clear. Many could not come due to COVID time and just 3 years visitor visa option ( 18 months out of NZ). is available now which is not helpful.

I look forward to hearing from you as this is a critical issue. Your government has done a lot for reconnecting families and I hope they will do something for providing a solution to a long term continuous parent visitor visa ( without 6 months exits) demand."

We received your request on 14/10/2022. We will endeavour to respond to your request as soon as possible and in any event no later than 14/11/2022, being 20 working days after the day your request was received. If we are unable to respond to your request by then, we will notify you of an extension of that timeframe.

Kind regards,

Office of Hon Michael Wood
Minister of Immigration | Minister of Transport | Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety

Private Bag 18041 |Parliament Buildings | Wellington 6160 | New Zealand
Office phone: +64 4 817 8731 | Email: [email address]

show quoted sections

Kia ora A KS,

 

Please find attached a response to your Official Information Act request.

 

Kind Regards

 

Mark Andrew | Private Secretary (Immigration) | Office of Hon Michael Wood

Minister of Immigration | Minister of Transport | Minister for Workplace
Relations and Safety

Executive Wing | Private Bag 18041 | Parliament Buildings | Wellington
6160 | New Zealand

 

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