28 August 2023
Nitin Bindal
[FYI request #23623 email]
File No: DOIA 2324-0215
Tēnā koe Nitin
Thank you for your email of 28 July 2023 to the Minister of Immigration requesting, under the Official
Information Act 1982 (the Act), the fol owing:
I would like to kindly request clarification on the timings stated by your Ministry for
when Expressions of Interest in the Parent Resident Visa category will be dealt with. The New
Zealand Immigration webpage has clearly stated windows for when applications in the
category will be dealt with including the criteria requirements.
1. The category itself was suspended for over 4 years with inaction due to review of the
Category - how many applications did the Ministry receive during the period (2016 to February
2020) that need to be considered for selection of their EOI during those 4 years given that it
has been afforded 6 months to review in your table. Expressions received between 10 April
2017 to 30 October 2018 are to be reviewed for a selection date of NOVEMBER 2023 &
furthermore expressions received between 30 October 2018 to 26 February 2020 are to
reviewed for a selection date of FEBRUARY 2024 (I.e. a period when the EOI category was
closed by the ministry and would not accept any applications from mid - 2016 till February
2020)??
2. As this period (mentioned in question 1) would actually have no EOI's submitted, does that
imply that the ministry is moving up the windows for the post FEB 2020 EOI's up in their
timeline or continue with the go slow tactics implemented in the previous 6 years?
3. Is the Ministry (who are an extension of the Government that claims to be kind, caring,
thoughtful and for keeping families together) waiting for parents to die alone and away from
their loved ones rather than spend their twilight years with them? WHERE IS THE
COMPASSION?
On 1 August 2023, your request was transferred to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and
Employment (MBIE) to respond to, in accordance with section 14(b) of the Act.
Our response
Selections of Expressions of Interest (EOIs) for the Parent Category stopped in October 2016 and did
not restart until November 2022. However, throughout this period the ability for people to submit
EOIs was never removed, with the exception of the period from 7 October 2019 to 24 February 2020
(the period between the revocation of the old policy and the beginning of the new one).
Please refer to the table below for the number of Parent Resident Visa EOIs received for the period 1
January 2016 to 31 January 2020, broken down by submission year, as at 16 August 2023.
Submission year Total applications
Total applicants
2016
3,401
5,509
2017
186
290
2018
416
676
2019
179
273
(to 6 October)
Total
4,182
6,748
Note: No EOIs were submitted from 7 October 2019 to 24 February 2020.
Since it was announced in October 2022 that selections would restart, Immigration New Zealand (INZ)
has been publishing estimates of the selection dates on its website:
www.immigration.govt.nz/new-zealand-visas/preparing-a-visa-application/support-family/parent-
resident-visa-eoi-selection
The selection dates are estimates only and are changed as we adjust the number of EOIs we need to
select to reach the 2,000 visa approvals per year. At least 400 EOIs will be selected per selection date
and may increase depending on the success rate from the previous selection, that is, if a selected EOI
is not invited to apply, or if any residence visa applications were withdrawn or declined. As such, when
this occurs, it wil result in some EOIs moving into an earlier selection month.
The Government understands the intrinsic value that parents of migrants bring to families by joining
their adult children here in New Zealand. Therefore, following the review of the visa settings, the
Parent Resident Visa reopened in October 2022 under new settings that are more favourable for
migrant parents of New Zealand citizens and residents. Under the new settings, the number of visas
available each year has doubled, and it is expected the current queue of EOIs will be selected by 2025.
You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of the Ministry’s response
to your request, in accordance with section 28(3) of the Act. Information about how to make a
complaint is available at
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or freephone 0800 802 602.
If you wish to discuss any aspect of your request or this response, please contact
[email address]
Nāku noa, nā
Jock Gilray
Director Visa
Chief Operating Officer Immigration Branch
Immigration New Zealand
Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment
