Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi
Immigration Minister Erica Stanford has ordered a review of the parent resident allocation system to be brought forward after acknowledging shortcomings related to the existing ballot system.
A spokesperson from Stanford's office said the minister had heard concerns from the community regarding the current system.
"[The minister] appreciates the ballot system does not provide any certainty or clarity for when people might be invited to apply, once they have registered an expression of interest," the spokesperson said.
"She has asked immigration officials to bring forward work on reviewing the parent resident allocation system.
"That work will commence later this year with officials expected to report back in early 2026."
The spokesperson said the review had originally been planned to start in 2026.
To apply for the parent resident visa, applicants must submit an expression of interest until the application is selected by Immigration New Zealand and processed.
The selection process was suspended in 2016 pending a review of visa settings.
After the review had been completed in 2019, Cabinet agreed to tighten the visa settings and resume the selection process from May 2020, but it didn't happen due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
When the selection process was reinstated in 2022, a new annual cap was introduced at 2500, down from the 2016 cap of 5500.
Under the reduced cap, 2000 visas were given to applicants in a queue with an existing expression of interest, while a further 500 visas could be granted from a ballot that was introduced for new expressions of interest submitted from October 2022 until the existing queue had been cleared.
On 1 July, Immigration New Zealand said it was dropping its reference to 2000 visas being set aside for the queue because the backlog had nearly been cleared.
Migrants told RNZ the ballot system had left them in limbo, as the chance for their parents' expression of interest to get selected was slim.
A petition to change the visa settings has collected more than 10,000 signatures.
Sophie Liu, who started the petition, wanted officials to start the review sooner.
Liu said the current ballot system lacked fairness.
"There is a lack of fairness as it's not on a 'first come, first served' basis," Liu said. "For example, if you're visiting a hospital, they won't tell you to go into a lucky draw ... and provide service to those who have better luck."
Liu said the government should also consider waiving the fees for those who need to re-submit their expression of interest and restore the cap to 5500.
