New visa rules exclude 85% of those on waiting list

Thousands of migrants have been dealt a crushing blow - with new stringent rules dashing their hope of ever bringing their parents from overseas to also live in New Zealand. The government said yesterday it will reinstate the parent visa category - which National had suspended - but it now comes with a tough income requirement. Immigration officials estimate about 85 per cent of those on the waiting list will not be eligible. Among those excluded: a widowed teacher with an autistic son and a police officer forced now to consider uprooting his family and moving back to the UK. RNZ's deputy political editor Craig McCulloch reports.