Thousands of overseas parents whose children have emigrated to New Zealand are waiting for news on applying for residence. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
- MP says migrants are dying while they wait for a visa to settle in New Zealand
- Ballot numbers for a parent residence visa stand at 10,000 applications
- Government says work will start later this year on a 'longterm' visitor visa for parents
Thousands of overseas parents whose children have emigrated here are waiting for news on applying for residence - and others are hoping for quick news on a longterm visitor visa to stay with their families.
More than 10,000 migrant families have submitted applications - on behalf of one or two parents - which are in a random ballot to be selected every three months.
If they win a spot in the random ballot, they can apply for residence to settle here.
Green Party immigration spokesperson Ricardo Menendez March told last week's scrutiny select committee at Parliament that some parents overseas were getting to an age and stage when moving here would become untenable, or they were dying as they waited.
INZ said it did not know the number of people who had died since 2016 when the policy was first shelved.
But Menendez March said parents were ageing and did not have time to wait in a ballot pool.
A Facebook group, set up to highlight the issue and support families, says it has more than 3000 members and daily requests to join.
There are no figures for how long the average wait is in the ballot. Once selected, visas are decided in an average of 195 days.
Government policy
Head of Immigration New Zealand, Alison McDonald, told committee MPs it was Cabinet which set the 2500-a-year cap on parent residence visas, and that determined how many people were invited to apply.
The number of expressions of interest (EOI) keeps increasing - and because it is a ballot, not a queue, the pool keeps growing and waiting times can vary widely.
Families spoken to by RNZ have had parents die while waiting, or who have become so frail they either cannot travel, or no longer qualify under health criteria.
Health workers, other professionals and families with young children missing their grandparents have spoken out over the years about their plights, including doctors who have returned to their home country as a result of the political stalemate and reviews.
Three different governments have shelved, reviewed changed, closed (during the Covid-19 pandemic), reopened and again reviewed the policy.
It was closed by the last National government in 2016 pending review, and did not reopen until 2019. Of those already on the waiting list by then - when Covid effectively closed the category again - 85 percent were not eligible because their children did not earn more than $104,000 a year.
After the border re-opened, the government lowered the minimum sponsorship, and it now stands at a $98,623-a-year salary for one child sponsor of one parent.
Alternative options
Many more parents in addition to the pool are waiting on news of an alternative longterm visitor visa.
Last week's scrutiny committee at Parliament heard that policy work was expected to be finished by the end of this year.
It is expected to look at issues including health insurance costs.
The committee was told options for that new temporary visa for parents are due to be drawn up later this year, and complete by the end of the year.
MPs heard the policy was a manifesto pledge, but could not be started until work on other visas, such as work visas, digital nomads and investors had been finalised.
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