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Parent Resident Visa overview and application numbers

The Parent Resident Visa enables New Zealand residents and citizens to sponsor their parents for residence in New Zealand, to support skilled migration.

13 November 2023
6 minute read

The visa is a 2-stage process. People first submit an Expression of Interest (EOI). If the EOI is selected and it meets the requirements, Immigration New Zealand (INZ) will issue an Invitation To Apply (ITA). Only people who have received an ITA are able to make a residence application and this application must be made within 4 months of the ITA being issued.

INZ can approve a maximum of 2000 visas per year to people who submitted EOIs before the restart of selections was announced on 10 October 2022. These EOIs are in a queue and selected in date order, with the oldest selected first.

A maximum of 500 visas a year can be granted to people who submitted EOIs on or after 10 October 2022. These EOIs are placed in a ballot and are selected randomly. EOIs in the ballot expire 2 years after they are submitted.

Once all the EOIs in the queue submitted before 10 October 2022 have been selected, the full amount of 2,500 visas will be available to people with EOIs in the ballot.

More information on the application process and criteria can be found on the Parent Resident Visa details page.

Parent Resident Visa: Visa details

Parent Resident Visa Data

The data in these tables is valid at 21 October 2023.

Table 1: Number of Parent Resident Visa EOIs in queue by submission month

Submission month EOIs Number of people
March 2013 1 1
April 2016 1 2
June 2016 1 1
July 2016 12 19
August 2016 10 18
September 2016 11 17
October 2016 12 20
November 2016 2 2
March 2017 1 2
April 2017 2 3
May 2017 7 12
June 2017 8 14
July 2017 11 17
August 2017 12 21
September 2017 7 10
October 2017 8 13
November 2017 9 12
December 2017 9 14
January 2018 12 19
February 2018 11 17
March 2018 20 33
April 2018 12 19
May 2018 31 50
June 2018 74 117
July 2018 42 71
August 2018 31 48
September 2018 23 36
October 2018 52 90
November 2018 32 50
December 2018 18 28
January 2019 10 14
February 2019 22 31
March 2019 15 22
April 2019 10 18
May 2019 22 34
June 2019 17 27
July 2019 16 22
August 2019 21 30
September 2019 17 26
October 2019 1 1
February 2020 335 503
March 2020 338 491
April 2020 24 40
May 2020 109 155
June 2020 67 93
July 2020 117 174
August 2020 28 39
September 2020 28 42
October 2020 23 34
November 2020 19 29
December 2020 14 18
January 2021 10 12
February 2021 15 22
March 2021 32 50
April 2021 21 33
May 2021 32 46
June 2021 34 54
July 2021 9 13
August 2021 16 20
September 2021 8 13
October 2021 13 19
November 2021 16 23
December 2021 17 22
January 2022 13 16
February 2022 17 24
March 2022 22 32
April 2022 9 16
May 2022 27 38
June 2022 6 9
July 2022 22 37
August 2022 21 31
September 2022 11 17
October 2022 7 13
Total 2,113 3,179

Table 2: Number of Parent Resident Visa EOIs in ballot by submission month

Submission month EOIs Number of people
October 2022 248 398
November 2022 265 408
December 2022 126 195
January 2023 170 248
February 2023 149 221
March 2023 176 262
April 2023 173 269
May 2023 416 627
June 2023 1198 1824
July 2023 2714 4174
August 2023 1298 1994
September 2023 338 511
October 2023 277 414
Total 7,548 11,545

Table 3: Number of EOIs and applicants selected from the queue by selection month

Selection month Number selected Number of people
November 2022 370 600
February 2023 1100 1,777
May 2023 670 1,094
August 2023 1,100 1,771
October 2023 1,499 TBC*
Total 1,739 5,242

Table 4: Decisions on parent queue EOIs selected

Selection month Invitation to apply issued Declined Withdrawn
November 2022 181 129 59
February 2023 752 188 160
May 2023 489 91 89
August 2023 777 129 172
October 2023 1,090 51 38
Total 3,289 588 518

Table 5: Number of EOIs and applicants selected from ballot by selection month

Selection month Number selected Number of people
August 2023 200 306
September 2023 100 154
Total 300 460

Table 6: Decisions on parent ballot EOIs selected

Selection month Invitation to apply issued Declined Withdrawn
August 2023 195 4 1
September 2023 99 1 0
Total 294 5 1

Table 7: Parent Resident Visa applications submitted by submission month

Submission month Submitted applications
January 2023 20
February 2023 43
March 2023 128
April 2023 170
May 2023 227
June 2023 255
July 2023 178
August 2023 147
September 2023 229
October 2023 124
Total 1,539

Note: This data only includes Family Parent Visa Applications (grounds code: ABBIBO).

Table 8: Parent Resident Visa application decision by month decided

Decided month Approved Declined Withdrawn Total
May 2022 1 0 0 1
January 2023 1 0 0 1
March 2023 7 1 0 8
April 2023 10 0 1 11
May 2023 10 0 0 10
June 2023 43 2 1 46
July 2023 47 0 1 48
August 2023 41 1 2 44
September 2023 38 0 1 39
October 2023 25 1 1 28
Total 223 5 8 236

Note: This data only includes Family Parent Visa Applications (grounds code: ABBIBO).

Table 9: In progress Parent Resident Visa applications allocated vs unallocated by submission month

Submission date Queue Allocated Total
December 2022 0 1 1
January 2023 0 5 5
February 2023 0 18 18
March 2023 0 57 57
April 2023 0 113 113
May 2023 0 134 134
June 2023 0 176 176
July 2023 0 140 140
August 2023 104 34 138
September 2023 191 26 217
October 2023 122 1 123
Total 419 705 1,122

Note: This data only includes Family Parent Visa Applications (grounds code: ABBIBO).