The Labour-led coalition Government has reversed another of the previous Government's clamp-downs on immigration by saying it will allow parents of skilled migrants to settle in New Zealand.
This follows a recent similar reversal on the National Government's restrictions placed on family members of temporary visa holders being allowed to come here.
These business-friendly moves on the part of the Coalition come as it battles against plummeting business confidence, and amid calls for it to provide fiscal stimulus for the economy.
Scant details of the new scheme have been provided in the initial press release from the Government but it says the numbers in the new 'Parent Category' visa programmed will be capped at 1000 people. Presumably that's an annual figure.
There's been a moratorium on parents being allowed to come here since changes implemented by National in 2016.
The new scheme will start from February 2020.
Labour campaigned in the last election on the basis of reducing immigration.
In the run up to the 2017 election, now Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway said in a July 2017 media release: “Labour will take a breather on immigration while making record investments in housing, health, education, and infrastructure. We will close down the backdoor route to residency through low-level courses and low-value work."
Current Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters is someone who has had previous issues with the numbers of parents coming into New Zealand.
This is the full announcement from the Government released on Monday:
As part of its work to ensure businesses can get the skilled workers they need, the Coalition Government is re-opening and re-setting the Parent Category visa programme, Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway says.
The move will:
- support skilled migrants who help fill New Zealand’s skills gaps by providing a pathway for their parents to join them
- remove the need for parent applicants to have guaranteed lifetime income and focus instead on the ability of their skilled migrant child to support them
- Help New Zealand businesses find the skilled labour they need
- Further strengthen the economy by helping businesses thrive.
The current scheme will be closed from today and the new Parent Category option will be opened with new criteria in February 2020 and a cap of 1,000 people.
“Skilled migrants and their parents have been in limbo since the previous National Government decided almost three years ago to effectively close the Parent Category by placing a moratorium on it. This created unnecessary and unfair uncertainty for people,” says Iain Lees-Galloway.
“This Coalition Government is committed to attracting and retaining highly-skilled migrants by providing a pathway for their parents to join them in New Zealand, while ensuring they will be supported by their children when they get here.
“The new Parent Category settings will increase financial requirements, focusing on their adult child’s income rather than the circumstances of their parent and align with the ‘highly-paid’ settings under the Skilled Migrant Category and the recent changes to employer-assisted Temporary Work visa settings.
“The ability for a parent to gain residence through having a guaranteed lifetime income or settlement funds will be removed under the new settings. Parents will still be required to meet health and character requirements as part of the application process.
“The Parent Category will be closed under its current settings from today and will re-open under the new settings from February 2020. This will allow those who have submitted an Expression of Interest (EOI) under the old settings to consider what they want to do,” says Iain Lees-Galloway.
Applicants with EOIs currently in the queue will be able to update it to reflect the new requirements and hold their current place in the queue. Applicants who do not meet the new eligibility criteria will be able to withdraw their EOI and apply for a full refund.
The Parent Category enables citizens and people who have been residents for at least three years to sponsor their parents for residence in New Zealand. Parents wishing to join their children in New Zealand must submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) for consideration under the Parent Category. When the EOI is selected from the pool it is assessed against current eligibility criteria and, if these are met, the parent applicant is invited to apply for residence.
Under the new settings, the financial requirement:
- for one sponsor will increase from $65,000 annual income to twice the New Zealand median income (around $106,000 a year) if sponsoring one parent and three times the New Zealand median income (around $159,000 a year) if sponsoring two parents.
- for joint sponsors will increase from $90,000 a year to three times the median income (around $159,000 a year) if sponsoring one parent and four times the median income (around $212,000 a year) if sponsoring two parents.
132 Comments
Make getting a 5-year health insurance a mandatory qualification for these visas. I am certain those households making upwards of 200k a year won't have a problem shelling out a few thousands in premiums in return of bringing their loved ones over.
There's a mandatory health insurance requirement for all international students in NZ as it is.
We had a young Chinese couple move in next to us. Two offspring quickly arrived then lo and behold Oma and Opa arrived and the inbetweeners,,after giving the old dears a two month handover disappeared, presumably back to Beijing to continue the family business, bolthole secured. The old folks spoke no English but grinned a lot in between their coughing.
I asked the missus "I wonder which of the six are paying NZ tax.?"
@smalltown
This is exactly the North Shore of Auckland....as I drive to work its the walk of the elderly Chinese parents pushing the prams.
We get to pick up the education and healthcare tabs (plus one less house available..) and the actual productive members of the family go back overseas to make their money
It's an absolute freaking joke.
Questioner for young doctors, scientists, lawyers, and engineers.
1. Does it make you angry to see wealthy foreigners given the political green light to come to NZ and pay way more that you can afford to buy the same house that you want to buy?
2. If you earn great money but still cant afford a house in the area you want, then does it.. (a) make you want to leave Auckland? (b) make you want to leave NZ? (c) make you want to put off having children for now? (d) make you angry at the systems and government that encouraged that to happen? (e) something else?
Now I see why Trump got elected in 2016.
1. 'presumably back to Beijing" is your assumption which is a projection of your biased view towards migrants.
2. The combination of young couple and two 'offspring' is the typical portfolio that any immigration country would be chasing for. If the couple was high skilled with good education, the portfolio would be ranked as AAA+.
3. "which of the six are paying NZ tax" shows your ignorance. For young couple, since they entered NZ, they are paying tax by buying car, rent, and so on. For the old dears, for the first ten years, they has no access for super. Maybe limited compensation after resident was granted for 2-3 years. Basically they have to pay the living by themselves. Therefore the conclusion is, apart from the two 'offspring', the four are paying NZ tax since day one.
While keeping their (apparently) highly skilled children in this country, paying tax on their income of over $160k~ (for 2 parents). Those highly skilled children which NZ didn't pay a dime for their education or upbringing.
This one makes a lot more sense for business than their other recent changes.
NZ isn't exactly a land of opportunities for talented overseas workers. For the majority of high-skilled workers, the attraction has always been to build a better quality of life for themselves and for their families; something historically NZ has been good at (for the higher than average earner).
If we take this away (the ongoing partner visa rort is already an embarrassment), what else do we have going on for ourselves that positions us well to attract high quality workers?
You really can't be that naïve to think privacy is a factor here and a migrant is allowed to add as many zeros as they want to their payslip when applying for visas.
A visa applicant needs to attach a PAYE statement from IRD if there are income requirements to it. I've had multiple direct reports apply for a variety of visas recently.
FYI Immigration NZ asks partner visa applications to provide FB photos and private chats as evidence of a genuine and stable relationship. There goes your privacy argument.
A few years ago after a court case where two immigrants were found guilty of importing drugs it was reported they had made no IRD tax return for the 9 years they lived here. I wrote to the then minister suggesting all residency visas should be matched against IRD returns and he replied it could not be done because of privacy. I'm told it is different in Australia. INZ would not like any system that identified the mistakes they have made in the past so I doubt it will ever happen.
It’s a humanitarian move. But will such migrants get super and free healthcare? Epic fail if the answer is yes. Plus there should an encouragement to take English lessons if needed. Being unable to communicate can lead to unhealthily closed communities, as in Europe. However, on re-reading, those income requirements are pretty brutal.
1. All migrants have to be living in NZ for at least ten years to qualify for super.
2. English lesson is a must for all new migrants, no matter skilled or parents/elders. Exempt for certain IELTS level or English-speaking countries.
3. Agreed with your concern about closed communities, especially Islamic fundamentalism or religion that has strong tendency of closed community.
4. The new income requirement is not only just brutal, but also impossible for at least 95% migrants. NZ First is going too far on this policy. I doubt the 1,000 cap will ever be reached next year if immigration NZ does check IRD and PAYE carefully.
5. As a skilled migrant myself, I'm disappointed by current coalition government. National poured migrants in without updating the infrastructure like roads and housing. Labour & NZ First restrained migrants harshly but failed to deliver the kiwibuild, which is also incompetent as National. I don't know who to vote in 2020.
6. As the only child in my family, to be honest, I don't care about parent resident visa. My parent don't like living in NZ for too long. All we want is a visa that would allow my parents to stay one year with us to help looking care of our coming baby. Canada already has such a visa called SUPER VISA: https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/visi… , which lets you visit your children or grandchildren for up to 2 years at a time. It’s a multi-entry visa that provides multiple entries for a period up to 10 years.
"1. All migrants have to be living in NZ for at least ten years to qualify for super."
So a mid twenties to early thirties couple sponsor their 50 something relative(s) in the Parent category, Support them for ten years while they supply free childcare services and (maybe) work a part time job, then 10-15 years later the parent is eligible for Super? I sure hope that is not how it works.
Presumably the elderly folks might sell up their home too. That will probably be a 50% plus deposit for a house here, their kids will comfortably pay the mortgage repayments (if any) with heaps left over. Then the elders get Super after 10 years. Wow, great deal! Who wouldn't take it!
Simon Bridges and National need to get with the times and the mood of the people. They will stomp to victory over this sad excuse for a government if they simply adopt a tighter immigration policy.
It's incredible however that as bad as National was on migration, Labour is decidedly worse. Terrible political instincts from Labour, but what's new?
How is Labour decidedly worst?
Over the first 6 years in power, Key's National allowed 11k permanent visas to parent category applicants with a lower income requirement (65k a year for single and 90k a year for joint applicants). For all you know, plenty of migrant couples would've brought all 4 of their parents at a combined income of just 90k.
Labour has slashed this number to 91% and more than increased the income requirement by a lot - 212k to qualify for the same. I believe way fewer migrants earn 212k than those on 90k.
National will do nothing. Except continue to make the problem worse. Those people likely entered under National, and National have shown zero likelihood of reducing immigration as it was a "sign of our success" just as excluding many younger Kiwis from the prospect of home ownership was a sign of success and a "good problem to have". Beijing Bridges will not make things better.
Good. I am sure we agree on highly skilled immigrants in much needed skill shortage areas, welcome from any where.
My biggest issue is with the highly dubious investor category. That has been a massive rort.
I still think the elderly relative scheme is a rort too.
Sorry if I came across as xenophobic. My wife is Asian and I love Asia. My children are half Asian. I am very happy to have highly skilled immigrants from any where, provided they aren't rorting the system.
And btw we had a young Chinese doctor at A+E who was excellent!!!
Yep, I voted for Labour because National was intentionally doing everything I didn't want them to do. Plus Labour's promises sounded nice. Now Labour's doing exactly what I don't want them to do, going against their own promises.
Let's try Green next year...
Or... the PUPs? (just kidding)
This clearly targets the parents of professionals, which is quite smart in that respect. At least it wont be the parents of uber drivers and coffee makers, so will encourage better immigration.
One still wonders what cost that adds to our healthcare and rest home subsidies by adding more numbers to our already aging population...
This myth has been debunked by an investigation conducted by MBIE, which concluded:
MBIE Immigration Policy Manager Sian Roguski said evidence from the group of sponsors here from 2013 found that between two and five years after obtaining residency, only one per cent had accessed social benefits.
My super kicked in after 11 years. Are there figures for more extended periods? Also I both my wife and I were in great health when we arrived but unfortunately we both needed serious surgery 2 years ago.
It is not difficult to do the stats and maths to set a visa charge to ensure average non-refugee immigrants are not a drain on NZ taxpayers. Will our govt do so? If they could do so many of the anti-immigrant comments would disappear.
I agree with you.
Based on my own observations, parents of high-earning migrants also tend to be fairly educated and have amassed wealth of their own. With a proper policy in place, even if a small proportion of these parents bring their businesses and savings over to NZ, it could be a big boost to our economy.
Also, parents relocating to NZ means fewer remittance payments from migrants.
so what will be nationals stand now, will they now change to the other side of the argument and try to win back NZ first voters,
my guess is no both sides are after the immigrant vote now.
so who does that leave us to vote for on reducing the levels of immigration to at least below 1% per year, WP he cant be trusted ?
I've no problem with opening a parent category but please make it of no financial burden to NZ taxpayers. Superannuation if bought on the open market would cost about $500,000 (happy to learn what the exact figure is) so each parent should donate that sum to the govt.
The announced details relate to the skilled child's earnings; what will stop them working abroad once their parents are here and maybe receiving superannuation?
It is not difficult to make it zero impact on tax-payers; if the govt doesn't do so it will make immigrants unpopular.
I’m really surprised to see so many people bagging labour for this policy.
They’ve:
• cut the cap
• significantly raised the income threshold
• and if I recall correctly, raising the number of years required to qualify for NZ super is still on the table
I get that some people are very anti immigration but don’t you think this might be a sensible balance? After all, do we really not want any parent to be able to move here ever?
As someone pointed out above, older parents do actually contribute. It might be a deal breaker for a high earning couple to move here.
The cap on work visas has gone up far more.
The income threshold change was made by National two months before the last election
Your 3rd point about super is more delay to act - should have been altered before I arrived in 2003 (I've had super for 5 years now - thank you Kiwi taxpayers).
I agree with you that banning parents was as dumb as racist refugee policy that took months to correct.
Hell will freeze over before I vote for the current National party but don't give the Coalition credit they don't deserve.
What other developed country allows you to bring your parents in on your visa?
I had a 'Highly Skilled' Tier 1 visa in the UK - considered 'gold plated' (apparently).
They don't even exist anymore.
It had so many fish-hooks attached regarding claiming on the State and was a bureaucratic nightmare to even consider getting my partner onto the same visa.
And then, in a huge twist of irony, we have stories on Stuff where UK migrants are complaining about how unfair we are?
We're apparently a nation of travellers etc. I've never known a Kiwi to emigrate to a country with an expectation of relocating their parents.
That story on Stuff cited a woman wanting to relocate her *85* year old mother - she'll almost instantly be a cost to our health care system.
It's a joke - how entitled and condescending can you be?
I know, being a former Highly Skilled migrant, that you feel completely under-valued.
But expecting a foreign country to foot the bill for your elderly parents is next level.
There are days that I feel much like you do... then I wake up and realise that I am sitting on an island in the pacific ocean and if there were no additional benefits to immigrant visas we might genuinely end up with a decreasing population. Because unlike the UK we are on the other side of the world.... a really really long way away from everything.
It is just important that we set things up correctly.... a cooling off period for medical issues should be one
Wow. While I understand the humanity of this act, without a twenty year of paying tax rule before getting government benefits, this will just make the looming old people crisis even worse. Hard not to consider NZF are complete sell outs on their election policy's here. Its like Lab and NZF want to loose the next election.
As the only child in my family, I don't care about parent resident visa. My parent don't like living in NZ for too long. All we want is a visa that would allow my parents to stay one year with us to help looking care of our coming baby, while the current visitor visa can only allow stay up to 9 months. Canada already has such a visa called SUPER VISA: https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/visit... , which lets you visit your children or grandchildren for up to 2 years at a time. It’s a multi-entry visa that provides multiple entries for a period up to 10 years.
I'm an immigrant and this sounds like a sensible policy to me, although every other migrant below the income threshold is up in arms about how unfair the policy is. I would love to bring my parents over. Realistically not many immigrants will qualify. My parents are also not penniless and have their own retirement savings. I also have a sibling in NZ and we are more than happy to pay for our parents' needs. We'll be applying for them to come over as soon as we can (thanks Labour!). I'd also be more than happy to pay them $500 a week instead of the cost of full time day care for 2 kids! I have no plans on moving any where else, we have made NZ our home as our home country is no longer an option.
Right here, right now, it maybe better to open our hearts and the door to the good people of Hong Kong people in need, while they can make it.
And Uyghur, if they can make it
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wired.com/story/inside-chinas-massive-…
I'm personally not so keen to bring my parents over. Because I have no confidence in NZ medical system compared to my home country, e.g. medical access, funded drugs, shortage of skilled surgeons.
In fact, I condemn the government for being irresponsible to those elderly, opening the parent category while the medical system is in a shambles. I suggest those who meet the threshold to buy insurance with overseas treatment covers for their parents.
Interesting perspective. I agree and also think it's irresponsible to add pressure on the medical system.. Unfair on the potential patients and also the ones footing the bill and being displaced themselves. Be good if our immigration policy helped fill the 'shortage of skilled surgeons' as opposed to what we're currently allowing in...
I agree immigrants add pressure to medical system. But also a lot of people here believe less immigrants means problem solved. That needs a lot of proving. I doubt the DHBs, Pharmac and labor government will be amazingly hige performing, should we freeze the immigration. Shall we fill "the shortage to govern"?
Interesting to see how the immigration news gets everyone excited as they see it as an easy fix.
Its probably quite smart, its capped so can't run away on us and might be a good way to entice professionals to work here if they can bring mum and dad. I would prefer the govt focus its efforts on kicking out of the country the criminals who have seized the liquor store sector and corrupted it. They need to go.
"The Green Party's Golriz Ghahraman supported the visa being reinstated but said the restrictions mean it was only a right for the wealthy.
'It does mean that we're actually reserving a right that we know benefits not only migrants - but in benefiting migrants it benefits all of New Zealand - for those who are on the highest income bracket.'
She said if the Green Party had their way they'd scrap the requirements altogether."
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/400482/parent-visa-scheme-attacked…
The Green party ... the most dangerous party in parliament at the moment.
You do realize her background as a refugee? In fact she is NZ's first elected representative that has a refugee background. Its quite impressive.
Having met her in person she certainly fulfills the necessary criteria on my proposed 'appealling appearance' visa category. If I were PM that would be the category most inbounds would have to satisfy. No more snaggle tooths from Mumbai I can tell you!
Worthy of note is her somewhat mercenary involvment in both the DEFENCE and PROSECUTION teams of war criminals at the UN tribunals in Den Hague....
A good policy. Annual numerical quota with a reasonable entry bar. On the right track. Hope they extend such thinking and policy making to other visa types too.
We still need a nation wide, binding referendum, to be voted only by citizens, setting annual numerical quotas for different types of visas.
Hope some MP starts that movement.
Soon....
So we're letting in more retirees?
Will it achieve social cohesion and an immigration programme that preferences those able to better integrate and assimilate? I doubt it.
I can't help but feel that what makes New Zealand great is being eroded away through the incremental creeping of a liberal agenda.
Dang I seem to be the only one at my local supermarket that speaks English.
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