Analysis: A new visa coming this September will let migrants have their parents stay with them for up to a decade in New Zealand. The terms of the Parent Boost Visitor Visa, announced on June 8, can be difficult to comprehend at first but we’ve got your back.
The headline message is – besides the obvious reason for cheer – that procuring this visa is not going to be a walk in the park. Layers of vetting mean many won’t even qualify to apply. Those who make the cut will find it is not an easy ride.
Applications open September 29, 2025. The overarching criteria to apply is whether your family can afford to provide for your visiting parents. The visa tests you for this on one of three criteria.
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Affordability
Criteria 1
The first way to qualify as a sponsor – and probably the most straightforward – is to earn the median wage of roughly NZ$70,000 annually. That allows you to bring one parent.
For a similar visa, Australia sets this threshold at about NZ$90,000; while Canada has a significantly lower entry point of NZ$36,000. Both these countries have a higher cost of living than New Zealand.
The Parent Boost Visitor Visa also allows two people to become joint sponsors. The good news is the co-sponsor could be your partner or your sibling. For a joint application, the sponsors together need to earn at least about NZ$105,000 annually.
Single sponsors can also invite both parents if they earn at least NZ$104,707 annually, or NZ$139,610 in case they co-sponsor with a partner or a sibling.
Criteria 2
Parents don’t necessarily need to rely on the sponsor’s income. They can make the cut on their own if they earn as much as seniors in New Zealand earn from superannuation, which is about NZ$33,000 (about INR 17 lakh) per year for a single parent and NZ$50,000 (INR 26 lakh) for a couple.
Procedural details have yet to be announced, but there will most likely be heavy vetting to verify these earnings are legit and ongoing. Parents will also have to demonstrate they’ll continue to earn this income five years from when they apply.
A range of income sources will be acceptable including pensions, earnings from rental properties, dividends from share portfolios, interest from investments, profits from company ownership, share market trading.
More information about the exact requirements will be available on the Immigration New Zealand (INZ) website in August.
Criteria 3
A third way to prove your parents can support their stay here is for them to show pre-existing funds worth NZ$160,000 (nearly INR 83 lakh) for a single parent; and NZ$250,000 (about INR 1.3 crore) for both parents. Once again, you can assume these funds will undergo rigorous checks for legitimacy.
Funds held offshore will likely be acceptable provided those funds can be accessed from New Zealand. More information about the exact requirements will be available on the INZ website in August.
Health insurance cost
Insurance must include emergency care (minimum NZ$250,000 a year), repatriation, return of remains, and cancer treatment (minimum NZ$100,000 a year).
Applicants can access insurances from domestic and offshore providers with experience in the health and/or travel insurance business and a credit rating of no lower than A (strong) or equivalent from an internationally recognised credit rating agency (for example, Standard and Poor's). Immigration New Zealand (INZ) will check any overseas insurer meets the credit rating.
As Auckland-based insurance advisor Firozi Mistry explains here, insurance premiums can vary according to a range of criteria. That means even ballpark assessment of yearly premiums can be tricky. With that caveat out of the way, she estimates an elderly couple with good health conditions can expect to pay NZ$1,810-$2,300 for a year’s health coverage.
Health insurance not enough
Procuring health insurance won’t help if your parents can’t clear the health fitness test as per New Zealand standards. As Auckland-based immigration advisor Ankur Sabharwal explains here, there could be a 16 per cent chance your parents will be declined a visa despite meeting other requirements.
This estimated decline rate is based on the historical decline rate for the three-year Parent/Grandparent Multiple Entry visitor visa, a category which has been open for many years.
Sabharwal says in his experience almost all applications declined under this category are because applicants do not meet “acceptable standard of health” (ASH) requirements.
“Like the new Parent Boost category, a Parent/Grandparent Multiple Entry visa application requires elderly parents to complete Immigration New Zealand’s General Medical and Chest X-ray Certificates,” he says.
Sabharwal points out the main reasons cited are – likely to be a danger to public health; or likely to impose significant costs or demands on New Zealand’s health services; there is no “medical waiver” provision under the Parent/Grandparent Multiple Entry category, and there is unlikely to be one under the Parent Boost category.
An added layer of scrutiny pops up in the third year of your parents’ stay under the new visa, as they are required to leave the country that year and can re-enter only if they clear a fresh medical test.
Immigration Minister Erica Stanford says the visa is all about finding a happy middle ground. “The Parent Boost Visa strikes the balance of making New Zealand more attractive for people who want to make our beautiful country their home, without putting additional strain on public services,” Ms Stanford says.
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