New Zealand’s Parent Boost Visitor Visas
September 2025
Immigration New Zealand has issued new rules that apply to the much vaunted (in the media) new policy called “Parent Boost”. The circular was available for those who knew where to find it on the website that Immigration New Zealand maintains on 22 August 2025. For some reason, the Amendment Circular Notification that goes out to all immigration lawyers and consultants who subscribe to it, has broken down and was not emailed to everyone. It is hoped that Immigration New Zealand will rectify this failing. It encroaches our Rule of Law requirement that rules should be accessible. This is a moan.
The Parent Boost is the second special visitor visa category designed especially for parents (and grandparents in some circumstances). A third “retirement” visitor visa category requires an investment of $750,000.00, assets of a further $500,000 and a regular income of $60,000 per annum. There is also a requirement to hold travel and/or health insurance and to be aged 66 or older.
There are also two parent categories for residence. The category allowing sponsorship by domiciled children (the Parent Category) is capped and cases are not selected, sometimes, for several years. The sponsor or sponsors must meet strict income requirements. The Parent Retirement Category for residence on the other hand requires an investment of $1 million for four years, funds or assets held elsewhere in the world of at least $500,000 and an annual income from assets, retirement funds etc of at least $60,000 per annum at the time of application. Parents must be sponsored by a domiciled adult child. There is no income requirement on the sponsor, under the Parent Retirement Category.
Our existing categories are:
Temporary:
- Parent visitor (6 months x3 for 36 months).
- Ordinary visitor visas (9 months in every 18 months).
- Temporary Retirement visa (3 years with an investment of $750,000 assets of $500,000 and income of $60,000 per annum.
- The new Parent Boost category (see below).
Permanent:
- Parent Retirement ($1 million + $500,000 + $60,000 income, 4 year investment period but then a resident for life. Must have a child sponsor.
- Parent category (capped but sponsor(s) must meet a significant income hurdle by the child sponsor(s)).
Parent Boost
The Parent Boost Policy has a number of problems. As a visitor visa policy, it is subject to the bona fide test. This will be discussed below.
The visa is for five years but can be renewed for a second five-year period to a total of 10 years. The filing fee is $3,000. The sponsoring child cannot be a dependent child but like the parent (residence) category, is income restricted. The minimum income for a single parent is the median income which for a single sponsor is currently at $69,894.80. For joint sponsors (a couple or two siblings), the income requirement is $104,707.20. For two parents, a single sponsor must earn $104,707.20 and for a couple, or two siblings, $139,609.60. The income threshold is calculated at the time the application is lodged and will therefore be variable as the median income is announced each year.
An applicant must not only be of good character and meet medical requirements but also must have medical insurance that will need to be maintained throughout. The parents cannot have dependent children.
Benefit of Parent Boost Category
The benefit that such a visa provides is that the parent or parents can then enjoy continuous stay in New Zealand for up to five years ( there must be a trip back home after 3 years and then again after 5 years before a renewal. Only one rollover is permitted, but after 10 years but an application under a different category could then be lodged.
The Bona Fides test parent visitor visas
Bona fides is tested by determining whether or not the person who is applying for the visa is likely to comply and return to their home country at the close of the visa. Connections with the home country such as property, other family etc help establish this likelihood in some cases. The writer doubts whether this helps much when the person is coming from a country in which there is a civil war either inside the country or nearby. If there is a likelihood that the person would claim refugee status, then this would normally mean that the person is not coming into New Zealand as a bona fide visitor, and the application would be declined.
One of the reasons that a visitor visa is often declined is where the person has expressed a desire to remain in the country permanently. When applying for a visitor visa it is never a good idea to explain that when you get into the country you are going to look around for a job and apply for residence. Immigration officers will deny that there is an automatic rule against allowing a visitor visa to a person who has indicated an intention to remain permanently, or to get a job, but it is the case 99% of the time.
There is therefore an internal conceptual problem with the Parent Boost Category. The intention of the application is ipse facto to remain in New Zealand for five years and possibly ten years which is probably as permanent as it gets. How then does an applicant prove to Immigration New Zealand that at the end of the five years they will be heading back home. An individual wanting to come to New Zealand under the Parent Boost Category should think twice before selling their home because if they sell their home that is exactly what it will look like. It will look as if the ties with the home country are being severed and that the person does not intend to return home at the end of the five years. The problem is however that seeking a visa for five or may itself indicate an intention to reside permanently. It is doubted whether the politicians who have ordered this visa understand this nuanced issue. However, most people from non-first-world countries will not be able to afford it anyway (unless their children in New Zealand meet the significant income thresholds. Folks without means again miss out, as they do with all parent visa categories except for (general) visitor visas (9 months in every 18 months).
In our view, folks from non-visa-free countries seeking or thinking about filing a Parent Boost Category case should think carefully about whether they can establish a likelihood to return to their home country at the end of the five years.
A visitor visa cannot normally be challenged in the High Court by way of judicial review and an adverse decision centred around bona fides makes it difficult (though not impossible) for future applications to succeed as at all future times, the visa failure will come up for consideration during any future application. Of course, a decline can also impact on visa applications to other countries.
The Parent Boost Category may be of interest to those families mainly from visa-free countries (the US, UK, Canada, Europe etc) who cannot quite meet the criteria for a Parent Retirement Resident Visa (requiring assets as described above of $1.5 million and an annual income of $60,000 (for a couple)). For those who have sufficient funds, it is far better to apply under the Parent Retirement (Residence) Category as that will bring, after four years of investment, a Permanent Resident Visa (which will be held for life without any requirement to enter the country at any particular point in time). For those who can afford it, the Parent Retirement Visa is preferable.
Although touted by the current government as an aid to those immigrant families who would like to bring their parents to New Zealand and also in some instances to help with raising their children, the visa may be of some interest. For folks in the (mainly) third world including most of Asia and Africa, it will be difficult to get over the “bona fides” hurdle but of course some may be able to on a case-by-case basis. The new visa of course is therefore heavily weighted towards our immigrant communities who stem from first world nations (because of the bona fides adverse rule for everyone else). In addition, the sponsor child or children must reach a significant level of income before the application becomes viable, as indicated.
The conclusion is that the new visa category may not be as useable as people might think. It is hoped that this paper will draw attention to the conceptual problem that arises. The writer believes that the visa category is however mainly driven for political reasons. It will help however a restricted group of sponsors who can afford it, but who cannot quite afford the Parent Retirement requirement, or who, with a substantial income as a sponsor, or sponsors do not want to wait until their expression of interest in the Parent Category is selected (2-3 years mostly).
It is recommended that intending applicants seek advice in advance.
11 September 2025
D J Ryken
Ryken and Associates