‘Torturous’ Parent Resident Visa ballots leave families in limbo

Chinese families have slammed the unfairness of a ballot system that is used to allocate Parent Resident Visa opportunities to some applicants.

They also called for expressions of interest in the visa to be extended beyond the existing two-year limit, arguing that the submission process was costly despite little guarantee of success.

An online petition to reform the settings of the visa has attracted nearly 10,000 signatures so far.

The Parent Resident Visa - a separate visa category from the recently announced Parent Boost Visa - allows migrants' parents to stay in New Zealand indefinitely if they met certain requirements surrounding finances and health.

The visa was suspended in 2016 before eventually being reinstated in 2022 after delays caused by immigration settings during the Covid pandemic, with the annual cap reduced from 5500 to 2500 and tougher financial requirements.

Under current legislation, up to 2000 visas can be granted annually to applicants who had filed existing expressions of interest, while a further 500 visas can be granted from a ballot that was introduced for new expressions of interest submitted from October 2022 until the old queue had been cleared.

Michael Wood, immigration minister at the time, said that moving to a ballot meant people would avoid lengthy queues.

As of now, all queued expressions of interest have been drawn "with some still in progress for various reasons", according to Immigration New Zealand's visa director, Jock Gilray.

Meanwhile, 9746 expressions of interest covering 14,792 applicants were currently in the ballot pool as of 23 June, Gilray said.

"The average processing time for a Parent Resident Visa application is 13 months," Gilray said.

However, Auckland woman Sophie Liu said the actual time frame was unlikely to be as promising, as it would take time for an applicant's expression of interest to be selected in the first place.

Liu, who works in risk management in healthcare, submitted an expression of interest for her mother, who lives alone in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou two years ago.

"Nine draws have taken place in the past two years, but we haven't been selected," Liu said. "I can't see any hope."

The emotional swing between being hopeful and disappointed when the draw happened every three months was "torturous", she said.

"The ballot system isn't reasonable," she said. "It's stressful and torturous. It has been affecting my mental health."

An expression of interest stays in the ballot pool for two years, so applicants need to resubmit the paperwork when it expires - a process that costs between $450 and $575.

The system was "unfair" because there was no guarantee that expressions of interest would be accepted, Liu said.

In the petition before Parliament, Liu called on the government to remove the two-year expiry setting or waive reapplication fees, select most expression of interests in order of the date of submission, introduce a bonus draw and increase the annual cap to 5500.

The new Parent Boost Visa wasn't practical in terms of high application fees, a lack of insurance offerings, which could potentially be costly and health check requirements, Liu said.

She said the situation was particularly difficult for children of China's one-child generation, as they typically don't have siblings to jointly sponsor parents' applications and their parents don't have adult children to support in their home country.

Many were unable to apply for residency for their parents due to the income threshold and those who could were mostly highly skilled migrants with high incomes, Liu said.

"We have made a huge contribution to society, but our parents don't have a chance to reunite with us," Liu said.

"We may have to leave New Zealand, either returning to our home country or going to another country that has more friendly parent residency policies."

Jane Li, who hails from China's Hebei province, recently purchased one-way air tickets to China for herself and her two young children after failing to secure residency for her parents in New Zealand.

Li, who works as a medical specialist, has been earning enough to sponsor both of her parents' applications.

The Auckland resident first submitted an application in 2022, resubmitting it last year after it expired without success.

"I feel anxious and frustrated," Li said.

Li gave birth to her first child during the Covid-19 pandemic and developed postnatal depression.

However, she felt in a much better mental state raising her second 2-month-old child because her mother had flown to Auckland to share the workload.

As her mother held a regular visitor visa, she was set to return to China soon.

"I have no choice but to [also] return to China," Li said. "I wanted to continue working here, and I'm very good at my job.

"I face a lot of challenges returning to China, but for the sake of being with my parents and getting their help, I have no choice."

Her parents provided Li with emotional support that was just as useful as their day-to-day assistance.

"My parents are getting older," Li said. "They also want us to be around. They're lonely on their own."

Wellington IT worker Evan Chen, from Heilongjiang province in northeastern China, has been waiting almost two years for his parents' expression of interest to be accepted.

Chen is now preparing to submit a new expression of interest as the expiry date looms.

As of May 2025, 10,441 applications had been filed covering 15,887 applicants, according to latest published data from Immigration New Zealand.

More than 4000 expressions of interest are due to expire in August.

Based on the current annual quota of 2500, the chance of Chen's parents being successful with their expression of interest was about 16 percent, and there was no guarantee they will be invited to apply for residency after 10 or 20 years, he said.

Chen, who is also an only child, said a selection process based on a queue would provide more certainty.

"If Immigration told me to wait for five years or even seven, eight years, I could accept that because at least I can make plans," Chen said.

"I don't know what I need to do with the ballot system," he said. "Can I start a business or other things? My parents are waiting for the news as well. ... It's a huge mental pressure."

Chen said he would love to stay in New Zealand but would consider other options if it was too hard for his parents to join him.

"A lot of us are only children," Chen said. "Our family doesn't want to use New Zealand's medical and other resources.

"We just want to be able to look after them when they're older."

A spokesperson from Immigration Minister Erica Stanford's office said the government's focus had been on delivering the Parent Boost Visa to support parents living offshore to visit and stay with their families in New Zealand for longer.

The spokesperson said the ballot was introduced by the previous government in 2022, and advice from officials at the time said it would take six to 10 years for a parent to reach the front of the queue, with that time frame extending as the queue lengthened.

"Regardless of the mechanism, it has always been the case that the demand for the Parent Resident category has been significantly more than the places available," the spokesperson said.

"The two-year expiry ensures the information provided is up to date and accurate about current interest and eligibility for the visa.

"This reduces the chance that EOI [expressions of interest] are selected for people who are no longer interested or eligible, causing delays for those who are," the spokesperson said.

"As the EOI fee covers the cost for Immigration New Zealand to process the EOI, it is not refunded if the EOI is not selected and must be paid again for each new EOI," the spokesperson said.

"The minister has directed officials to ensure this fee is at an appropriate level in the next fee and levy review."