'Glitch' disrupts Parent Resident Visa selections under new scheme

Immigration New Zealand has apologised for a "technical glitch" that impacted the long-awaited Parent Resident Visa draw on Tuesday.

The draw is the first since applications for the visa are processed in chronological order.

Immigration New Zealand said the issue was being resolved, and staff were working to complete the selection process as soon as possible.

In August, immigration minister Erica Stanford announced that expressions of interest for this category will mostly be selected in chronological order from November, replacing a ballot system.

Applicants in the expressions of interest pool received an email from Immigration New Zealand last month, confirming their queue entry date and providing an indicative timeframe for when they would be selected.

However, some applicants who were told that they were going to be selected in the November draw did not receive an invitation to apply.

At the same time, other applicants who had been in the pool for years said they had not received an email regarding their queue position.

The Parent Resident Visa - a separate category from the Parent Boost Visa - allows New Zealand citizens and residents who meet eligibility requirements to sponsor their parents for residency in New Zealand.

Auckland woman Christina Yu submitted an expression of interest for her parents in October 2022.

She was excited when Stanford announced the new policy as her expression of interest had not been selected after dozens of rounds under the ballot system.

Based on the indicative queue position she received from Immigration New Zealand, her parents' expression of interest should have been selected this time, Yu said.

However, she did not receive any email regarding confirming the selection.

"It's disappointing," Yu said.

"I don't see there's any reason [for us] not to get drawn because I handed in [the expression of interest] so early."

Tauranga resident Lonneke Egersdorfer said she did not receive an email from Immigration New Zealand confirming her queue entry date and a timeframe for her mother's expression of interest to be selected.

She found out her indicative timeframe from other applicants, which should be February next year as her mother's expression of interest had been submitted in July 2023, Egersdorfer said.

"We did not receive, and not only us, but there are also many people that didn't receive a confirmation email from Immigration New Zealand to acknowledge their original expression of interest dates or a confirmation email saying that they've been placed in the queue," Egersdorfer said.

Egersdorfer had been exchanging information with people on Parent Resident Visa through social media groups.

"Everybody's been waiting and then suddenly on the 30th of October, they (Immigration New Zealand) released these emails, but not everybody received them."

Immigration New Zealand apologises

Emily Sanders, director of visa at Immigration New Zealand, said the department was aware of a technical glitch that impacted the draw on Tuesday.

"We know people will have been waiting eagerly and apologise for any stress this has caused," Sanders said.

"The issue is being resolved, and we are working to complete the selection process as quickly as possible. No one will be disadvantaged, and no queue positions will be affected.

"People with EOIs from late 2022 and early 2023 can be reassured that they will be selected."

Sanders said application invitations that had been sent out could be relied on, and recipients could begin to prepare for lodging their applications.

"All invitations to apply will be sent within the next week once initial eligibility checks have been completed," Sanders said.

Up to 2500 Parent Resident Visas could be granted each financial year, and the numbers of expression of interest selection might vary to ensure people invited to apply was consistent with the number of visa places available, she said.

People who submitted expressions of interest recently have also reported receiving outdated information, suggesting their expression of interests are selected randomly from a ballot every three months and expire after two years.

Under new rules, however, expressions of interest do not automatically expire after two years, and people only need to reconfirm every two years they want their expressions of interest to remain available for selection.

"We are now aware the automatic confirmation emails received when people submit an Expression of Interest had not been updated to reflect this, and sincerely apologise for any confusion," Sanders said.

"These have now been updated."

Under the new system, 90 percent of expression of interests will be selected from the queue, with the rest selected through a ballot.

The indicative queue position and its selection round information provided by Immigration New Zealand shows that people who submitted their expressions of interest in October 2026 will be selected in May 2032.