New Zealand Skilled Immigrants and Parents Reunion Immigration Visa Restart

New Zealand's Immigration Minister announced today (12th) that the categories of skilled immigrant visas suspended during the peak of the epidemic and border closures and the categories of parental reunions suspended for five years will be reopened from mid-November. The main points are as follows:

• Skilled immigrants and parents reunited immigrants re-launched in mid-November;

• The wage threshold for parents to reunite immigrants has been lowered and the quota has doubled;

• Simplification of skilled migration;

• The first draw will begin on 9 November;

• Starting from 160 points for the first time, 180 points will be used for the subsequent extraction threshold;

• The Immigration Service introduced a new "six-point system" of new standards for immigration this time.

Since 2016, the parent reunion visa has not accepted new applications and has been suspended.

"We will restore the skilled migration category under the current setting to attract more workers." The immigration minister said a new "simplified" visa system for skilled immigrants would make it fairer and more transparent and without a cap on the number of people.

The Minister of Immigration said that New Zealand has faced challenges brought about by the global supply chain in the past two years. Replacing New Zealand's immigration system will benefit the New Zealand economy. He hopes that these recently announced policies are aimed at creating an economy that is conducive to New Zealand and conducive to immigration.

It is announced that the first selection of skilled immigrants after the restart will start on November 9. According to the new system, New Zealand Immigration Bureau will select all letters of intent at the current threshold of 160 points. After November 9, the entry point threshold will be raised to 180 points to better align with the future direction of the category of skilled immigrants. The letter of intent will be selected again on January 18, 2023. After January 18, 2023, the selection will be held once a month, on the third Wednesday of each month, and all letters of intent with at least 180 points will be selected.

The parent reunion immigrant visa was restarted on October 12, 2022, and the requirements for guarantors were reduced. We resume selection of existing letter of intent (EOI) on 14 November 2022

• The number of visas available per year has increased from 1000 to 2500

• We are lowering the income requirement for the guarantor and allowing 2 adult children, not just one adult child and their partner, to consolidate their income on the guarantor parents.

• Guarantor now needs to earn 1.5 times the median New Zealand wage instead of twice the median wage. For each joint guarantor or additional parent, this limit increases by half the median wage.

• These new requirements apply to the existing letter of intent and the letter of intent we have received from October 12, 2022.

Existing Letter of Intent

Existing expressions of interest-these are those we received prior to October 12, 2022-will be selected in the order of the dates we received. We will select them from November 14, 2022, and continue to select them every 3 months thereafter.

Election of a new letter of intent by ballot

Any letter of intent we receive from October 12, 2022 will be voted on. The first random selection was in August 2023, and then every 3 months.

From May 2023, letters of intent can be submitted online on the New Zealand Immigration Service website.

Each year, 500 visas will be used for letters of intent elected through voting.