You may lodge an application under this category when you have immediate family, such as parent, brother/sister or child, living legally in New Zealand for a minimum of 184 days in each of the three years prior to the date of the lodgement of the application.

The application must be supported by a sponsor who must be able to provide accommodation and full financial support for you and your family members for the first two years in New Zealand.

There are five categories;

The Parent Retirement Category

This category consists out of a Temporary Retirement and Parent Retirement stream. It allows Immigration New Zealand to prioritise high net worth individuals who are already seeking to migrate to New Zealand under the Family Category. The Temporary Retirement Category creates a two year permit for people who want to spend some of their retirement in New Zealand, provided they invest here and indemnify the government against possible health and welfare costs.

Parent Retirement visa holders will be required to invest a minimum of $1 million in New Zealand over four years, whereas Temporary Retirees will need to invest $750,000 over the two year term of their permit. Temporary Retirees will be able to renew their permits as long as they continue to meet criteria including investment funds, income and health insurance.

Partner/spouse

This includes married, de facto, civil union and same sex relationships. Supporting documents of living together for 12 months in a stable and genuine relationship are required as proof.

Parent

This is for applicants who are the parent of an adult NZ resident or citizen. Some restrictions apply and the sponsor must have been permanent resident in NZ for a minimum of 3 years.

Dependent Child

This is for applicants between the age of 17 and 24 with no children of their own, single and financially dependent with their parents lawfully and permanently in NZ, or, 16 years of age or younger, single and totally financially dependent with their parents lawfully and permanently in NZ.

Adult Child/sibling

This is for applicants who are a child, brother or sister of an adult New Zealand resident or citizen. Proof from the sponsor is required that he/she has been a permanent resident in NZ for a minimum of three years. A valid offer of employment is required for adult siblings and adult children.

It should be noted that, while INZ is constantly improving their timeliness, the assessment time frames for these applications may be up to 2 years