Parent Resident Visa sponsor income requirements
If your sponsor is a New Zealand resident or citizen and earns enough, check if they can help you come to New Zealand on the Parent Resident Visa. Find out about who can sponsor you, their eligibility and what minimum taxable income they need to earn.
Who can sponsor you
You can be sponsored for the Parent Resident Visa by 1 or 2 (joint) sponsors. A sponsor can be:
- your adult child if they are a New Zealand citizen or resident
- both your adult child and their partner, or
- both your adult child and another adult child of a parent included in the visa application.
Sponsor’s immigration status
Your sponsor must be a New Zealand citizen or resident who has lived here for at least 3 years.
Proof of relationship
If your child and their partner sponsor you, you must provide proof that they are in a genuine relationship and they have been living together for at least 12 months.
Partnership and how to prove it
The full details are in the Parent Resident Visa section ‘Your sponsoring child’.
Your sponsor must earn enough
Your sponsor must have earned at least the minimum income we require. This is for 2 years in the 3-year period before your expression of interest (EOI) was selected.
The minimum income a sponsor needs changes depending on if you have 1 or 2 sponsors.
Calculating minimum income
To calculate a sponsor’s minimum income, you need to know:
- whether you have 1 or 2 sponsors
- how many parents in total are being sponsored — this includes extra parents who your sponsor is also currently sponsoring
- which 2 12-month periods your sponsor will use to have their income assessed on
- what the
was on the last day of each 12-month period that your sponsor’s income will be assessed on.
You can use the following minimum income tables to check the New Zealand median wage for the past 3 years and how much a sponsor (or sponsors) needs to have earned.
Table 1: Minimum income for 1 sponsor
This starts at 1.5 times the New Zealand median wage for 1 parent, and increases by half the median wage amount for each extra parent.
| Effective date | Median wage | 1 parent | 2 parents | 3 parents | 4 parents | 5 parents | 6 parents |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 April 2026 onwards | NZD $72,800.00 | NZD $109,200.00 | NZD $145,600.00 | NZD $182,000.00 | NZD $218,400.00 | NZD $254,800.00 | NZD $291,200.00 |
| 28 February 2025 to 29 April 2026 | NZD $69,804.80 | NZD $104,707.30 | NZD $139,609.60 | NZD $174,512.00 | NZD $209,414.40 | NZD $244,315.80 | NZD $279,291.20 |
| 28 February 2024 to 27 February 2025 | NZD $65,748.80 | NZD $98,623.20 | NZD $131,497.60 | NZD $164,372.00 | NZD $197,246.40 | NZD $230,120.80 | NZD $262,995.20 |
| May 2023 to 27 February 2024 | NZD $61,692.80 |
NZD $92,539.20 |
NZD $123,385.60 | NZD $154,232.00 | NZD $185,078.40 | NZD $215,924.80 | NZD $246,771.20 |
| January 2022 to April 2023 | NZD $57,740.00 | NZD $86,611.20 | NZD $115,481.60 | NZD $144,352.00 | NZD $173,222.40 | NZD $202,092.80 | NZD $230,963.20 |
| January 2021 to December 2021 | NZD $56,160.00 | NZD $84,240.00 | NZD $112,320.00 | NZD $140,400.00 | NZD $168,480.00 | NZD $196,560.00 | NZD $224,640.00 |
| January 2020 to December 2020 | NZD $53,040.00 | NZD $79,560.00 | NZD $106,080.00 | NZD $132,600.00 | NZD $159,120.00 | NZD $185,640.00 | NZD $212,160.00 |
Table 2: Minimum income for 2 sponsors
This starts at 2 times the median wage for 1 parent, and increases by half the median wage amount for each extra parent.
Joint sponsors must use the same 12-month periods.
| Effective date | Median wage | 1 parent | 2 parents | 3 parents | 4 parents | 5 parents | 6 parents |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 April 2026 onwards | NZD $72,800.00 | NZD $145,600.00 | NZD $182,000.00 | NZD $218,400.00 | NZD $254,800.00 | NZD $291,200.00 | NZD $327,600.00 |
| 28 February 2025 to 29 April 2026 | NZD $69,804.80 | NZD $139,609.60 | NZD $174,512.00 | NZD $209,414.40 | NZD $244,316.80 | NZD $279,219.20 | NZD $314,121.60 |
| From 28 February 2024 | NZD $65,748.80 | NZD $131,497.60 | NZD $164,372.00 | NZD $197,246.40 | NZD $230,120.80 | NZD $262,995.20 | NZD $295,869.60 |
| May 2023 to 27 February 2024 | NZD $61,692.80 | NZD $123,385.60 | NZD $154,232.00 |
NZD $185,078.40 |
NZD $215,924.80 | NZD $246,771.20 | NZD $277,617.60 |
| January 2022 to April 2023 | NZD $57,740.80 | NZD $115,481.60 | NZD $144,352.00 | NZD $173,222.40 | NZD $202,092.80 | NZD $230,963.20 | NZD $259,833.60 |
| January 2021 to December 2021 | NZD $56,160.00 | NZD $112,320.00 | NZD $140,400.00 | NZD $168,480.00 | NZD $196,560.00 | NZD $224,640.00 | NZD $252,720.00 |
| January 2020 to December 2020 | NZD $53,040.00 |
NZD $106,080.00 |
NZD $132,600.00 | NZD $159,120.00 | NZD $185,640.00 |
NZD $212,160.00 |
NZD $238,680.00 |
The following example explains how to use the table to check if the joint sponsors meet the minimum income threshold over the 3-year period.
Example
Parents Ann and Brian want to move to Auckland to be close to their children — sisters Claire and Diana, who both live there. Claire and Diana have agreed to jointly sponsor them.
Ann and Brian have their expression of interest (EOI) selected on the 24 November 2025. They are invited to apply for the Parent Resident Visa on the same day, that is 24 November 2025.
This means the 3-year period where we can assess Claire and Diana's income goes from 24 November 2022 to 23 November 2025.
Claire and Diana must choose 2 12-month periods in the 3-year period where they show they can meet the minimum income threshold. As they are joint sponsors, they must use the same 12-month periods.
Diana was on parental leave from June 2022 to June 2023 so her income was lower during that 12 months. The sisters decide to use these 2 12-month periods to show they meet the income threshold:
- August 2023 to July 2024
- August 2024 to July 2025.
Claire and Diana check Table 2 for the minimum income tables for 2 sponsors.
First, they look at the column for 2 parents, since that is how many people each of them are sponsoring. Next, they check the amount needed in each year.
The first 12-month period ends in 2024, so they need to show that the total of both their income over that time was NZD $164,372.
The second 12-month period ends in 2025, so they need to show that the total of both their incomes over that time was NZD $174,512.
How the minimum sponsor income is calculated
The amount a sponsor needs to earn to sponsor 1 parent is:
- 1.5 times the current New Zealand median wage for 1 sponsor
- 2 times the current New Zealand median wage for 2 sponsors.
The minimum income increases by half the New Zealand median wage for each extra parent, up to a maximum of 6 parents.
Note
We update the New Zealand median wage each year, so the amount a sponsor (or sponsors) needs to earn will change depending on which years they include with your application.
We only consider taxable income
For us to count your sponsor's income it must be taxable and appear on their Inland Revenue summary of income or Final Tax Summary.
Your sponsor can check the Inland Revenue for how to get proof of income by using myIR or request a summary.
Self-employed income
If your sponsor is self-employed, they:
- will not have PAYE deducted from their income, and
- must file an income tax return with Inland Revenue.
Self-employed — Inland Revenue
If your sponsor is using self‑employed income, it must be shown by financial year (1 April to 31 March).
We only accept proof of income documents generated directly by Inland Revenue. The document must include the sponsor's name and their IRD number.
Examples of non-PAYE (self-employed) income can include:
- estate or trust income
- shareholder-employee salary without tax deducted
- look-through company income
- schedular payments
- rental property income
- partnership income.
If your sponsor has already sponsored a parent
If your sponsor has already sponsored 1 parent or more, we include that parent in their minimum income calculation.
Example
- Your adult child previously sponsored 2 parents.
- Then your child and their partner sponsored 2 more parents after expressions of interest reopens.
- They will need to meet the income requirements to sponsor 4 parents.
Visa applications made pre-2017
If your sponsor's income helped to sponsor their partner's parents in a Parent Resident Visa application made before 2017, they are not considered a previous sponsor.