New Zealand Family Immigration Policy Ammended

New Zealand immigration category for Sibling and Adult Child Category is closing on May 15, 2012 and a new two-tier process for parents will be introduced in late July this year.

New Zealand Immigration Minister, Nathan Guy, said that new polices in the family class immigration will be helpful not only in attracting and retaining skilled immigrants but will also ensure the settlement of family members with self-sufficiency.

The Minister said, “We are making changes to give priority to migrants who can make a real contribution to New Zealand. Overall we expect these changes will eventually save the taxpayer around $40 million a year.”

He further added, “There will be a new two-tier process for the parents of New Zealand citizens and residents who want to migrate here. Applications from parents who have higher income sponsors, or who bring a guaranteed income or funds, will be processed faster than other applications.”

The period during which the sponsoring children will be responsible to support their parents will be now 10 years instead of existing 5 years. Furthermore, the new changes will be ensure that the parents can communicate in English to better integrate into the New Zeanland society. The parents will be required to pre-purchase tuition for English language if there language skills are poor.

The new changes in the New Zealand family class immigration are expected to reduce the wait time on the applications to sponsor parents.

The significant other change introduced in the immigration policy is the closure of the Sibling and Adult Child Category for new migrants with effect from May 15, 2012. The decision to close the Sibling and Adult Child Category is based on the results of a research that indicated that about 66 per cent of the people who obtain their residence through this category have job after 18 months. Job offer is the eligibility requirement for the applicants. It will reduce the number of migrants without a job and surviving on benefits.

Tags: Family Sponsorship, Immigration, New Zealand, New Zealand Immigration, parent sponsorship, Sibling and Adult Child Class, Sponsor Parents, Sponsor parents to New Zealand