Immigration New Zealand has announced that the Parent Category Residence Visa will reopen in February 2020 with new criteria, including increased income thresholds that sponsors will need to meet for two out of the three years prior to their parents’ visa applications being made. Applicants for Parent Category Residence Visas will no longer be able to apply based on settlement funds or a guaranteed lifetime income. The number of visas issued under this category annually will be limited to 1,000.

A new version (version 1.3) of the Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO) register was released on 5 November 2019.  However, Immigration New Zealand will continue to use the previous version (1.2) for the assessment of most occupations until mid-2020, with some limited exceptions.