Indian families in New Zealand who are hoping to bring their parents over have a new system to get used to. Since 5 October 2026, Immigration New Zealand (INZ) has been choosing Parent Resident Visa expressions of interest mostly in the order they were sent, with a small share left to a ballot. The first selection under the new model is on Tuesday 10 November.
The cap does not move. INZ says the annual limit stays at 2,500 visa approvals in principle, and the visa criteria and the application itself are unchanged. What changes is how people are picked from the pool, and how long an expression of interest, or EOI, stays valid. The changes were first announced on 8 August.
How the new model works
Every valid EOI has been moved into a single parent category pool. At each selection, about 90 per cent of EOIs will be chosen from a queue in date order, earliest first, and about 10 per cent through a random ballot. INZ says it selects from the queue first and then runs the ballot, and it expects to hold selections four times a year.
INZ describes the aim as a fairer and more predictable process for families, while still giving newer applicants a chance. For families who have waited several years, a queue based on dates is easier to plan around than a pure draw.
If you already had a valid EOI on 5 October, you do not need to do anything. INZ says it will email EOI holders about their queue position in the weeks after 5 October, once final ordering and transitional arrangements are complete. It has asked people not to contact it for their position before then, and suggests checking junk and spam folders for its emails.
Older EOIs and the 90-day rule
A transitional provision could help families who have been in the system for a long time. If an earlier EOI expired and a new one was sent within 90 days of that expiry, the queue position can be based on the date of the expired EOI. INZ's own example is someone who first applied in November 2022, let that EOI lapse and filed again within 90 days. Their place in the queue is set by the November 2022 date.
If the gap was more than 90 days, or if the current EOI is the first one, the queue position is simply the date the current EOI was submitted. People whose EOI expired on or before 4 October and who sent a new one are told to wait to hear from INZ.
EOIs no longer lapse after two years, if you confirm
Under the new rules, EOIs in the pool do not expire automatically after two years. Instead, the holder must fill in a Confirmation of EOI form within six months of each two-year anniversary of submitting it. INZ's worked example is an EOI sent on 1 May 2026. Its anniversary is 1 May 2028, so the form must be in before midnight on 31 October 2028. Miss that, and the EOI is removed from the pool.
The rest of the visa stays as it was. The parent needs at least one adult child aged 18 or over who is a New Zealand citizen or resident and earns enough to sponsor them, and the parent must be invited before applying. Grandparents and legal guardians can be considered in some cases, but people with dependent children cannot apply. After ten years on the visa, holders can apply for a Permanent Resident Visa.
What Indian families can do now
The most useful step is a dull one: make sure the email address on the EOI is current, because INZ says it cannot resend an invitation once it has expired. It also helps to find the dates of any earlier EOIs that lapsed, in case the 90-day rule applies, and to note the confirmation deadline once the anniversary date is known.
The change arrives as India and New Zealand prepare to start their free trade agreement on 20 October, with new work and working holiday visa quotas for Indians. Families planning a move for both parents and children may also want to read about Australia's tighter student visa rules from 2 October.
