Photo: RNZ
- INZ apologises for error in matching expression of interest numbers in ballot draw
- Families say the lottery should be replaced by a queue
- Minister says new five-year visa for parents of migrants will be available by the end of the year
Families waiting for news on parent residence visas were given false hope when a website glitch seemed to show them having a place in an immigration ballot system.
Migrants want to see the end of the lottery system, which they say is unfair, inhumane and unstructured - and a queue introduced instead.
The ballot draws expressions of interest every three months, and holders of the lucky numbers get the right to apply for residence.
"Following all of the expat groups on Facebook, some people submit an expression of interest one month and then the next month they get drawn, and then there's people who are sitting in their second round of expression of interest submissions [after two years]," said Alison Renwick, who moved from South Africa nine years ago.
"And there's just no sign of an end, so it's really quite emotional, especially with elderly parents - time just ticks as we get older and there's less and less opportunity that they'll be able to qualify for their health requirements to get over here in time. So it really is just a waiting game. It feels hopeless at times."
The Immigration NZ (INZ) website has a tool where expression of interest (EOI) numbers can be checked by families to see if they will be granted an invitation to apply.
"For the May draw, we entered our expression of interest number and a message popped up to say success confirmation and that she should expect an email from INZ with the invitation to apply details. So it was really exciting at first when I saw the message."
She messaged her mother, Pamela Davisworth, who visits Auckland frequently to see family including her 15-year-old granddaughter.
But the excitement turned to anxiety - no email arrived and three calls to INZ shed no light on what had happened.
Eventually they looked closely at the number and saw the winning eight-digit ticket was one number away from theirs.
"And then I saw on the Facebook page somebody had mentioned that there was something wrong with the tool checker and that it was just bringing up lookalike or similar numbers instead of exact matches, and there was quite a few people that had received that success confirmation message who hadn't actually had their number drawn.
"It was terrible because then I've got to call Mum and tell her it was a mistake on the INZ website and there's nothing that we need to prepare and it's just back to the waiting game. And it makes it even worse knowing that there's only one more draw that she'll be able to qualify for before we have to pay INZ again for another expression of interest."
Migrants have to pay to be part of the ballot, renewing their spot if they are not drawn after two years. Many have just reached that point, as the policy started in 2023.
It was poorly handled with no accountability or recognition of the pain it caused families, she said.
Chau (Sandy) Nguyen-Pendreigh has been in New Zealand for 17 years and her brother for 11 years, while their parents still live in Vietnam.
"My parents are in early 50s and there is a lot more time that we could spend with them, but at the same time it is disappearing quickly. My husband and I are more than qualified to meet the criteria. I believe based on that criteria we should be able to apply, not be in the lottery hoping for the chance.
"Our son is missing out on opportunity to learn more about his heritage and culture, through his grandparents."
Chau Nguyen-Pendreigh (Sandy) her family and parents. Photo: Supplied
Migrants say many of the large number of people who received residence through the 2021 Resident Visa will now be joining the ballot and make getting one of the annual 2500 places even less likely.
Risk manager Sophie Liu is launching a new petition for policy change to the ballot and is also looking ahead for news on the promised five-year parent visa.
"My mother, she is alone, living in China by herself. My parents got divorced when I was eight, so she doesn't have anyone else to support her - only me, who is far away. I've been waiting many years wanting to bring her here to live with me.
"Every time every three months, when the draw's about to happen I will pray. Couple of weeks early even, and a couple of weeks afterwards because you won't get immigration notification email or anything to tell you if you are successful or not every time. So I keep telling my Mum also to pray and to hope. Then it goes on again another three months repeatedly, I get disappointed every time. I realised that it has been impacting on my mental health chronically."
With 10,500 people each paying $450 to be in the ballot, she queried whether the ballot could genuinely cost the $4.7 million they would collectively have paid.
"Within the last two years we've had nine draws in total, it still hasn't been selected, it's going to expire next month. So my question would be, is that a reasonable cost for Immigration New Zealand to run a lottery system? It's no guarantee - our parents may never get selected until they die."
While she could afford the fee, and the $5000+ residence application charge if she is successful in the ballot, it was unclear why a ballot had been preferred over a queue, or why people had to pay again to retain their place in the ballot.
"Who made this stupid, unfair decision? The policy need to be changed. Personally, I contribute a lot to the society by paying high tax amount. I have a decent job. They made the decision on the policy without consultation. We are not numbers, we are human beings with genuine needs of reunion."
Policy change and website error
Policy work on a five-year, renewable parent visa started at the beginning of this year, said immigration minister Erica Stanford. "It's a brand new visa, so there's a lot of detailed policy work that has to be done. There will be consultation and and other processes that have to be taken, but we will have this visa up and running this year, towards the end of the year, we'll be able to have it up and running and available."
The government was looking at a range of health insurance options to make it as accessible as possible, she added.
Immigration New Zealand said it regretted the distress caused to families affected by the website error, and had apologised directly to Renwick.
"The first stage of Immigration New Zealand's new website went live on 15 May 2025 which included the new Parent Resident Visa expressions of interest tool which tells people if their visa application was successful in the ballot.
"The tool was incorrectly set to show partial matches on the number instead of exact matches as it should have. This meant the tool may have shown results that were not an exact match to some customers' ballot number and, unless they manually checked the ballot number matched the number on their expression of interest, they may have mistakenly thought that their application had been selected."
It said it was alerted to the issue by a customer four days later and corrected the setting immediately.
"We apologise for this error and any confusion. We are committed to being a customer-centric organisation that is simple to engage with, helps to keep our customers safe and provides certainty for them. Anyone who has been successful in the May ballot draw has now received direct communication from Immigration New Zealand.
"Our customer service centre staff have been provided with further advice so they can help people who call with questions about this issue. We will also share information on our website to clarify the situation with customers."
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