On July 24, immigration authorities in New Zealand drew ballots for the Pacific Access Category (PAC) and Samoan Quota (SQ) to choose individuals who will be invited to apply for residence in the country.
1,650 Samoan, 250 Tongan, 250 Fijian, 75 Kiribati, and 75 Tuvaluan nationals will be granted residence under each category, VisaGuide.World reports.
The PAC and SQ residence pathways recognize the special relationship between New Zealand and Samoa and the Pacific Access Category countries of Tonga, Tuvalu, Kiribati, and Fiji.
Successful Results to Be Published in First Week of August
As further noted in a recent press release, authorities will draw enough registrations to fulfill the quota. Meanwhile, registrations can contain more than one individual, for instance, if a family applies under the same registration.
The list of successful candidates will be published during the first week of August, and then candidates will be personally contacted by New Zealand Immigration authorities.
If your ballot is selected, we will send you a letter with an invitation to apply after the reference numbers are published. This letter will include information about how to apply for your residence visa.
After receiving the invitation, applicants must apply for New Zealand residency within eight months.
Beneficiaries of these visas are entitled to live, work, and study in New Zealand. According to data published on the New Zealand Immigration website, an SQ Resident visa application costs starting from NZD $905 (US$533), while a PAC visa application starts at NZD $1,385 (US$816).
New Income Threshold Introduced to Ensure Adequate Support
Furthermore, New Zealand authorities have announced a new income threshold for people applying for residence under PAC and SQ with dependent children, which will be NZD$53,515.28 (US$31,562).
Through this requirement, authorities aim to ensure parents can provide sufficient support to their children in New Zealand.
This will apply to those who are invited to apply for residence following this ballot draw. The purpose of this requirement is to ensure that parents can adequately support children in New Zealand. The income of a secondary applicant partner may also be considered as long as both applicants have an acceptable offer of employment in New Zealand.
The new minimum income requirement is set to enter into force starting from August 1, 2024.