Extend Visitor Visa as no commercial flight to go back home

[wepower]

Hi team

My parents in law have already been here for 9 months on general visitor visa; sponsored by my wife.

They are due to leave NZ next month but Air NZ cancelled their flights and unsure when the next available commercial flights will be.

Has anyone recently applied for the extensions, and how long?

on INZ website it says "To apply for another 3 months’ stay, you must have financially supported yourself and not worked, studied or been sponsored during your stay". My parents wont be qualified for this as they required to be sponsored.

You can apply for another 3 months’ stay and extend your stay to 12 months in a 24-month period, if:

you need more time to complete your tourist itinerary
you can’t leave New Zealand for reasons beyond your control
you’ve applied for residence for the first time.

[JandM]

It looks as though they will come under "you can’t leave New Zealand for reasons beyond your control", if they can prove that. Okay, their flights were cancelled, and/but they will probably also need something from AirNZ to say that future flights are not yet decided. Were their return fares refunded? If so, they should probably also prove that they've tried unsuccessfully to book a flight from a different airline, if there is one that flies to their homeland.