Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway wanted to extend permanent residency to a greater number of Muslim family members after the mosque shootings, but could not get the plan through Cabinet.
The details are revealed in papers that went to cabinet before the decision in April to create the Christchurch Response visa.
This allows family of people who were in the mosques, the injured and the bereaved who were living in New Zealand on March 15 to apply for permanent residency.
It is available to a person's partner, dependent children or their parent but the papers show Mr Lees-Galloway pushed for it to also include siblings and non-dependent children.
He told Conan Young the people eligible for the visa was ultimately a decision for Cabinet to make - but wouldn't say who objected to his idea.
