Ref: 1920-1420

 

Dear Erin,

 

On behalf of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment I
acknowledge your email of 17 March 2020 requesting under the Official
Information Act 1982 (the Act), the following:

 

“1. What is the lodgement time for the oldest SMC application in the
backlog which is still waiting for allocation to a case officer?

 

2. Does INZ start to allocate applications from the general queue (that do
not meet the priority criteria) after 24th Feb 2020? If so, what is the
proportion for the NON-priority SMC applications of the total applications
which was allocated to a case officer during this month?

 

3. Will any priority applications submitted after 24 Feb 2020 will be
processed before all the other non priority applications? Is there any
plan for split case officers for two queues? For example let's say 75% of
COs will processing for priority applications and the other 25% will
process non-priority applications. If not how will non-priority
applications be processed as there will always have new priority
applications?”

 

Your request is being processed in accordance with the Act and a response
will be sent to you in due course. If you have any enquiries regarding
your request feel free to contact us via email [1][MBIE request email] or
using the contact details below.

 

 

Nâku noa, nâ,

 

 

MINISTERIAL SERVICES

 

Corporate, Governance and Information

Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment

Level 4, 15 Stout Street, PO Box 1473, Wellington 6140

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Good afternoon,

 

As you will be aware, the Prime Minister has announced a COVID-19 alert
system for New Zealand.

 

As a result of this, the response to your Official Information Act request
will be delayed. We will endeavour to provide a response to you as soon as
possible once the situation has stabilised.

In the meantime, we apologise for any inconvenience and appreciate your
understanding.

 

If you no longer require this information, please let us know via this
email address.

 

Kind regards,

Ministerial Services

Engagement, Communications and Ministerial Services

Email: [1][MBIE request email]

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Dear Erin,

 

Please find attached the response to your request under the Official
Information Act 1982.

 

Nga mihi

 

Charmaine Ho

BUSINESS ADVISOR

Operations Support | Border and Visa Operations
Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment
[1][email address]

15 Stout Street, Wellington 6011

NZBN 9429000106078

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Greetings Erin

Your email has been sent to me for a response.

There are no set numbers of how many applications that is to be pulled from the general queue for allocation as this depends on the priority applications lodged at the time of allocation or the relative capacity of staff to take new applications. Therefore I am unable give you any specific timeframe on when your application is likely to be allocated as this is not within scope of an OIA.

You can view updated information on SMC and Residence from work processing times here: https://www.immigration.govt.nz/about-us... .

Kind Regards

Ileini Taloa
Business Advisor

Border and Visa Operations Branch, Immigration New Zealand
Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment
[email address]
Level 1, 15 Sout Street, PO Box 1473, Wellington 6011

-----Original Message-----
From: Erin Zheng <[FOI #12465 email]>
Sent: Monday, 25 May 2020 2:27 PM
To: Charmaine HO <[email address]>
Subject: Re: Response to your OIA request - DOIA 1920 - 1420 [IN-CONFIDENCE:RELEASE EXTERNAL]

Dear Charmaine HO,

Hope this email finds you well.

First of all I would like to say thank you for your time to answer my questions. I am satisfied with the top two questions. But I don't think the response answered my third question.

My third question is regarding to the new prioritisation criteria for SMC and RFW visa applications:

Will any priority applications submitted after 24 Feb 2020 will be processed before all the other non priority applications? If answer is YES, then how will non-priority applications be processed as there will always have new priority applications?

The reason I am asking is according to the answer for the second question, there are only 9 applications have been allocated from general queue for the period of 25 Feb 2020 to 4 March 2020 (7 working days for this period). If the general queue keeps moving at this speed, (to make it easy let's say the speed is allocating 10 applications per week from the general queue and there are 500 applications from the general queue which are lodged before 31 Jan 2019, even though the real number will be much higher than it), It will take 50 weeks to allocating all these applications lodged by the end of Jan 2019. This is just one month. Considering my lodgement date is 30 April 2019 which means I need to wait for about FOUR YEARS until my case can be reviewed by a case officer.

But from INZ's website they said they are able to resume allocation applications from the general queue from 26 Feb 2020, can you kindly advise how I can trust that my visa application can be reviewed within a reasonable time frame (Four years is too long for a visa application and I am already waiting for more than one year)?

Thank you again for your time and I am look forwarding to hearing from you soon.

Yours sincerely,

Erin Zheng

-----Original Message-----

Dear Erin,

 

Please find attached the response to your request under the Official Information Act 1982.

 

Nga mihi

 

Charmaine Ho

BUSINESS ADVISOR

Operations Support | Border and Visa Operations Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment [1][email address]

15 Stout Street, Wellington 6011

NZBN 9429000106078

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