INZ Response signed DOIA 2021 1858 A Singh.pdf

03 May 2021
A Singh
[FYI request #14973 email]
Ref: DOIA 2021-1858
Dear A Singh,
Thank you for your email of 21 March 2021 requesting under the Official Information Act 1982 (the OIA),
the following information:
“1.Number of Skilled Migrant Category Resident Visa applications approved in last 5 years.
Please provide the monthly break up starting from March 2021 and going backwards for
60 months.
2. Government spending on direct and in-direct advertising to attract Skilled Migrants in last 5
years. (Year wise break up)
3. Number of Resident Visa applications approved (all streams including SMC and RFW) in last
5 years. Please provide the monthly break up starting from March 2021 and going backwards
for 60 months
4. Number of ITAs (Invitation to Apply) issued in last 5 years. Please provide the monthly break
up starting from March 2021 and going backwards for 60 months.
5. Residence visa targets as per NZRP vs Residence visa granted in last 5 years. Please provide
what was the target for that year and what was the achievement against that target.
6. Skilled Migrant Category Resident Visa processing time information as per INZ website in
last 5 years, which should include –
a)Skilled Migrant Category Resident Visa processing time on INZ website as on 31st March
2016 b)Next date of processing time update on INZ website and what was the new updated
processing time.
c) And so on until the most recent update.”
Our Response
Immigration New Zealand (INZ) has one queue for skilled residence applications. The applications in this
queue include Skilled Migrant Category (SMC) and Resident from Work (RFW), and are not split into two
separate queues based on the application category.
Please see Appendix One attached which provides the following:
 Table One: The total number of SMC applications approved from 01 March 2016 to 5 April 2021
(inclusive), broken down by month the application was decided.
1

  Table Two: The amount of spending on direct and indirect advertising to attract Skilled Migrants
over the last 5 years (2016 - 2020).

  Table Three: The number of residence visa applications approved from 01 March 2016 to 05 April
2021 (inclusive), broken down by application stream and month decided.

  Table Four: The total number of Invitations to apply (ITA) issued between 01 March 2016 and 5
April 2021 (inclusive), broken down by the month issued.

  Table  Five:  The  total  number  of  residence  visa  applications  granted  against  the  New  Zealand
Residence Programme (NZRP) planning range within the planning periods 01 July 2016 to 30 June
2018 (inclusive) and 01 July 2018 to 31 December 2019 (inclusive).

  Table Six: The average calendar days taken to process SMC applications completed from 01 April
2016 to 31 March 2021 (inclusive). This has been broken down by percentiles within 3 monthly
intervals.

If you wish to discuss any aspect of your request or this response, please contact Lautalie Leausa Vaa, Senior
Business Advisor, Operations Support, Immigration New Zealand at [email address].

Yours sincerely,

Nicola Hogg
General Manager - Border and Visa Operations
Immigration New Zealand

2

Appendix One:

Table One: Total number of SMC applications approved from 01 March 2016 to 5 April 2021 (inclusive),
broken down by month the application was decided.

Number of SMC
Month
applications
Decided
approved
Mar-16
1,175
Apr-16
1,146
May-16
1,333
Jun-16
1,233
Jul-16
813
Aug-16
973
Sep-16
1,027
Oct-16
851
Nov-16
1,097
Dec-16
815
Jan-17
862
Feb-17
1,214
Mar-17
1,305
Apr-17
868
May-17
1,048
Jun-17
1,151
Jul-17
263
Aug-17
566
Sep-17
593
Oct-17
710
Nov-17
875
Dec-17
757
Jan-18
806
Feb-18
869
Mar-18
929
Apr-18
763
May-18
699
Jun-18
585
Jul-18
336
Aug-18
398
Sep-18
355
Oct-18
503
Nov-18
650
Dec-18
479
Jan-19
402
Feb-19
588
Mar-19
639
Apr-19
560
May-19
698
Jun-19
443
Jul-19
638
3

Aug-19
465
Sep-19
357
Oct-19
660
Nov-19
307
Dec-19
257
Jan-20
327
Feb-20
255
Mar-20
345
May-20
360
Jun-20
601
Jul-20
525
Aug-20
497
Sep-20
549
Oct-20
507
Nov-20
860
Dec-20
537
Jan-21
502
Feb-21
352
Mar-21
320
Apr-21
8
Total
40,606

Table Two: The amount of spending on direct and indirect advertising to attract Skilled Migrants over the
last 5 years (2016 - 2020).

Year
Amount ($NZD)
2016
$310,977.15
2017
$368,497.75
2018
$453,352.32
2019
$614,501.58
2020
$159,352.36

Table Three: The number of residence visa applications approved from 01 March 2016 to 05 April 2021
(inclusive), broken down by month decided and application stream.

Residence Application Streams
Month
Parent
Uncapped
Total
Decided
Business /
International /
Sibling
Family
Skilled
Humanitarian
Adult Child
Sponsored
Stream
Stream
Mar-16
1,304
168
308
884
2,664
Apr-16
1,258
109
278
859
2,504
May-16
1,530
163
296
953
2,942
Jun-16
1,365
136
222
697
2,420
Jul-16
957
104
455
770
2,286
Aug-16
1,110
90
256
931
2,387
4

Sep-16
1,195
111
191
926
2,423
Oct-16
1,017
119
57
964
2,157
Nov-16
1,263
125
39
1,020
2,447
Dec-16
911
106
44
867
1,928
Jan-17
1,025
127
23
966
2,141
Feb-17
1,387
151
38
1,208
2,784
Mar-17
1,471
208
40
1,240
2,959
Apr-17
1,001
124
29
856
2,010
May-17
1,184
172
8
1,119
2,483
Jun-17
1,326
123
6
797
2,252
Jul-17
358
132
16
809
1,315
Aug-17
650
114
18
735
1,517
Sep-17
717
136
20
708
1,581
Oct-17
832
160
49
774
1,815
Nov-17
1,036
133
77
789
2,035
Dec-17
841
86
53
622
1,602
Jan-18
923
132
48
819
1,922
Feb-18
1,018
157
95
930
2,200
Mar-18
1,072
162
99
1,154
2,487
Apr-18
904
187
182
970
2,243
May-18
859
134
188
1,154
2,335
Jun-18
742
103
133
953
1,931
Jul-18
463
147
49
1,128
1,787
Aug-18
556
128
58
1,266
2,008
Sep-18
490
140
27
975
1,632
Oct-18
716
161
32
1,112
2,021
Nov-18
853
166
21
1,232
2,272
Dec-18
618
149
21
676
1,464
Jan-19
555
167
12
662
1,396
Feb-19
785
148
10
618
1,561
Mar-19
875
158
10
668
1,711
Apr-19
731
80
9
650
1,470
May-19
922
160
4
773
1,859
Jun-19
659
149
.
630
1,438
Jul-19
882
105
1
762
1,750
Aug-19
728
115
3
939
1,785
Sep-19
629
120
2
867
1,618
Oct-19
1,029
141
2
968
2,140
Nov-19
520
143
1
1,088
1,752
Dec-19
460
88
1
814
1,363
Jan-20
716
138
2
798
1,654
Feb-20
541
184
2
855
1,582
Mar-20
544
100
1
626
1,271
Apr-20
0
32
0
0
32
May-20
497
58
0
296
851
Jun-20
838
75
0
812
1,725
Jul-20
695
96
0
1,037
1,828
Aug-20
724
72
0
1,021
1,817
5

Sep-20
757
123
1
1,213
2,094
Oct-20
706
77
0
1,549
2,332
Nov-20
1,137
80
0
1,560
2,777
Dec-20
788
88
1
1,157
2,034
Jan-21
720
44
0
1,406
2,170
Feb-21
493
59
0
1,322
1,874
Mar-21
509
92
0
1,621
2,222
Apr-21
15
3
0
54
72
Total
51,407
7,558
3,538
56,629
119,132

Table Four: The total number of Invitations to apply (ITA) issued between 01 March 2016 and 5 April 2021
(inclusive), broken down by the month issued.

Month Issued
Total
Mar-16
1,600
Apr-16
1,910
May-16
1,655
Jun-16
1,409
Jul-16
1,894
Aug-16
1,584
Sep-16
1,718
Oct-16
1,379
Nov-16
912
Dec-16
562
Jan-17
551
Feb-17
571
Mar-17
726
Apr-17
742
May-17
797
Jun-17
1,139
Jul-17
2,027
Aug-17
426
Sep-17
496
Oct-17
961
Nov-17
801
Dec-17
545
Jan-18
881
Feb-18
493
Mar-18
753
Apr-18
640
May-18
860
Jun-18
744
Jul-18
309
Aug-18
1,090
Sep-18
1,754
Oct-18
996
Nov-18
1,018
6

Dec-18
679
Jan-19
704
Feb-19
1,366
Mar-19
1,183
Apr-19
1,092
May-19
1,523
Jun-19
1,155
Jul-19
1,159
Aug-19
1,115
Sep-19
1,189
Oct-19
1,407
Nov-19
1,941
Dec-19
926
Jan-20
1,097
Feb-20
1,705
Mar-20
1,247
Apr-20
5
Total
53,436

Table Five: The total number of residence visa applications granted against  the New Zealand Residence
Programme (NZRP) planning range within the planning periods 01 July 2016 to 30 June 2018 (inclusive) and
01 July 2018 to 31 December 2019 (inclusive).

Note that the increased resident visa processing times are a consequence of increasing volumes of resident
visa applications. INZ’s capacity to assess those applications is determined by the planning range set by
Government under the previous NZRP.

The last NZRP ran from 1 July 2018 until 31 December 2019 and included a planning range of 50,000 to
60,000 residence approvals. A total of 52,048 people were approved residence during the 18 months. The
Government is currently reviewing its approach to the NZRP and is considering replacing the planning range
with a more targeted approach that focuses on management of specific residence visa types.

Planning
Total
Planning Period
Range
Granted
1 Jul 2016 to 30 Jun 2018
85-95,000
85,719
1 Jul 2018 to 31 Dec 2019
50-60,000
52,167

Table Six: The average calendar days taken to process SMC applications. This has been broken down by
percentiles within 3 monthly  intervals for applications completed from  01 April 2016 to 31 March 2021
(inclusive).

Note that INZ measure average processing times in calendar days from the time an application is accepted
for processing, to when the application has been finalised and completed in the Immigration Application
Management System.

7

The time taken to assess an application can vary considerably and is impacted by a number of factors. This
can depend on the quality of the supporting documents and whether we require further information or
verification of the information provided. Residence applications naturally take longer to process as there is
more at stake and there is greater scrutiny of each application, which means there is a flow-on effect and
the allocation of new applications to an immigration officer can take longer.

50%
75%
90%
completed
completed
completed
Date Intervals
within:
within:
within:
(days)
(days)
(days)
1 Apr 2016 - 30 Jun 2016
127
180
266
1 Jul 2016 - 30 Sep 2016
120
177
286
1 Oct 2016 - 31 Dec 2016
149
196
305
1 Jan 2017 - 31 Mar 2017
173
215
286
1 Apr 2017 - 30 Jun 2017
191
246
308
1 Jul 2017 - 30 Sep 2017
203
295
375
1 Oct 2017 - 31 Dec 2017
136
265
406
1 Jan 2018 - 31 Mar 2018
142
212
318
1 Apr 2018 - 30 Jun 2018
143
208
300
1 Jul 2018 - 30 Sep 2018
110
179
283
1 Oct 2018 - 31 Dec 2018
131
191
256
1 Jan 2019 - 31 Mar 2019
158
219
299
1 Apr 2019 - 30 Jun 2019
175
226
296
1 Jul 2019 - 30 Sep 2019
148
270
377
1 Oct 2019 - 31 Dec 2019
154
326
427
1 Jan 2020 - 31 Mar 2020
194
409
519
1 Apr 2020 - 30 Jun 2020
189
248
462
1 Jul 2020 - 30 Sep 2020
237
536
617
1 Oct 2020 - 31 Dec 2020
595
631
688
1 Jan 2021 - 31 Mar 2021
624
666
726

8