12 July 2021
Jill Liu
By email: [FYI request #15706 email]
File No: DOIA 2021-2500
Dear Jill Liu
Thank you for your email of 8 June 2021, requesting the following information under the Official
Information Act 1982 (the OIA):
I would like to request data on a daily basis on the no. of onshore resident visa applications
lodged up to Jan 2020 that are yet to be allocated to case officers, categorised as to priority
and non-priority queue.
I would also like to request data on the no. of applications that were allocated weekly to case
officers from May 2021 to the date you respond to this request showing the lodgement date
of each application, categorised as to priority and non-priority queue.
Thank you for clarifying your request on 14 June 2021 as follows:
1. I would like to the number of onshore skil ed residence visa applications accepted by
Immigration New Zealand on or before 31 January 2020 that are yet to be allocated to case
officers, broken down by date the applications were accepted and broken down by queue
type (e.g. priority/non priority).
2. I would also like to request the number of skil ed residence applications that were
allocated each week to case officers from 1 May 2021 to the date you respond to this
request, broken down by priority status (priority/non-priority); and the accepted date of the
oldest application left in the queue each week.
Our response
1. I would like to the number of onshore skil ed residence visa applications accepted by Immigration
New Zealand on or before 31 January 2020 that are yet to be allocated to case officers, broken down
by date the applications were accepted and broken down by queue type (e.g. priority/non priority).
Please refer to Table One attached, for the number of unallocated onshore skilled residence (Skilled
Migrant Category and Residence from Work) visa applications accepted before 31 January 2020
(inclusive), broken down by accepted date and priority queue
We have withheld application counts of five or fewer under section 9(2)(a) of the OIA in order to
protect the privacy of natural persons.
Skil ed residence queue data is not static due to the complex nature of visa processing operations.
Applications move between queues and this needs to be taken into account when comparing data
over time. The data changes over time for reasons such as but not limited to:
• Applicants arriving into New Zealand on critical purpose visas result in their applications
moving from the offshore queue to one of the onshore queues;
• A change in an applicant’s circumstances resulting in their application meeting the priority
criteria and being moved to the priority queue;
• Applications being escalated via the Employment Visa Escalation (EVE) process -
https://www.immigration.govt.nz/about-us/media-centre/newsletters/korero/korero-july-
2019/employment-visa-escalations-eve;
• The lodgement of an application may take several days or weeks, depending on the
completeness of the application. Applications are back-dated once lodgement requirements
are completed which can cause fluctuations in the number of applications accepted in a
particular month.
Most data used in OIA responses is pulled directly from the Immigration New Zealand (INZ) Application
Management System (AMS), and reflects the date that the data entry relating to the application was
completed in AMS. On occasion an application is received by INZ on one date, but the data entry is
not completed until a later date. In the interest of fairness, when allocating applications the Manukau
office use the date that all information required for the acceptance of the application was actually
received by INZ rather than the date the data entry was completed – which reflects when a client will
perceive their application to have been submitted. This means that there may be differences noted in
the allocation data, which is sourced directly from the Manukau office, when compared with other
statistics about skilled residence, including number and dates of applications in the queues.
2. I would also like to request the number of skil ed residence applications that were allocated each
week to case officers from 1 May 2021 to the date you respond to this request, broken down by priority
status (priority/non-priority); and the accepted date of the oldest application left in the queue each
week.
Please refer to Table Two attached for allocation information relating to skilled residence (Skilled
Migrant Category and Residence from Work) applications and Table Three attached for the accepted
dates of the last applications allocated from the non-priority skil ed residence queue, broken down by
week.
Allocations of skilled residence applications to immigration officers occur weekly and the number of
applications that are allocated is dependent upon processing capacity. INZ’s role as a regulator is to
process and approve applications in line with immigration instructions and the New Zealand Residency
Programme (NZRP) planning range set by the Government of the day. The Government is currently
reviewing its approach to the NZRP. In the meantime, INZ will continue to process applications at the
same volume and with the same level of resourcing as the previous NZRP allowed for. This has an
impact on the number of applications that can be allocated and the timeliness of application
processing.
Any updates in regards to the allocation of applications can be found via the following link:
https://www.immigration.govt.nz/new-zealand-visas/waiting-for-a-visa/how-long-it-takes-to-
process-your-visa-application/smc-and-rfw-timeframe-information
You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of this decision. Information
about how to make a complaint is available at
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or freephone 0800
802 602.
If you wish to discuss any aspect of your request or this response, please contact Anna McLachlan,
Business Advisor, Operations Support, Immigration New Zealand
at [email address].
Yours sincerely
Nicola Hogg
General Manager, Border and Visa Operations
Immigration New Zealand
Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment
T able One: The number of unallocated onshore skilled residence (Skilled Migrant Category and
Residence from Work) visa applications accepted before 31 January 2020 (inclusive), broken down
by accepted date and priority queue.
Accepted Date
Onshore general (non-priority) applications Priority applications
5 October 2019
<=5
0
7 October 2019
<=5
0
9 October 2019
<=5
0
10 October 2019
<=5
0
11 October 2019
<=5
0
15 October 2019
<=5
0
16 October 2019
<=5
0
17 October 2019
<=5
0
19 October 2019
6
0
22 October 2019
<=5
0
24 October 2019
7
0
25 October 2019
<=5
0
29 October 2019
17
0
30 October 2019
42
0
31 October 2019
33
0
1 November 2019
23
0
4 November 2019
36
0
5 November 2019
28
0
6 November 2019
29
0
7 November 2019
34
0
8 November 2019
40
0
11 November 2019
38
0
12 November 2019
45
0
13 November 2019
32
0
14 November 2019
39
0
15 November 2019
37
0
18 November 2019
41
0
19 November 2019
33
0
20 November 2019
39
0
21 November 2019
36
0
22 November 2019
29
0
25 November 2019
26
0
26 November 2019
21
0
27 November 2019
38
0
28 November 2019
51
0
29 November 2019
22
0
2 December 2019
41
<=5
3 December 2019
57
0
4 December 2019
27
<=5
5 December 2019
49
0
6 December 2019
42
0
7 December 2019
45
0
9 December 2019
45
0
10 December 2019
41
0
11 December 2019
26
<=5
12 December 2019
36
0
13 December 2019
44
0
14 December 2019
43
0
16 December 2019
35
<=5
17 December 2019
36
0
18 December 2019
31
0
19 December 2019
37
0
20 December 2019
38
0
23 December 2019
31
0
24 December 2019
24
0
27 December 2019
<=5
0
30 December 2019
9
0
31 December 2019
<=5
0
3 January 2020
9
0
6 January 2020
33
<=5
7 January 2020
27
0
8 January 2020
32
0
9 January 2020
19
0
10 January 2020
29
0
11 January 2020
63
0
13 January 2020
30
0
14 January 2020
25
0
15 January 2020
26
0
16 January 2020
18
0
17 January 2020
23
0
18 January 2020
40
0
20 January 2020
13
0
21 January 2020
23
0
22 January 2020
23
0
23 January 2020
31
0
24 January 2020
25
0
28 January 2020
24
0
29 January 2020
23
0
30 January 2020
14
0
31 January 2020
20
0
You will note there are some priority applications accepted several months ago. This is because as
applicants’ circumstances change, some non-priority applications may meet the prioritisation criteria
(current occupational registration where registration is required by immigration instructions or an
hourly rate at or above twice the median wage). Such applications are moved to the priority queue
and allocated within two weeks.
link to page 6
Table Two: Allocation information relating to skilled residence (Skilled Migrant Category and
Residence from Work) applications
Number of priority skil ed
Number of general (non-
Week commencing
residence applications al ocated
(including via the employment
priority) skil ed residence
visa escalation (EVE) process1)
applications al ocated
3 May 2021
41
46
10 May 2021
69
83
17 May 2021
68
101
24 May 2021
57
197
31 May 2021
43
150
7 June 2021
76
170
14 June 2021
55
150
21 June 2021
64
271
28 June 2021
55
131
5 July 2021
45
47
Table Three: Accepted dates of the last applications allocated from the non-priority skilled residence
queue, broken down by week.
Week commencing
Date of last application al ocated from the general (non-
priority) queue
3 May 2021
Not recorded
10 May 2021
22 August 2019
17 May 2021
Not recorded
24 May 2021
30 August 2019
31 May 2021
Not recorded
7 June 2021
17 September 2019
14 June 2021
Not recorded
21 June 2021
17 October 2019
28 June 2021
Not recorded
5 July 2021
Not recorded
You will note that the information is not available for every week. This is because the data is recorded
manually. If the information is not captured at the time the allocations were being made, there is no
way for INZ to capture it retrospectively.
1
Employment Visa Escalation is a process to respond to escalation requests for urgent allocation for
employment related visas (and associated family members) for both Temporary Work Visas and Skil ed
Resident Visas. For more information see the INZ website here:
https://www.immigration.govt.nz/about-
us/media-centre/newsletters/korero/korero-july-2019/employment-visa-escalations-eve
