6 July 2021
Ranvir
By email: [FYI request #15733 email]
File No: DOIA 2021-2519
Dear Ranvir
Thank you for your email of 10 June 2021, requesting the fol owing information under the Official
Information Act 1982 (the OIA):
1. Total number of skil migrant residency pending applications til 12 Dec. 2019 from the
date you replied and latest application date accepted from queue for CO.
2. Last 5 years how many applicants get residency from ANZSCO 399211 CHEMICAL PLANT
OPERATOR title.
Our response
1. Total number of skil migrant residency pending applications til 12 Dec. 2019 from the date you
replied and latest application date accepted from queue for CO.
As you may be aware, Skilled Migrant Category (SMC) and Residence from Work (RFW) applications
(skilled residence applications) are not split into separate queues based on visa category.
Please see Table 1 below, for the number of skil ed residence applications accepted on or before 12
December 2019, that were awaiting allocation to an immigration officer as at 26 June 2021.
Table 1: The total number of skilled residence applications accepted by Immigration New Zealand (INZ)
on and before 12 December 2019 broken down by category and month accepted, as at 26 June 2021.
Month Accepted Residence from Work
Skil ed Migrant Category
Total
October 2019
1
27
28
November 2019
63
628
691
December 2019
47
362
409
Total
111
1,017
1,128
As at 5 July 2021, the accepted date of the oldest application in the onshore general (non-priority)
skilled residence queue was 23 October 2019. This is the date that al information required for the
acceptance of the application was received by INZ.
It is important to note that, 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.
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.
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
2. Last 5 years how many applicants get residency from ANZSCO 399211 CHEMICAL PLANT OPERATOR
title.
INZ has granted residence to 21 skilled residence (SMC and RFW) applicants with the occupation
Chemical Plant Operator, ANZSCO 399211 in the five years to 26 June 2021.
If you wish to discuss any aspect of your request or this response, please contact Anna McLachlan,
Senior Business Advisor, Operations Support, INZ at
[email address]. Yours sincerely
Nicola Hogg
General Manager, Border and Visa Operations
Immigration New Zealand
Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment
