15 July 2021
N Panchal
[FYI request #15846 email]
Ref: DOIA 2021-2617
Dear N Panchal,
Thank you for your email of 21 June 2021 requesting under the Official Information Act 1982 (the OIA),
the following information:
“1) Number of ON-SHORE non-priority resident class visa applications accepted (on-
hand) to date discriminated in Skil ed Migrant Category, Talent (Accredited Employer)
Resident Visa and Others.
2) Monthly list with number of ON-SHORE non-priority resident class visa applications
lodged between December 2020 to date discriminated in Skil ed Migrant Category,
Talent (Accredited Employer) Resident Visa and Others, listed per month.
3) Monthly list with number of ON-SHORE resident visa class applications, discriminated
in priority and non-priority, allocated to a Case officer between December 2020 to date.
4) Average processing times for Talent (Accredited Employer) Resident Visas after the
new prioritization criteria came into effect on February 24th 2020.”
Our Response
Question One: “Number of ON-SHORE non-priority resident class visa applications accepted (on-hand)
to date discriminated in Skil ed Migrant Category, Talent (Accredited Employer) Resident Visa and
Others.”
As you may be aware, 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 refer to Table One in Appendix A which provides the total number of SMC and RFW applications
in the onshore non-priority queue as at 29 June 2021, broken down by visa type.
Question Two: “Monthly list with number of ON-SHORE non-priority resident class visa applications
lodged between December 2020 to date discriminated in Skil ed Migrant Category, Talent (Accredited
Employer) Resident Visa and Others, listed per month.”
Please refer to Table Two in Appendix which provides the number of SMC and RFW applications in the
onshore non-priority queues as at 29 June 2021, that were accepted for processing by INZ from 01
December 2020 to 29 June 2021 (inclusive). This has been broken down by the accepted month and visa
type.
Question Three: “Monthly list with number of ON-SHORE resident visa class applications,
discriminated in priority and non-priority, al ocated to a Case officer between December 2020 to date.”
Please refer to Table Three in Appendix A which provides the number of skil ed residence applications
that were allocated from the onshore non priority and priority queues, between the weeks 01 December
2020 to 12 July 2021.
Question Four: “Average processing times for Talent (Accredited Employer) Resident Visas after the
new prioritization criteria came into effect on February 24th 2020.”
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.
Please refer to Table Four in Appendix A which provides the average calendar days taken to process
Talent (Accredited Employer) Residence Visa applications completed in the last three months from 24
February 2020 to 29 June 2021 (inclusive).
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
APPENDIX A
Table One: The total number of Skilled Migrant Category (SMC) and Residence from Work (RFW)
applications in the onshore non-priority queue as at 29 June 2021, broken down by visa type.
Visa Type
Number of
applications
Skilled Migrant Category
5,466
Residence from Work, Talent -
4,418
Accredited Employer
Residence from Work, South
591
Island Contribution
Residence from Work, Long Term
398
Skill Shortage List Occupation
Residence from Work, Religious
97
Worker
Residence from Work, Talent -
12
Sports
Residence from Work, Talent -
11
Arts and Culture
Total
10,993
Table Two: The number of SMC and RFW applications in the onshore non-priority queues as at 29 June
2021, that were accepted for processing by Immigration New Zealand (INZ) from 01 December 2020 to
29 June 2021 (inclusive). This has been broken down by the accepted month and visa type.
Please note that figures of five or fewer have been withheld under section 9(2)(a) of the OIA to protect
the privacy of natural persons. Where information is withheld under section 9, I do not consider that the
withholding of this information is outweighed by public interest considerations in making the
information available.
RFW, Long
RFW,
RFW,
Month
Term Skill
RFW,
RFW, South
Talent -
Talent -
RFW,
Skilled
Accepted Shortage List Religious
Island
Accredited
Arts and
Talent -
Migrant
Occupation
Worker
Contribution Employer
Culture
Sports
Category
Dec-20
13
<=5
10
203
<=5
<=5
38
Jan-21
25
6
11
310
0
<=5
34
Feb-21
10
<=5
<=5
168
0
0
<=5
Mar-21
25
<=5
8
330
0
<=5
0
Apr-21
43
7
<=5
457
0
<=5
0
May-21
27
<=5
<=5
442
0
0
0
Jun-21
27
<=5
<=5
382
0
<=5
0
Table Three: The number of skilled residence applications that were allocated from the onshore non
priority and priority queues, between the weeks 01 December 2020 to 12 July 2021.
Please note that allocations of applications to immigration officers occur weekly and the number of
applications that are allocated is dependent upon processing capacity. The Government is currently
reviewing its approach to the New Zealand Residence Programme (NZRP). In the meantime, INZ wil
continue to process applications at the same volume and with the same level of resourcing as the
previous NZRP al owed for. This has an impact on the number of applications that can be allocated and
the timeliness of application processing.
Allocation Priority Non Priority
week
Queue
Queue
1-Dec-20
52
143
14-Dec-20
57
171
21-Dec-20
50
79
28-Dec-20
0
122
4-Jan-21
47
104
11-Jan-21
16
97
18-Jan-21
49
114
25-Jan-21
58
92
1-Feb-21
41
129
8-Feb-21
17
177
15-Feb-21
60
17
22-Feb-21
21
49
1-Mar-21
35
30
8-Mar-21
52
0
15-Mar-21
73
49
22-Mar-21
16
118
29-Mar-21
26
80
5-Apr-21
47
20
12-Apr-21
37
31
19-Apr-21
79
4
26-Apr-21
45
39
3-May-21
41
46
10-May-21
69
83
17-May-21
68
101
24-May-21
57
197
31-May-21
43
150
07-Jun-21
74
170
14-Jun-21
54
150
21-Jun-21
63
271
28-Jun-21
55
131
5-Jul-21
40
47
12-Jul-21
31
61
Table Four: The average calendar days taken to process Talent (Accredited Employer) Residence Visa
applications completed in the last three months from 24 February 2020 to 29 June 2021 (inclusive).
Please note that 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%
Date intervals
completed completed completed
within:
within:
within:
24 Feb 20 – 30 Jun 20
136 days
174 days
228 days
01 Jul 20 – 30 Sep 20
146 days
205 days
263 days
01 Oct 20 – 31 Dec 20
63 days
180 days
309 days
01 Jan 21 – 31 Mar 21
74 days
187 days
392 days
01 Apr 21 – 30 Jun 21
68 days
176 days
347 days
Document Outline
