Tçnâ koe John

Thank you for your email of 11 October 2022.

This email is to confirm receipt, and that we’ve passed your email on to the person best placed to consider it.

We try to respond to all correspondence within 15 working days. If we can’t give you a response to the matters you’ve raised in those 15 working days, we will get in touch to let you know when you can expect a response.

Ngâ mihi nui
Mike

-----Original Message-----
From: John <[FOI #20827 email]>
Sent: Tuesday, 11 October 2022 11:30 a.m.
To: enquiry <[email address]>
Subject: Official Information request - Enquire and Audit DIA about Citizenship Processing Delays

[You don't often get email from [FOI #20827 email]. Learn why this is important at https://aka.ms/LearnAboutSenderIdentific... ]

CAUTION External email: Don’t click links or open attachments unless you know the sender and content are safe.

Dear Office of the Controller and Auditor-General,

1) Did OAG reach out to DIA’s Citizenship Offie to understand, query, or monitor the performance of the processing of Citizenship By Grant Applications regarding its huge delays?

2) If there is any, can you please provide any communications, e-mails and etc from OAG requesting information regarding the delays of Citizenship by Grant applications?

3) If it hasn’t been considered, could you please provide the reason OAG didn’t manage to question DIA regarding the Citizenship by Grant application processing delays and offer support and/or guidance?

Yours faithfully,

John

-------------------------------------------------------------------

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-------------------------------------------------------------------
_______________________________________________________________
The information contained in this email message is intended only
for the addressee and is not necessarily the official view or
communication of the Office of the Auditor-General.
If you are not the intended recipient you must not use,
disclose, copy or distribute this message or the information on it.

hide quoted sections

Kia ora John,

 

Thank you for your email.

 

The Auditor-General is not subject to the Official Information Act 1981.

 

All auditors are obliged to keep the information they gather confidential.
This is an important and long-established way of encouraging entities to
give their auditors open access to internal and sensitive information.
This means we won't usually disclose information from our statutory
functions, such as information from individual audit files.

 

The Public Audit Act 2001 balances that confidentiality with an
overarching power for the Auditor-General to decide when and how to
disclose information arising from our work. This power lets us disclose
information when we consider that to be necessary for effective public
accountability. We think carefully about what information to include in
the reports that we release as we prepare them. 

 

In response to your questions, we cannot disclose details from
conversations our staff have in confidence with public organisations. We
encourage you to raise your concerns about the Citizenship by Grant
applications directly with the Department of Internal Affairs'
[1]Citizenship Office.

 

We do not have any plans to look at the citizenship by grant process in
our current work programme. However, we plan on looking into the
effectiveness of immigration processes for skilled migrant visas. This
includes looking at how well Immigration New Zealand is managing visa
processing for skilled migrants and the ease of engagement, communication,
and feedback to applicants. We are also interested in the timeliness of
processes for applicants and how Immigration New Zealand deals with
complaints. You can read more about this work in [2]part 3 of our Annual
plan 2022/23.

 

Thank you again for writing to us.

 

Ngā mihi

Mike

 

[3][email address]
Office of the Auditor-General Te Mana Arotake
Improving trust, promoting value
Level 2, 100 Molesworth Street, Thorndon, Wellington 6011 | PO Box 3928
Wellington 6140
[4]oag.parliament.nz | Follow us on [5]Twitter, [6]Facebook, [7]Linkedin,
and [8]Instagram

 

 

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: enquiry
Sent: Tuesday, 11 October 2022 12:08 p.m.
To: John <[FOI #20827 email]>
Subject: RE: Official Information request - Enquire and Audit DIA about
Citizenship Processing Delays

 

Tēnā koe John

 

Thank you for your email of 11 October 2022.

 

This email is to confirm receipt, and that we’ve passed your email on to
the person best placed to consider it. 

 

We try to respond to all correspondence within 15 working days. If we
can’t give you a response to the matters you’ve raised in those 15 working
days, we will get in touch to let you know when you can expect a response.

 

Ngā mihi nui

Mike

 

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

From: John <[9][FOI #20827 email]>

Sent: Tuesday, 11 October 2022 11:30 a.m.

To: enquiry <[10][email address]>

Subject: Official Information request - Enquire and Audit DIA about
Citizenship Processing Delays

 

[You don't often get email from
[11][FOI #20827 email]. Learn why this is
important at [12]https://aka.ms/LearnAboutSenderIdentific... ]

 

CAUTION External email: Don’t click links or open attachments unless you
know the sender and content are safe.

 

Dear Office of the Controller and Auditor-General,

 

1) Did OAG reach out to DIA’s Citizenship Offie to understand, query, or
monitor the performance of the processing of Citizenship By Grant
Applications regarding its huge delays?

 

2) If there is any, can you please provide any communications, e-mails and
etc from OAG requesting information regarding the delays of Citizenship by
Grant applications?

 

3) If it hasn’t been considered, could you please provide the reason OAG
didn’t manage to question DIA regarding the Citizenship by Grant
application processing delays and offer support and/or guidance?

 

Yours faithfully,

 

John

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------

 

This is an Official Information request made via the FYI website.

 

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:

[13][FOI #20827 email]

 

Is [14][Office of the Controller and Auditor-General request email] the wrong address for Official Information
requests to Office of the Controller and Auditor-General? If so, please
contact us using this form:

[15]https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...

 

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:

[16]https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...

 

If you find this service useful as an Official Information officer, please
ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's OIA or LGOIMA
page.

 

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------

_______________________________________________________________
The information contained in this email message is intended only for the
addressee and is not necessarily the official view or communication of the
Office of the Auditor-General.
If you are not the intended recipient you must not use, disclose, copy or
distribute this message or the information on it.

 

References

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Tçnâ koe John

 

Thank you for your email of 17 October 2022.

 

We’ve passed your email on to the person best placed to consider it. We
try to respond to all correspondence within 15 working days. If we can’t
give you a response to the matters you’ve raised in those 15 working days,
we will get in touch to let you know when you can expect a response.

 

Ngâ mihi nui

 

Shauna Lough (she / her)
Advisor, Correspondence and Events – Strategy and Communications
04 917 1500| [1][email address]
Office of the Auditor-General Te Mana Arotake
Improving trust, promoting value
Level 2, 100 Molesworth Street, Thorndon, Wellington 6011 | PO Box 3928
Wellington 6140
[2]oag.parliament.nz | Follow us on [3]Twitter, [4]Facebook, [5]Linkedin,
and [6]Instagram

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: John <[FOI #20827 email]>
Sent: Monday, 17 October 2022 10:26 am
To: enquiry <[email address]>
Subject: RE: Official Information request - Enquire and Audit DIA about
Citizenship Processing Delays

 

CAUTION External email: Don’t click links or open attachments unless you
know the sender and content are safe.

 

Dear OAG,

 

Thanks for your reply. I am a permanent resident of this country already.
I have been to the Immigration road already.

 

Can you please confirm that after your response, that John Ryan, in his
Auditor General capacity, is only concern with people that are outside the
country, but with people that are currently here, paying taxes, it’s not
important? So his only concern is with Immigration? What about the people
that have been waiting a long long time for their citizenship? Are they
not important to the AG?

 

Also can you confirm that OAG is not interested in the performance of a
department that provide services to taxpayers of this country?

 

Thanks.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

John

 

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

 

Kia ora John,

 

 

 

Thank you for your email.

 

 

 

The Auditor-General is not subject to the Official Information Act 1981.

 

 

 

All auditors are obliged to keep the information they gather confidential.

This is an important and long-established way of encouraging entities to 
give their auditors open access to internal and sensitive information.

This means we won't usually disclose information from our statutory 
functions, such as information from individual audit files.

 

 

 

The Public Audit Act 2001 balances that confidentiality with an 
overarching power for the Auditor-General to decide when and how to 
disclose information arising from our work. This power lets us disclose 
information when we consider that to be necessary for effective public 
accountability. We think carefully about what information to include in 
the reports that we release as we prepare them.

 

 

 

In response to your questions, we cannot disclose details from 
conversations our staff have in confidence with public organisations. We 
encourage you to raise your concerns about the Citizenship by Grant 
applications directly with the Department of Internal Affairs'

[1]Citizenship Office.

 

 

 

We do not have any plans to look at the citizenship by grant process in 
our current work programme. However, we plan on looking into the 
effectiveness of immigration processes for skilled migrant visas. This 
includes looking at how well Immigration New Zealand is managing visa 
processing for skilled migrants and the ease of engagement,
communication,  and feedback to applicants. We are also interested in the
timeliness of  processes for applicants and how Immigration New Zealand
deals with  complaints. You can read more about this work in [2]part 3 of
our Annual  plan 2022/23.

 

 

 

Thank you again for writing to us.

 

 

 

Ngâ mihi

 

Mike

 

 

 

[3][email address]

Office of the Auditor-General Te Mana Arotake  Improving trust, promoting
value  Level 2, 100 Molesworth Street, Thorndon, Wellington 6011 | PO Box
3928  Wellington 6140  [4]oag.parliament.nz | Follow us on [5]Twitter,
[6]Facebook, [7]Linkedin,  and [8]Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:

[7][FOI #20827 email]

 

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:

[8]https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...

 

If you find this service useful as an Official Information officer, please
ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's OIA or LGOIMA
page.

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------

_______________________________________________________________
The information contained in this email message is intended only for the
addressee and is not necessarily the official view or communication of the
Office of the Auditor-General.
If you are not the intended recipient you must not use, disclose, copy or
distribute this message or the information on it.

 

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. http://www.oag.parliament.nz/
3. https://twitter.com/auditor_general
4. https://www.facebook.com/AuditorGeneralNZ/
5. https://www.linkedin.com/company/office-...
6. https://www.instagram.com/auditorgeneral...
7. mailto:[FOI #20827 email]
8. https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...

hide quoted sections

Tçnâ koe John

 

Thank you for your email of 17 October 2022.

 

We note your comments about our intention to look into the effectiveness
of immigration processes for skilled migrant visas, as part of one of our
focus areas in our discretionary work programme for 2022/23.

 

We draw on a range of information to help determine what to include in our
work programme, including feedback from Parliament and information from
the public and organisations with an interest in the public sector. While
our Annual Plan 2022/23 has already been published, we encourage you to
keep an eye out for this process next year so you can give feedback on our
proposed work programme and its focus areas. If you’re interested, you can
[1]sign up to receive our email notifications as soon as we publish our
work.

 

As we’ve previously mentioned, we do not resolve individual complaints or
concerns and can't intervene in decisions that public organisations are
making. We are not a complaints agency, and you can read more about the
limits to our role [2]here. As such, although we cannot do any specific
work at this point about the issue you have raised, we appreciate you
writing to us about your concerns. We use information from the public to
support our audit work and our monitoring of the public sector. It
provides useful context for our work and can alert our auditors to areas
of concern.

 

As part as our audit role, we audit annually the Ministry of Business,
Innovation and Employment, which oversees Immigration New Zealand. We
audit the financial statements for the year and information about their
performance.

 

We’re pleased you have already raised your concerns directly with
Immigration New Zealand. Another option may be to write directly to the
Minister of Immigration, Hon Michael Wood, who can be contacted [3]here.

 

We trust this clarifies our role and wish you all the best.  

 

Ngâ mihi nui

 

Shauna Lough (she / her)
Advisor, Correspondence and Events – Strategy and Communications
04 917 1500| [4][email address]
Office of the Auditor-General Te Mana Arotake
Improving trust, promoting value
Level 2, 100 Molesworth Street, Thorndon, Wellington 6011 | PO Box 3928
Wellington 6140
[5]oag.parliament.nz | Follow us on [6]Twitter, [7]Facebook, [8]Linkedin,
and [9]Instagram

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: John <[FOI #20827 email]>
Sent: Monday, 17 October 2022 10:26 am
To: enquiry <[email address]>
Subject: RE: Official Information request - Enquire and Audit DIA about
Citizenship Processing Delays

 

CAUTION External email: Don’t click links or open attachments unless you
know the sender and content are safe.

 

Dear OAG,

 

Thanks for your reply. I am a permanent resident of this country already.
I have been to the Immigration road already.

 

Can you please confirm that after your response, that John Ryan, in his
Auditor General capacity, is only concern with people that are outside the
country, but with people that are currently here, paying taxes, it’s not
important? So his only concern is with Immigration? What about the people
that have been waiting a long long time for their citizenship? Are they
not important to the AG?

 

Also can you confirm that OAG is not interested in the performance of a
department that provide services to taxpayers of this country?

 

Thanks.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

John

 

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

 

Kia ora John,

 

 

 

Thank you for your email.

 

 

 

The Auditor-General is not subject to the Official Information Act 1981.

 

 

 

All auditors are obliged to keep the information they gather confidential.

This is an important and long-established way of encouraging entities to 
give their auditors open access to internal and sensitive information.

This means we won't usually disclose information from our statutory 
functions, such as information from individual audit files.

 

 

 

The Public Audit Act 2001 balances that confidentiality with an 
overarching power for the Auditor-General to decide when and how to 
disclose information arising from our work. This power lets us disclose 
information when we consider that to be necessary for effective public 
accountability. We think carefully about what information to include in 
the reports that we release as we prepare them.

 

 

 

In response to your questions, we cannot disclose details from 
conversations our staff have in confidence with public organisations. We 
encourage you to raise your concerns about the Citizenship by Grant 
applications directly with the Department of Internal Affairs'

[1]Citizenship Office.

 

 

 

We do not have any plans to look at the citizenship by grant process in 
our current work programme. However, we plan on looking into the 
effectiveness of immigration processes for skilled migrant visas. This 
includes looking at how well Immigration New Zealand is managing visa 
processing for skilled migrants and the ease of engagement,
communication,  and feedback to applicants. We are also interested in the
timeliness of  processes for applicants and how Immigration New Zealand
deals with  complaints. You can read more about this work in [2]part 3 of
our Annual  plan 2022/23.

 

 

 

Thank you again for writing to us.

 

 

 

Ngâ mihi

 

Mike

 

 

 

[3][email address]

Office of the Auditor-General Te Mana Arotake  Improving trust, promoting
value  Level 2, 100 Molesworth Street, Thorndon, Wellington 6011 | PO Box
3928  Wellington 6140  [4]oag.parliament.nz | Follow us on [5]Twitter,
[6]Facebook, [7]Linkedin,  and [8]Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:

[10][FOI #20827 email]

 

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:

[11]https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...

 

If you find this service useful as an Official Information officer, please
ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's OIA or LGOIMA
page.

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------

_______________________________________________________________
The information contained in this email message is intended only for the
addressee and is not necessarily the official view or communication of the
Office of the Auditor-General.
If you are not the intended recipient you must not use, disclose, copy or
distribute this message or the information on it.

 

References

Visible links
1. https://oag.parliament.nz/contact-us/ema...
2. https://oag.parliament.nz/about-us/what-...
3. https://www.beehive.govt.nz/minister/hon...
4. mailto:[email address]
5. http://www.oag.parliament.nz/
6. https://twitter.com/auditor_general
7. https://www.facebook.com/AuditorGeneralNZ/
8. https://www.linkedin.com/company/office-...
9. https://www.instagram.com/auditorgeneral...
10. mailto:[FOI #20827 email]
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hide quoted sections

Tēnā koe John

Thank you for your email of 21 October 2022 and request for clarification.

We can confirm the Department of Internal Affairs is the correct agency as they manage the citizenship office and enquiries - apologies for the confusion.

Ngā mihi nui

Shauna Lough (she / her)
Advisor, Correspondence and Events – Strategy and Communications
04 917 1500| [email address]
Office of the Auditor-General Te Mana Arotake
Improving trust, promoting value
Level 2, 100 Molesworth Street, Thorndon, Wellington 6011 | PO Box 3928 Wellington 6140
oag.parliament.nz | Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, and Instagram

-----Original Message-----
From: John <[FOI #20827 email]>
Sent: Friday, 21 October 2022 4:12 pm
To: enquiry <[email address]>
Subject: Re: Response from the Office of the Auditor-General

CAUTION External email: Don’t click links or open attachments unless you know the sender and content are safe.

Dear enquiry,

Citizenship is not managed by Immigration NZ, but DIA.

Can you please confirm that you have read the request before replying? I am not certain by your response.

Thanks.

Yours sincerely,

John

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

Tçnâ koe John

Thank you for your email of 17 October 2022.

We note your comments about our intention to look into the effectiveness of immigration processes for skilled migrant visas, as part of one of our focus areas in our discretionary work programme for 2022/23.

We draw on a range of information to help determine what to include in our work programme, including feedback from Parliament and information from the public and organisations with an interest in the public sector. While our Annual Plan 2022/23 has already been published, we encourage you to keep an eye out for this process next year so you can give feedback on our proposed work programme and its focus areas. If you’re interested, you can [1]sign up to receive our email notifications as soon as we publish our work.

As we’ve previously mentioned, we do not resolve individual complaints or concerns and can't intervene in decisions that public organisations are making. We are not a complaints agency, and you can read more about the limits to our role [2]here. As such, although we cannot do any specific work at this point about the issue you have raised, we appreciate you writing to us about your concerns. We use information from the public to support our audit work and our monitoring of the public sector. It provides useful context for our work and can alert our auditors to areas of concern.

As part as our audit role, we audit annually the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, which oversees Immigration New Zealand. We audit the financial statements for the year and information about their performance.

We’re pleased you have already raised your concerns directly with Immigration New Zealand. Another option may be to write directly to the Minister of Immigration, Hon Michael Wood, who can be contacted [3]here.

We trust this clarifies our role and wish you all the best.

Ngâ mihi nui

Shauna Lough (she / her)
Advisor, Correspondence and Events – Strategy and Communications
04 917 1500| [4][email address]
Office of the Auditor-General Te Mana Arotake Improving trust, promoting value Level 2, 100 Molesworth Street, Thorndon, Wellington 6011 | PO Box 3928 Wellington 6140 [5]oag.parliament.nz | Follow us on [6]Twitter, [7]Facebook, [8]Linkedin, and [9]Instagram

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #20827 email]

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlo...

If you find this service useful as an Official Information officer, please ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's OIA or LGOIMA page.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
_______________________________________________________________
The information contained in this email message is intended only
for the addressee and is not necessarily the official view or
communication of the Office of the Auditor-General.
If you are not the intended recipient you must not use,
disclose, copy or distribute this message or the information on it.

hide quoted sections