11 January 2023
J. Scaur
[FYI request #21408 email]
File No: DOIA 2223-1284
Dear J. Scaur,
Thank you for your email of 12 December 2022, to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment
(MBIE) requesting, under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act), the following information:
I am looking for the average total amount of fees paid by immigrants who, at some point, apply for
"Partner of a New Zealander" class visas or residencies, and who end up becoming permanent residents.
I would like the fees paid for dependents e.g. children to be excluded.
Examples of who would be eligible:
• A woman who comes into NZ on a student visa, gets a work visa, forms a relationship with a NZer, gets
residency based on partnership, and finally permanent residency.
= $x for student visa + $y for work visa + $z for partnership + $a for perm residency.
• A man who forms a relationship with a NZer overseas, comes to NZ, gets a work visa, residency based on
partnership, and finally permanent residency.
= $x for work visa + $z for partnership + $a for perm residency.
• A woman who comes to NZ on a work visa with children from a former relationship, forms a relationship
with a NZer, gets residency based on partnership, and finally permanent residency. In this case, please
only include the fees for the woman, and not her children.
= $x for work + $y for partnership visa + $a for perm residency.
I would like these total fees to be averaged out into a single number.
Our response
Your request is refused under section 18(f) of the Act as the information requested cannot be made
available without substantial collation or research.
To obtain this level of information would require our staff members to manually identify all the paths taken
by applicants who were granted Permanent Resident Visas, then identify the fees paid per pathway, and
then average out those fees.
This task would remove the Ministry staff from their core duties and therefore the greater public interest
would not be served. I have considered whether the Ministry would be able to respond to your request
given extra time or the ability to charge for the information requested but I have concluded, in both cases,
the Ministry’s ability to undertake its work would still be prejudiced.
You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of the Ministry’s response to
your request, in accordance with section 28(3) of the Act. Information about how to make a complaint is
available a
t www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or freephone 0800 802 602.
If you wish to discuss any aspect of your request or this response, please conta
ct [email address] Yours sincerely
Sarah Clifford
General Manager, Border and Visa Operations (Acting)
Immigration New Zealand
