3 April 2023
A KS
[FYI request #21945 email]
Ref: DOIA 2223-1919
Tēnā koe A KS,
Thank you for your email of 28 February 2023 requesting, under the Official Information Act 1982 (the
Act), the following information:
1. Please provide a copy of the User Guide or operational guide and any other relevant guides,
SOPs, emails, or documents in any form PPT PDF DOC that the INZ Health Assessment process
refers to while checking and deciding the next course of action when the visa applicant provides
medical test results. Please provide information for health assessment process and guidelines for
the SMC and parent residency category.
2. Please provide the copy of the operational document and any other relevant guides, SOPs,
emails, or documents in any form that INZ health team checks before referring the case to the
medical assessor for SMC and parent residency categories….
3. Please provide the copy of the User Guide and any other relevant guides, SOPs, emails, or
documents in any form that is checked by the medical assessors to provide an opinion if an
applicant ia ASH or ASH with conditions. … The INZ operational manual mentions some
conditions but my request is for operational documents used by assessors that may have a
detailed info for their decision making for acute and chronic medical conditions for SMC and
parent residency categories.
On 8 March 2023, the Ministry contacted you to clarify the request. On the same date, you confirmed
the following:
1. To reduce the amount of information requested please restrict my request to the parent
residency…
2. I confirm that I am requesting the most recent, current and up to date Health Assessments SOPs
and guides for all health assessment processes that are used by the visa officers and medical
assessors for the operations for parent residency visa, determining ASH/ no ASH as mentioned
in all of my questions in the original OIA.
3. I can understand that email data may be huge so please restrict the emails to the last 12 months
from 01-03-2022 till 28-02-2023 and only that are relevant to parent residency
Our response
As there are no particular guidelines for health assessment decision-making designed specifically for the
Parent Category, the information presented below is relevant to all resident class visa applicants.
The first point of reference for Medical Assessors (MAs) and Health Assessment Team Immigration
Officers (HAT IOs) are the relevant immigration instructions at A4 of the Immigration New Zealand (INZ)
Operational Manual which outline health requirements, including the requirements for residence class
visa applicants:
https://www.immigration.govt.nz/opsmanual/#46506.htm
Applicants are required to provide medical examination results to confirm their health status. All medical
examinations are undertaken by doctors on behalf of INZ, known as Panel Physicians. In the vast majority
of cases the information is submitted online via the eMedical platform. The data from eMedical is then
transferred to INZ’s Immigration Health System (IHS) which is used by HAT IOs and MAs to review
medical information and record medical opinions and health outcomes.
In addition to the immigration instructions referred to above, INZ staff refer to relevant Visa Paks which
contain advice on interpreting and applying immigration instructions fairly and consistently. The Visa
Paks relevant to your request can be found on INZ’s website at the following links:
1. Visa Pak 491 – 3 December 2021
https://www.immigration.govt.nz/documents/visa-paks/3-december-2021-removal-of-hiv-
infection-from-the-list-of-high-cost-medical-conditions.pdf
2. Visa Pak 522 – 9 September 2022
https://www.immigration.govt.nz/documents/visa-paks/visa-pak-522.pdf
Immigration medical examinations submitted by eMedical are run through business rules in IHS to
determine whether the requirements for auto-clearance are met. If an immigration medical examination
has not auto-cleared, the HAT IOs undertake an initial assessment of the information provided. The HAT
IOs are guided by the information provided in parts
A, B, C and
D of the attached
Appendix. Where a
HAT IO is unable to determine whether an applicant has an acceptable standard of health, they may
request further information or refer the case to an MA for review. When an MA has provided an opinion,
the opinion will be taken into account by the IO when making an assessment as to whether an applicant
has an acceptable standard of health.
INZ MAs are practising general practitioners. When assessing the health of a visa applicant, they rely
heavily on their own clinical expertise. They may also access a range of reference material from external
sources such as medical journals, websites catering to medical professionals and available data on
pharmaceutical costs. INZ guidelines for MAs dated 14 October 2022 are bookmarked as
E of the
Appendix. Links to some of the reference material used by MAs can also be found in this document.
You will notice that the document refers to supplementary guidelines. INZ’s Immigration Health Team is
currently consolidating information to inform these guidelines which will support medical assessors
when undertaking health assessments.
The ‘IHS and Health” Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) can be found in part
F of the
Appendix. The
SOPs outline the process and responsibilities of INZ staff within IHS.
Please note that some information contained in the
Appendix has been withheld under section 9(2)(a)
of the Act to protect the privacy of natural persons. In accordance with section 9 (1) of the Act, I have
considered whether there are any factors that make it desirable, in the public interest, to release
information to which section 9 of the OIA applied. I do not consider that any public interest
considerations outweigh the need to withhold this information.
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
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
[email address]. Nāku noa, nā
Richard Owen
Acting General Manager, Border and Visa Operations
Immigration New Zealand
