12 June 2023
Armando Martin Jadrin
[FYI request #22635 email]>
DOIA 2223-2473
Tēnā koe Armando,
Thank you for your email of 30 April 2023 to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment
(MBIE) requesting, under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act), the following:
“Q.1. How many applications are at the stage of Under Assessment in Skills Category?
Q.2. How many applications are pending under Split Family escalation?
Q.3. Does Immigration take longer time to process Skills Category Application rather than other
Category?
Q.4. Can you please provide on when the 2021 RV Processing Times website will be updated? So far,
the last update was 8 April 2023.
We sent you an email on 4 May 2023 clarifying the category of applications you were referring to for
the below questions. On 4 May 2023 we have received your confirmations as mentioned below.
Q.1. How many applications are at the stage of Under Assessment in Skills Category? – Please confirm
if you are referring to 2021 Resident Visa (skilled criteria)? *** Yes, I'm referring to 2021 Resident
Visa at Skilled Criteria.
Q.2. How many applications are pending under Split Family escalation? – What specific Visa category
you are referring here please? *** This is for 2021 Resident Visa at Skilled Criteria.
Q.3. Does Immigration take longer time to process Skills Category Application rather than other
Category? – Please clarify if you are referring to 2021 Resident Visa or something else. Also, we would
like to clarify what “other category” refers to in the question. *** Indeed, referring to 2021 Resident
Visa.
On 9 May 2023 we further sent you an email clarifying what the ‘other category’ meant in your
question three. We have received the below as a response on the same day.
I'm referring to other category such as Settled and Scarce under 2021 Resident Visa. Basically, I would
like to know does Immigration take longer time to process Skills Category Application rather than
other Category such Settled and Scarce under 2021 Resident Visa.
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We further clarified what you meant by applications pending under ‘skilled criteria escalation’. We
received the below confirmation from you on 10 May 2023.
Regarding "Q.2. How many applications are pending under Split Family escalation?". Can you please
provide rough number of applications (for example 214,298) that are pending under Split Family
escalation for 2021 One Off Resident Visa.”
Our Response
Question One: As at 25 May 2023 there are 247 number of applications for the 2021 Resident Visa
(RV21) skilled criteria which are currently in progress.
Question Two: As at 25 May 2023 there are no applications pending allocation under the split family
escalation.
Question Three: Please refer to the table below for the processing timeframe for RV21 applications,
broken down by the RV21 criteria as at 23 May 2023. This shows that the median number of days to
complete the applications under the skilled criteria and scarce criteria takes two weekdays less than the
settled criteria.
Median number of weekdays until
Number of weekdays that 90% of
RV21 criteria
completed
applications are completed in
Skilled
281
295
Scarce
281
295
Settled
283
297
Please note: the number of days expressed in the above table are based on workdays.
Question Four: The timeframes mentioned on the website for 2021 Resident Visa processing is updated
weekly on a Monday. There is a link to the website with the most up to date processing data:
https://www.immigration.govt.nz/new-zealand-visas/waiting-for-a-visa/how-long-it-takes-to-process-
your-visa-application/2021-resident-visa-processing-times
You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of this decision. 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, or if you require any further assistance,
please contac
t [email address]
Nāku iti nei, nā
Richard Owen
General Manager (Acting), Border and Visa Operations
Immigration New Zealand
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