27 October 2023
Wendy Yang
[FYI request #24269 email]
DOIA 2324-0703
Tēnā koe Wendy
Thank you for your email of 28 September 2023 to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment
requesting, under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act), the following:
1. Please provide the Immigration internal assessment templates and training materials
regarding S61 and Special Direction requests respectively.
2. Please provide monthly data regarding each visa category granted through S61 and Special
Direction requests from Year 2021 to 2023.
On 2 October 2023, we contacted you seeking to clarify your interpretation of ‘special direction
requests’. On the same date, you confirmed that it is in line with the definition published on the
Immigration New Zealand’s (INZ) website:
https://www.immigration.govt.nz/about-us/media-centre/common-topics/special-direction
Our Response
Question 1: Please provide the Immigration internal assessment templates and training materials
regarding S61 and Special Direction requests respectively.
A decision to grant a visa under section 61 of the Immigration Act 2009 is in the Minister of Immigration,
Associate Minister of Immigration or delegated officers’ absolute discretion. There are no training
materials for section 61 requests. Therefore, this part of your request is refused under section 18(e) of
the Act because the documents al eged to contain the information requested do not exist or, despite
reasonable efforts to locate it, cannot be found.
However, please refer to Appendix A for the section 61 assessment template and the list of international
obligations for decision makers to consider when deciding a section 61 request.
Special directions allow a legal obstacle or requirement to be overcome. The need for a special direction
may occur at any stage of processing an application and is not constrained by a specific circumstance.
Requests for special directions are assessed on a case-by-case basis and circumstances may vary as to
why a special direction should be considered. Special directions are decided with absolute discretion
and therefore no training materials or assessment templates are in place. Therefore, this part of your
request is refused under section 18(e) of the Act because the documents alleged to contain the
information requested do not exist or, despite reasonable efforts to locate it, cannot be found.
Question 2: Please provide monthly data regarding each visa category granted through S61 and Special
Direction requests from Year 2021 to 2023.
Section 61 requests: Please refer to Appendix B for the monthly data requested.
Special direction requests: INZ makes hundreds of special direction decisions each year. The exact
numbers cannot be reported as raising a separate record in INZ’s application management system is not
always practical for every special direction request received or granted. A key word search for special
directions returned over 159,000 applications granted between 2021 and 2023, which would need to be
manual y checked by the Ministry to obtain the number sought. As such, this part of your request is
refused under section 18(f) of the Act, as the information cannot be made available without substantial
col ation or research.
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. I have concluded that, in both cases, the Ministry’s
ability to undertake its work would remove staff from their core duties and therefore, the greater public
interest would not be served.
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, please contact
[email address].
Nāku noa, nā
Simon Sanders
Deputy Chief Operating Officer
Chief Operating Officer Immigration Branch
Immigration New Zealand
Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment
