22 January 2025
Ref: DOIA-REQ-0007518
Chris McCashin
Email:
[FYI request #29447 email]
Tēnā koe Chris,
Thank you for your request to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) on 9
December 2024 requesting, under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act), the following
information:
1. Current Number of Il egal Aliens: Please provide the most recent statistics on the number of
il egal aliens currently residing in New Zealand.
2. Total Persons Deported Per Annum Since 2010: Please provide statistics on the total number
of persons deported from New Zealand each year since 2010.
Our Response
In response to question one relating to statistics of “illegal aliens”, we have interpreted your request
to mean statistics of people who are unlawfully in New Zealand. MBIE is refusing this request under
section 18(f) of the Act, as the information requested cannot be made available without substantial
collation or research. In accordance with section 18A of the Act we have considered whether fixing a
charge or extending the timeframe to respond to your request would assist with answering your
request however it is our opinion that it would not.
We can advise that the most recent estimate of people who have overstayed their visa was from
December 2017. That report estimated that there were around 14,000 individuals, who were
unlawfully in New Zealand at that time. To ensure the integrity of this data, Immigration New Zealand
(INZ) took a sample of approximately 2,000 people from the data set and manually investigated each
client record to establish which clients were in New Zealand unlawfully. This proportion was then
applied to the complete data set to get an estimate of the total number of individuals unlawfully in
New Zealand. Please find a copy of this report attached to this response, attached as Appendix A.
There is no updated list available. MBIE has however, developed a new methodology to calculate the
number of people who are in New Zealand unlawfully. Work is currently underway to update the
current estimate based on the new methodology. We expect a new estimate to be available within
the next 12 months.
In response to question two, the term "deportation" covers unlawful migrants, most of whom have
interacted with MBIE prior to their departure from New Zealand. This information shows Compliance
cases with any of the following case closure outcomes:
•
Client Deported – A person who is unlawful y in New Zealand who has been served a
deportation order and departs New Zealand, or a temporary visa holder who was made liable
1
for deportation and departs New Zealand after the date when they may be served with a
deportation order.
•
Client Self-Deported – A person who is unlawfully in New Zealand who departs New Zealand
of their own volition and at no cost to the Ministry after the date when the person may be
served with a deportation order, but they have not been served with such an order.
•
Voluntary Departure – A person who is unlawfully in New Zealand or is a temporary visa
holder who was made liable for deportation and departs of their own volition and at no cost
to the Ministry prior to the date when the person may be served with a deportation order.
Please note that MBIE is unable to provide data relating to deportations prior to 1 January 2011 as
this information was recorded in a previous case management system that is no longer accessible.
Therefore, the table below shows the number of people who were deported each year from New
Zealand from 1 January 2011 to 8 December 2024.
Please note that data previously released relating to deportations is different. This is because
remedial work has been done on how deportations are recorded and closed in MBIE’s case
management system. This has resulted in changing the closed date for around 6600 cases across six
financial years. Please note all departure dates from 1 July 2018 onwards show the date client has
departed the country, and majority of all dates before this date show the Compliance case closed date.
Deportation Types
Departure Date / Case
Client Self-
Voluntary
Closed Date
Client Deported Deported
Departure
Total
2011
611
2*
1052
1665
2012
764
189
1399
2352
2013
745
503
1105
2353
2014
545
579
619
1743
2015
537
904
462
1903
2016
562
619
528
1709
2017
813
1075
1121
3009
2018
471
787
1156
2414
2019
495
491
759
1745
2020
217
203
334
754
2021
213
160
211
584
2022
195
218
269
682
2023
248
243
256
747
2024 (-8/12/2024)
354
251
381
986
Total
6770
6224
9652
22646
* Self-Deportation outcome data did not become available for reporting until June 2012.
If you wish to discuss any aspect of your request or this response, or if you require any further
assistance, please contact
[email address].
2
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.
Nāku noa, nā
Fadia Mudafar
National Manager Immigration Compliance
Immigration Compliance and Investigations
3
OCTOBER 2018
OVERSTAYERS
Overstayers are people who remain in New Zealand after their visas expire
without applying for a further visa.
Immigration New Zealand (INZ) records all arrivals and departures from New Zealand and we are aware
when someone has not departed before their visa has expired. There is an express obligation under the
Immigration Act 2009 for all people unlawfully in New Zealand to leave the country. The legal obligation
to leave New Zealand before a temporary visa expires is clearly communicated on visas.
People who are overstayers, regardless of nationality, must appreciate that if there are no special
circumstances that call for the grant of a visa they are expected to leave New Zealand, or face deportation.
If a person is deported they face a ban of up to five years from applying to come to ACT 1982
New Zealand again.
In the 2017/18 financial year ( 1 July 2017 – 30 June 2018) INZ deported 642 people who were unlawfully in
New Zealand and liable for deportation. INZ also negotiated the voluntary departure of a further 2,304
overstayers which avoided the New Zealand taxpayer paying the deportation costs and allowed the
person to apply to return to New Zealand without a travel ban.
Immigration New Zealand encourages people who are unlawfully in New Zealand to contact us to discuss
their circumstances and determine what the best option is for them. They can contact us on our free
phone 0508 55 88 55.
People who are in New Zealand unlawfully can end up being exploited by unscrupulous employers and
many create a significant financial stress for family attempting to house and support them. If an individual
has any information about the whereabouts of people unlawfully in New Zealand we encourage them to
contact us.
Immigration New Zealand is grateful for the public’s assistance in helping to locate anyone unlawfully.
INFORMATION
RELEASED UNDER THE
OFFICIAL
immigration.govt.nz
INZ 4229
ESTIMATED OVERSTAYERS 2000 to 2017
* Totals include Rest of World (generally nationalities where there were fewer than 200 cases) figures.
Note:
› Gaps occur where the nationality was included in the Rest of World estimate. For example, the October 2006 report was the first year South Korea was split out from Rest of World.
› The increase in overstayer numbers reported in the December 2017 estimate can, in part, be attributed to a change in methodology. The previous estimate methodology relied to some
1982
extent on personal judgement about whether an individual had left New Zealand. Under the new estimate methodology a person classified as unlawfully in the country is regarded
as an overstayer unless there is clear evidence they have left New Zealand.
Jul
Nov
Oct
May
Nov
Apr
Oct
Apr
Oct
Apr
Oct
Apr
Oct
Apr
Oct
Apr
Oct
May
Aug
Sep
Oct
Jan
Dec
Dec
ACT
2000
2001
2002
2003
2003
2004
2005
2006
2006
2007
2007
2008
2008
2009
2009
2010
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2016
2016
2017
Samoa
5456
3621
3822
3500
3713
3900
3149
3742
3582
4085
4198
4036
3661
4082
3981
3945
3540
3509
2983
2686
2,451
2,124
1,853
1,549
Tonga
5073
2774
2940
2736
2816
2496
2352
2497
2136
2284
2294
2270
2181
2457
2786
2995
2982
3109
3044
2889
2,536
2,381
2,432
2,498
China
558
800
912
1225
1968
2050
2880
2591
2584
2261
2312
2066
2056
1965
1877
1678
1785
1632
1604
1617
1,406
1,226
1,299
1,529
Thailand
1809
1968
1617
1560
1328
1232
801
695
539
473
489
412
400
443
409
384
415
366
301
268
220
192
205
184
USA
316
1148
1056
775
999
952
402
Great Britain
1184
1066
888
1330
1292
816
1372
1276
1034
1029
830
1060
671
729
581
611
649
535
506
486
486
495
471
589
Fiji
912
684
702
742
810
750
603
731
599
686
786
743
653
713
919
1045
1031
1055
853
771
699
473
444
434
Tuvalu
609
680
664
744
**
450
489
502
518
483
489
463
469
510
501
498
535
484
466
463
400
366
358
India
451
420
533
832
924
1066
880
807
680
630
620
558
556
534
535
510
591
581
678
785
790
763
912
1,310
Malaysia
465
450
370
410
490
574
765
698
645
613
695
686
632
683
638
629
526
525
447
392
383
364
441
790
Indonesia
342
280
295
345
264
292
296
335
278
243
206
192
173
157
165
140
136
139
144
121
114
104
105
107
INFORMATION
Brazil
126
194
252
274
176
182
196
236
211
227
187
172
149
158
172
107
92
63
124
RELEASED UNDER THE
Philippines
168
156
141
130
141
138
145
173
182
154
165
164
120
93
87
90
111
129
Kiribati
105
106
81
90
98
82
91
99
105
130
121
110
140
121
118 108
91
96
Czech Rep
156
99
102
76
68
49
46
35
28
24
17
12
26
14
17
15
South Korea
506**
492
573
469
456
416
502
392
438
356
354
312
269
271
285
323
South Africa
176
Rest of World
5628
4589
3804
3614
3517
3496
3164
2596
2480
2055
2578
2230
2200
2020
2,033
1,634
1,816
3,699
OFFICIAL
Est totals*
20657
18287
18134
18405
20440
20328
19800
19091
17364
17397
17487
16979
15548
15769
15880
15760
15614
15030
14044
13151
12,162 10,848 10,894
13,895
