18 February 2025
Ref: DOIA-REQ-0008680
John Luke
Email:
[FYI request #29816 email]
Tēnā koe John,
Thank you for your email of 20 January 2025 to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment
(MBIE) requesting, under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act), the following information:
I would like a request of the number of home visits for “Visa status” checks, interview or suspected
“overstayers” from the last 12months (1st Jan 2024 to 1st Jan 2025) by Immigration New Zealand.
Also please include if Police were present in the visits or not.
Also, could you also provide a breakdown of all of the home visit you have between 1st Jan 2024
to 1st Jan 2025 by grouping them up by location, purpose of the visit (visa check, suspected
overstays etc).
Our response
MBIE has interpreted your request as asking for the number of site visits conducted by Immigration
Compliance and Investigations staff during the 2024 calendar year.
In the 2024 calendar year there were 1,591 site visits recorded in MBIE’s case management system.
Please note that due to internal processes and system updates not al site visits may have been recorded.
MBIE also do not hold data on whether the site visits recorded were actual y conducted or not.
Therefore we are refusing parts of your request in reliance on section 18(f) of the Act, as the information
requested cannot be made available without substantial collation or research. This is due to having to
manually check all 1,591 recorded site visits to manually record what the site visit was for, whether it was
conducted or not, and the location of the site visit. This would also involve checking for whether New
Zealand Police were present for the visit or not.
If you wish to discuss any aspect of your request or this response, or if you require any further assistance,
please contact
[email address].
Please note that this response, with your personal details removed, may be published on the MBIE
website
: https://www.mbie.govt.nz/about/open-government-and-official-information/published-official-
information-act-requests.
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 Compliance
Te Whakatairanga Service Delivery
Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment
