Ref: DOIA 1617-1301

 

Dear Mr Smith

 

On behalf of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment I
acknowledge your email of 21 April 2017  requesting under the Official
Information Act 1982 (the Act), the following:

 

1) Is an applicant to the Post Study Work Visa - Open required to provide
a police certificate for the visa if he or she has provided a police
certificate with a previous visa application in the prior 24 months?

 

2) If, in the intervening period, the applicant reaches the five year
threshold of residence for providing a police certificate from New
Zealand, does the Exception to the requirement to provide a police
certificate based on having submitted a police certificate from another
country in the prior 24 months also excuse the applicant from providing a
New Zealand police certificate?

 

3) If the applicant as described in Question (2) does in fact have to
provide a NZ police certificate in spite of qualifying for the exception
to provide a police certificate on the basis of providing a certificate
from another country in the prior 24 months, can you cite the text and
particular clause of the relevant legislation or regulation that requires
the applicant to provide the certificate?

 

4) Immigration NZ obtains police certificates from the NZ Police directly
on applicants' behalf, where applicable. Could you please provide the
average wait time for a police certificate over some indicative period,
such as last year, or over the last month? If the information is
available, please provide information about current likely waiting times.

 

5) Please describe all legal methods available by which an applicant can
be granted an expedited processing time for Immigration NZ to obtain a
police certificate. If some means for expedited processing are only
available to some applicants, for example, applicants with a compelling
reason to be granted expedited processing time, please indicate the
relevant legislation, regulation, policy, or guidelines Immigration NZ
uses to decide whether an applicant can be granted expedited processing
time.

 

6) Please indicate the text of the relevant legislation, regulation, or
policy that prevents an applicant from going directly to the NZ Police,
obtaining the certificate, and providing it to Immigration New Zealand for
processing.

 

Your request is being processed in accordance with the Act and a response
will be sent to you in due course. If you have any enquiries regarding
your request feel free to contact us via email [1][MBIE request email] or
using the contact details below.

 

 

Yours sincerely,

Alan Witcombe

MANAGER, MINISTERIAL SERVICES

 

Corporate, Governance and Information

Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment

Level 4, 15 Stout Street, PO Box 1473, Wellington 6140

[2]cid:image004.jpg@01D10666.447C6950

 

 

[3]www.govt.nz - your guide to finding and using New Zealand government
services

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Any opinions expressed in this message are not necessarily those of the
Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment. This message and any
files transmitted with it are confidential and solely for the use of the
intended recipient. If you are not the intended recipient or the person
responsible for delivery to the intended recipient, be advised that you
have received this message in error and that any use is strictly
prohibited. Please contact the sender and delete the message and any
attachment from your computer.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[MBIE request email]
3. http://www.govt.nz/

hide quoted sections

Thank you for your email. It has been forwarded to the team responsible for your request.

Kind regards,

WORKFLOW ADVISOR

Ministerial Services
Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment
www.mbie.govt.nz

-----Original Message-----
From: Ben Smith [mailto:[FYI request #5763 email]]
Sent: Friday, 21 April 2017 1:12 p.m.
To: *OIA
Subject: Re: DOIA 1617-1301 - Ben Smith - acknowledgement letter [UNCLASSIFIED]

Dear Alan,

Thank you very much for your reply. My girlfriend is currently applying for her Post Study Work Visa - Open. She applied as soon as she was able, but the matter is of some urgency for her and she was disappointed and extremely frustrated when she was told that a process that typically takes 23 working days could take months due to a police clearance check that she was told was required. Currently she is unable to work due to her interim visa status, and lack of a full income is causing extreme hardship on her part.

One particularly strange feature of this situation is that Immigration NZ would take a police certificate from the applicant from any country in the world except New Zealand. For NZ the applicant has to go through Immigration NZ, and we are told that police checks through Immigration NZ can take longer than the 20 working days given for police checks requested directly by members of the public about themselves. It seemed absurd that not only will INZ refuse to take a certificate about a NZ police record from New Zealand while they're happy to take a certificate about records from the applicant regarding any other country, their process is also slower than when a member of the public requests a certificate.

Any light you could shed on this unhelpful set of rules would be appreciated.

Yours sincerely,

Ben Smith

-----Original Message-----

Ref: DOIA 1617-1301

 

Dear Mr Smith

 

On behalf of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment I acknowledge your email of 21 April 2017  requesting under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act), the following:

 

1) Is an applicant to the Post Study Work Visa - Open required to provide a police certificate for the visa if he or she has provided a police certificate with a previous visa application in the prior 24 months?

 

2) If, in the intervening period, the applicant reaches the five year threshold of residence for providing a police certificate from New Zealand, does the Exception to the requirement to provide a police certificate based on having submitted a police certificate from another country in the prior 24 months also excuse the applicant from providing a New Zealand police certificate?

 

3) If the applicant as described in Question (2) does in fact have to provide a NZ police certificate in spite of qualifying for the exception to provide a police certificate on the basis of providing a certificate from another country in the prior 24 months, can you cite the text and particular clause of the relevant legislation or regulation that requires the applicant to provide the certificate?

 

4) Immigration NZ obtains police certificates from the NZ Police directly on applicants' behalf, where applicable. Could you please provide the average wait time for a police certificate over some indicative period, such as last year, or over the last month? If the information is available, please provide information about current likely waiting times.

 

5) Please describe all legal methods available by which an applicant can be granted an expedited processing time for Immigration NZ to obtain a police certificate. If some means for expedited processing are only available to some applicants, for example, applicants with a compelling reason to be granted expedited processing time, please indicate the relevant legislation, regulation, policy, or guidelines Immigration NZ uses to decide whether an applicant can be granted expedited processing time.

 

6) Please indicate the text of the relevant legislation, regulation, or policy that prevents an applicant from going directly to the NZ Police, obtaining the certificate, and providing it to Immigration New Zealand for processing.

 

Your request is being processed in accordance with the Act and a response will be sent to you in due course. If you have any enquiries regarding your request feel free to contact us via email [1][MBIE request email] or using the contact details below.

 

 

Yours sincerely,

Alan Witcombe

MANAGER, MINISTERIAL SERVICES

 

Corporate, Governance and Information

Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment

Level 4, 15 Stout Street, PO Box 1473, Wellington 6140

[2]cid:image004.jpg@01D10666.447C6950

 

 

[3]www.govt.nz - your guide to finding and using New Zealand government services

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[MBIE request email]
3. http://www.govt.nz/

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FYI request #5763 email]

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
https://fyi.org.nz/help/officers

If you find this service useful as an Official Information officer, please ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's OIA or LGOIMA page.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

www.govt.nz - your guide to finding and using New Zealand government services

Any opinions expressed in this message are not necessarily those of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment. This message and any files transmitted with it are confidential and solely for the use
of the intended recipient. If you are not the intended recipient or the person responsible for delivery to the intended recipient, be advised that you have received this message in error and that any use is
strictly prohibited. Please contact the sender and delete the message and any attachment from your computer.

hide quoted sections

Dear Mr Smith

 

Please find attached the response to your recent information request.

 

Regards,

 

Karen Sionzon

BUSINESS ADVISOR

 

Operations Support, Visa Services, Immigration New Zealand

Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment

 

[1][email address] | Telephone: +64 4 901 2116

Level 1, 15 Stout Street, PO Box 1473, Wellington 6140, New Zealand

 

[2]www.govt.nz - your guide to finding and using New Zealand government
services

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Any opinions expressed in this message are not necessarily those of the
Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment. This message and any
files transmitted with it are confidential and solely for the use of the
intended recipient. If you are not the intended recipient or the person
responsible for delivery to the intended recipient, be advised that you
have received this message in error and that any use is strictly
prohibited. Please contact the sender and delete the message and any
attachment from your computer.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. http://www.govt.nz/

hide quoted sections