Dear Department of Labour,

I would like to request some information under the Official Information Act from your sub-organization, Immigration New Zealand. It is my understanding that inside Immigration NZ there is a branch which deals with immigration requests from a list of 'high risk' countries. I would like to request:

1) the list of countries from which applications from are automatically sent to IPG.

2) the number of immigration requests which have been sent to IPG in the last year, along with the number declined. For comparison I would like the number of immigration requests, along with the number of declines as a whole for the last year.

3) the number of staff working for IPG, and their security clearance levels.

4) the process that IPG goes through in determining whether an application should be declined or approved, including what information is normally assessed.

5) any correspondence for the last year with between any member of the IPG and the NZSIS and the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. If this is a large amount, then the titles and dates of any correspondence can be provided instead. If such correspondence is to be withheld I would still like a record of the amount of correspondence there has been.

6) as information about the IPG is quite sparse, I would like to request any operational manuals or guides about how IPG operates.

Feel free to contact me if you wish me to clarify my request. I would prefer to receive an electronic response. Queries about this request will be automatically forwarded to me by the fyi.org.nz website.

Yours faithfully,

Joshua Grainger

Dear Department of Labour,

I would note that the deadline for my Official Information Act request, the 22nd of June according to the Ombudsmen's calculator, has now passed. May I please have an immediate update on the status of my request.

Yours faithfully,

Joshua Grainger