Immigration New Zealand: Managing how it makes decisions about skilled residence visas
Summary of our report
Immigration New Zealand understands the importance of visa applicants’ experiences. Its priorities include communications, providing access to information about the progress of applications, and processing times.
However, Immigration New Zealand does not have a specific focus on how well its processes are working for skilled residence visa applicants. This makes it hard for Immigration New Zealand to understand whether its processes are working as expected and what it could do to better attract and retain this sought-after group of migrants.
We have made five recommendations to support improvements to the skilled residence visa system.
What's in this report
Why we looked at skilled residence visas
Skilled migrants fill long-term workforce needs and help to keep New Zealand's economy working well. They are a strategic priority for New Zealand in a globally competitive market for people with highly sought-after skills.
Skilled residence visa system
We discuss Immigration New Zealand's regulatory and operational context, and how the skilled residence visa system has changed recently.
Skilled residence visa processing
We discuss the work Immigration New Zealand is doing to improve applicants' experience of applying for a skilled residence visa.
Quality management system
We look at the effectiveness of Immigration New Zealand's quality management system for skilled residence visa decisions.
Using data more effectively
We discuss how Immigration New Zealand could gain deeper insights from the information that it holds and better explain the performance and outcomes of the skilled residence visa system.
Our recommendations
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment's customer promise, Te Kī Taurangi, commits to interactions with customers that are simple, safe, and certain. We have made five recommendations that will support Immigration New Zealand meeting that promise.