Immigration New Zealand

See also: Immigration to New Zealand

Immigration New Zealand or INZ (Māori: Ta Ratonga Manene; previously New Zealand Immigration Service, NZIS) is a part of the Workforce group of the New Zealand Department of Labour. It is responsible for managing the benefits and consequences of immigration to New Zealand.

Visa

Visas are issued by INZ staff in offices throughout New Zealand and around the world. Visas are also issued by certain posts of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (New Zealand).

Under the Immigration Act 2009, a visa is an authority for an individual to travel to, or stay in New Zealand (under the Immigration Act 1987 a visa only allowed you to travel to New Zealand and a permit allowed you to stay). A visa has conditions that indicate what the holder of the visa may do.

Because of understaffing turnaround times to process visa application have steadily increased over the years. Currently INZ expects to process visa applications within 60 working days after an application is lodged. According to INZ, processing a residence application usually takes 6 to 9 months, while endorsing a passport with Residence Permits and Returning Resident's Visa after 'approval in principle' has been granted takes up to 30 working days.

Visas

Residence class visas

• Resident visas – holders are entitled to travel to New Zealand and stay indefinitely, but only enter New Zealand in line with their ‘travel conditions’. Resident visas may also be subject to other conditions, such as a requirement to invest a certain amount of money in New Zealand within a certain timeframe (for people approved under the Investor Category).
• Permanent resident visas – holders are entitled to travel to New Zealand at any time and stay indefinitely without conditions.

Temporary entry class visas

• Temporary visas – there are a variety of temporary visas, for example, visitor visas, student visas and work visas (similar to the current temporary entry visas).
• Limited visas – may be granted to people who wish to come to New Zealand for an express purpose (similar to a Limited Purpose visa under the Immigration Act 1987).
• Interim visas – may be granted for the purpose of maintaining lawful status in New Zealand when an individual has applied for a further temporary visa and his or her application is being considered. Interim visa is normally valid up to 6 months .
• Transit visas – allows a passenger to remain in transit if he or she is travelling through New Zealand to another destination. There is no change to the requirements for obtaining a transit visa.

Visas are generally issued in one of three forms:

• A computer printed label or letter issued by an Immigration Officer or Visa Officer working for Immigration New Zealand.
• A hand written label issued by a Visa Officer working for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
• An electronic record in the computer system of Immigration New Zealand.

Entry permission

Under the 2009 Act, visa holders instead apply for ‘entry permission’ using the arrival card. Normally, a person holding a visa is granted ‘entry permission’ to allow him or her to enter and stay in New Zealand for the time period allowed by their visa. However, in some cases people may be denied entry permission, for example, if:

• They are carrying prohibited goods or substances into New Zealand.
• Adverse information about them has come to light since their visa application was approved.
• They have obtained their visa by fraudulent means or by making a false declaration.

Visa Free

Unless otherwise provided for in legislation, regulations or policy all non-New Zealand citizens are required to hold a visa before boarding a flight to New Zealand. Immigration New Zealand has been using the Advance Passenger Processing (APP) system, which is cornerstone of the various border screening initiatives to risk-manage passengers. It is an electronic system connected to virtually all airlines worldwide. Passengers on arrival must apply for and be granted a permit to be in New Zealand. Certain classes of person are exempt from the requirement to hold a visa or a permit in certain circumstances.

Diplomats accredited to New Zealand are exempt from the requirement to hold a permit to be in New Zealand, as are military forces in New Zealand with the agreement of the New Zealand government.

Australian citizens are generally exempt from having to obtain a residence class visa to enter and remain in NZ. Holders of a current Australian Permanent Residence Visa (which includes a Resident Return Visa) are generally exempt from having to obtain a residence visa and will generally be granted a resident visa upon arrival in New Zealand.

British citizens and other British passport holders who produce evidence of the right to reside permanently in the UK can visit for up to six months without a visa.

Citizens of the following countries are exempt from holding a visa to travel to New Zealand for visits of up to 90 days:

Andorra	Argentina	Austria	Bahrain	Belgium	Brazil
Brunei Darussalam	Bulgaria	Canada	Chile	Cyprus	Czech Republic
Denmark	Estonia	Finland	France	Germany	Greece1
Hong Kong2	Hungary	Iceland	Ireland	Israel	Italy
Japan	South Korea	Kuwait	Latvia	Liechtenstein	Lithuania
Luxembourg	Malaysia	Malta	Mexico	Monaco	Netherlands
Norway	Oman	Poland	Portugal	Romania	Qatar
San Marino	Saudi Arabia	Singapore	Slovak Republic	Slovenia	South Africa
Spain	Sweden	Switzerland	Taiwan3	United Arab Emirates	United Kingdom
United States of America4	Uruguay	Vatican City

¹ Greek passport holders whose passports were issued on and after 1 January 2006 (Greek passports issued before 1 January 2006 are not acceptable for travel after 1 January 2007.)

² Residents of Hong Kong travelling on Hong Kong Special Administrative Region or British National (Overseas) passports

³ Permanent residents of Taiwan travelling on Republic of China passports

⁴ Including nationals of the USA

Organisational Structure

INZ is divided into several groups, including:

Service Delivery

Responsible for most onshore and offshore visa and permit branches

Auckland/Waikato Region

• Manukau Branch
• Northern Region Documentation Centre (Manukau)
• Henderson Branch
• Auckland Central Branch
• Hamilton Branch

Southern New Zealand/Australia Region

• Palmerston North Branch
• Centralised Student Processing Unit (Palmerston North)
• Wellington Branch
• Business Migration Branch (Wellington)
• Christchurch Branch (responsible for Sub Branches in Dunedin, Queenstown and Sydney)

Asia Region

• Beijing Branch
• Shanghai Branch
• Hong Kong Branch (responsible for MFAT buddy posts in Seoul and Tokyo)
• Bangkok Branch (responsible for Sub Branch in Dubai)
• Singapore Branch
• Manila Branch
• Jakarta Branch
• Taipei Branch
• New Delhi Branch
• Ho Chi Minh City Branch

Europe/Americas Region

• London Branch (responsible for Sub Branch in the Hague and MFAT buddy posts in Washington, Los Angeles, Santiago, Buenos Aires, São Paulo, Mexico City, Ottawa, Paris, Rome, Berlin, Madrid, Warsaw, Ankara, Pretoria and Beirut).
• Moscow Branch.

Service Design

responsible for policy and systems development

• Business Information Branch (Wellington)

Service International

• e-Branch (Auckland)

Processes applications lodged through Online Services. This includes student applications from approved education providers and Working Holiday Visas for many countries.

• National Contact Centre (Auckland)

The first point of contact for phone/email enquiries from clients in New Zealand and Australia.

• Refugee Status Branch (Auckland)

Decides applications for refugee status made by persons within New Zealand.

• Refugee Quota Branch (Auckland)

Processes and provides treatment for refugees upon arrival.

• Mangere Refugee Resettlement Centre

Selects offshore refugees in order to meet the government’s humanitarian obligations.

• Suva Branch (responsible for MFAT buddy posts in Tarawa, Port Vila, Port Moresby and Honiara)
• Apia Branch (responbible for MFAT buddy posts in Niue and Rarotonga)
• Nukuʻalofa Branch

Border Security

• Compliance Operations (Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington, Christchurch)

The main responsibility of Compliance Operations is locating and removing persons who are unlawfully in New Zealand. Compliance Operations is also responsible for managing the detention of persons who are refused entry at New Zealand airports, including asylum seekers.

• Onshore Border Operations (Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch)

This branch is responsible for any immigration issues arising at New Zealand’s physical border (air and sea). At present all staff are located at Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch airports.

• Offshore Border Operations (Auckland)

This branch operates the Advance Passenger Screening Support Office in Auckland and organises the Airline Liaison Officer programme at selected offshore airports.

• Fraud Investigations (Auckland)

Fraud Investigations is tasked with investigating and prosecuting migration related offences under the Immigration Act 1987 and the Crimes Act 1961.

• Central Verification Unit (Auckland)

Responsible for verification of all aspects of residence applications under the Skilled Migrant Category.

• Immigration Profiling Group (Wellington)

Processes applications which are deemed to be “high risk”. This branch was established in 2005 after a number of persons associated with the regime of Saddam Hussein were found to have been issued New Zealand visas.

• Immigration Intelligence Unit (Wellington)

Receives and analyses intelligence which is relevant to the immigration field. Supported by intelligence analysts in Compliance Operations, Border Operations, Refugee Status Branch and the Immigration Profiling Group.

See also

• Immigration and Protection Tribunal
• Jonathan Coleman (politician) (Minister of Immigration)
• Kate Wilkinson (politician) (Associate Minister of Immigration)
• Pete Hodgson (Shadow Minister of Immigration)

External links

• Immigration New Zealand official website