Immigration New Zealand is changing the way it works, to provide better customer service and immigration outcomes. The changes will be complete by the end of 2015 and will lead to: better customer experience—visas will be available online, making getting a visa quicker and easier greater focus on attracting skills, talent and capital to New Zealand improved border security better services for less cost greater responsiveness to changing market conditions worldwide better information sharing with partner organisations. For more explanation, see Immigration New Zealand's Vision 2015: What it means for you PDF [231KB].
Read the Minister of Immigration’s speech and statement about the launch of Immigration New Zealand's 'Vision for 2015'. Immigration ONLINE A new technology platform - Immigration ONLINE - will make the changes possible. Immigration ONLINE will transform visa services. Customers will have their own online accounts, so they can apply for visas, communicate with Immigration New Zealand and track progress of their applications. Privacy protection is central to the design of Immigration ONLINE. The service will allow information sharing with other organisations that need to see it, but no personal information will be shared unless authorised by the user. Immigration ONLINE will be introduced progressively, starting in 2013 and finishing in 2015.
The first major delivery will be online applications for student visas in 2014. For more information, see Immigration ONLINE – New technology platform. Changes to global branch offices We are also reconfiguring our worldwide network of branch offices. The overall aim is to maintain or expand customer services while consolidating back-office visa decision making into large area ('hub') offices and smaller market ('satellite') offices. Immigration New Zealand has set up Visa Application Centres (VACs). VACs are 'front door' offices that handle administrative, non-decision-making tasks around visa applications on behalf of Immigration New Zealand. Taken together, these changes will speed up visa processing and improve the consistency of decisions, while retaining a visible presence in key markets. They will also allow Immigration New Zealand to be more responsive to changing conditions, stepping its presence up or down in different markets worldwide as needed.