2 FINAL Response.pdf

30 March 2021

Maximilian Munker
[FYI request #14770 email]

Ref: DOIA 2021-1636

Dear Mr Munker
Thank you for your email of 25 February 2021 to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment
(MBIE) requesting, under the Official Information Act 1982 (OIA), the following information:
•  Could you please provide the latest numbers of how many SMC applications were assigned to Case
officers as wel  as approved for January and February?
•  Could you please also provide an overview how many SMC
•  How many NON-priority SMC applications were allocated to a case officer during January and
February 2021? How many priority SMC applications were al ocated to a case officer during January
and February 2021?
•  What is the lodgement time for the oldest SMC application in the backlog which is stil  waiting for
allocation to a case officer? Could you please provide a monthly overview of all open applications in
the queue?
•  What is the reason why the non-priority queue didn’t move the last 3 weeks?
•  After closing your offshore Visa centres in Mumbai, Manila, Pretoria and Beijing this year, what are
the plans for increasing the NZ based Immigration capabilities and how wil  this affect the existing
SMC backlog?
•  What directions did you get after Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi's announcement to review the
skilled migrant residency programme? Do you stil  work on applications or what is going to happen
with the existing applications?
On 8 March 2021 you were contacted by Penny Hazlett to clarify your request and on 9 March 2021 you
confirmed your request as:
1.  Could you please provide the latest numbers of how many SMC applications were allocated to Case
officers as wel  as approved for January and February?
2.  Could you please share an overview of how many SMC applications in the non-priority queue are still
not allocated to a case officer for every single month until March 2021.
3.  How many Non-priority SMC applications were allocated to a case officer during January and
February 2021?
4.  How many priority SMC applications were allocated to a case officer during January and February
2021?
5.  What is the lodgement time for the oldest SMC application in the non-priority queue which is still
waiting for allocation to a case officer? Could you please provide a monthly overview of all open
applications in the non-priority queue?
6.  What is the reason why the non-priority queue didn’t move the last 3 weeks?

7.  After closing your offshore Visa centres in Mumbai, Manila, Pretoria and Beijing this year, what are
the plans for increasing the NZ based Immigration capabilities and how wil  this affect the existing
SMC backlog?
8.  What directions did you get after Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi’s announcement of 25 February
2021 to review the skil ed migrant residency programme? Do you stil  work on applications or what
is going to happen with the existing applications?
Our response
Immigration New Zealand (INZ) does not have a specific Skilled Migrant Category (SMC) queue but one
for skilled residence applications.  These applications are SMC and Resident from Work (RFW) and are all
processed in INZ’s Manukau office.  The applications are split into two separate queues based on the
stated priorities as per Immigration Instructions A16.1.
All of the data in our response bellow is for skilled residence applications as defined above.
Question 1 - Could you please provide the latest numbers of how many SMC applications were allocated
to Case officers as well as approved for January and February?

The number of onshore skilled residence applications allocated for the months of January and February
2021 is 588 and 520, respectively.
Your request for the numbers of approved skilled residence visas is being refused in reliance of s18(d) of
the OIA as this information is publically available on the Ministry’s website at the below link:
https://mbienz.shinyapps.io/migration_data_explorer/

Question 2 - Could you please share an overview of how many SMC applications in the non-priority queue
are still not allocated to a case officer for every single month until March 2021.
As at 20 March 2021, the total number of onshore skilled residence applications in the non-priority queue
was 11,396.  Please refer to Appendix A for the monthly breakdown.
Questions 3 and 4 - How many Non-priority SMC applications were allocated to a case officer during
January and February 2021?  How many priority SMC applications were allocated to a case officer during
January and February 2021?
Allocation of onshore skilled residence applications

Non Priority
Priority
January 2021
407
170
February 2021
372
139

Question 5 - What is the lodgement time for the oldest SMC application in the non-priority queue which
is still waiting for allocation to a case officer? Could you please provide a monthly overview of all open
applications in the non-priority queue?
As at 20 March 2021, the oldest onshore skil ed residence application in the non-priority queue waiting
to be al ocated for processing is 2 August 2019. It is noted that the second part of your question is a
duplicate of question 2, as such please refer to Appendix A.
Question 6 - What is the reason why the non-priority queue didn’t move the last 3 weeks?
All skilled residence applications are paper based applications and are processed in INZ’s Manukau office.
In February 2021 the office Auckland went back into Alert Level 3 and impacted INZ’s ability to allocate
and process paper-based applications as these cannot be taken out of the office due to information
security and privacy concerns.

In the most recent escalation to Alert Level 3 in February 2021, the Manukau Institute of Technology (MIT)
building was identified as a location of interest. As the INZ processing office is located in the same building,
a cautious approach was taken to any staff returning to the office until site clearance was received on 3
March 2021. This was in line with Ministry of Health and MBIE guidelines. Following site clearance,
Auckland staff were allowed to access offices under Alert Level 3 with appropriate Health and Safety
measures in place, in order to work on paper-based applications only. However, only a small number of
staff in Manukau were able to work from the office given that the MIT building was a location of interest.
As a consequence al ocation numbers were significantly reduced due to the reduced processing capacity.
Question 7 - After closing your offshore Visa centres in Mumbai, Manila, Pretoria and Beijing this year,
what are the plans for increasing the NZ based Immigration capabilities and how will this affect the
existing SMC backlog?
INZs Beijing office is the only office of the four currently processing visa applications (Visitor and Student
Visas). The Mumbai and Manila offices have been closed since early 2020 due to the pandemic; and no
visa processing is completed out of the Pretoria Office.  As skilled residence applications are only
processed in INZs Manukau office, the closure of the offshore offices is not anticipated to have an effect
on processing.
INZ anticipates that its current onshore staffing will likely increase over the 2021/2022 financial year.
Question 8 - What directions did you get after Immigration Minister Kris Faafoi’s announcement of 25
February 2021 to review the skilled migrant residency programme? Do you still work on applications or
what is going to happen with the existing applications?
A review of the SMC, to ensure that it is effectively contributing to the skil s that New Zealand needs in
the medium and long term, is one of the priorities for this term of government and has been factored into
work planning. However, no decisions have been taken on the scope or specific timing of the review, nor
have any decisions been taken on how to handle already-received applications.
Until  policy  changes have been made to Immigration Instructions, processing of skilled residence
applications will remain as it is currently.
I trust you find the information helpful.
You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of this decision. Information
about how to make a complaint is available at www.ombudsman.parliament.nz or freephone 0800 802
602.

If you wish to discuss any aspect of your request or this response, or if you require any further
assistance, please contact Penny Hazlett, Senior Business Advisor [email address].

Yours sincerely

Nicola Hogg
General Manager – Border and Visa Operations
Immigration New Zealand
Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment

Appendix A
Onshore skilled residence applications pending allocation to an immigration officer in the non-priority
queue by month as at 20 March 2021.
Month accepted
Onshore Non Priority
August 2019
351
September 2019
595
October 2019
650
November 2019
778
December 2019
772
January 2020
591
February 2020
959
March 2020
964
May 2020
91
June 2020
1,605
July 2020
1,164
August 2020
210
September 2020
735
October 2020
426
November 2020
475
December 2020
276
January 2021
409
February 2021
195
March 2021 (up to 20 March 2021) 150
Total
11,396