04 June 2021
Jill Liu
By email: [FYI request #15445 email]
File No: DOIA 2021-2297
Dear Jill Liu
Thank you for your email of 14 May 2021, requesting the following information under the Official
Information Act 1982 (the OIA):
I would like to request data on a daily basis on the no. of onshore resident visa applications
lodged up to 23rd Jan 2020 that are yet to be allocated to case officers, categorised as to
priority and non-priority queue.
I would also like to request data on the no. of applications that were allocated weekly to case
officers from Mar 2021 to the date you respond to this request showing the lodgement date
of each application, categorised as to priority and non-priority queue.
Our response
I would like to request data on a daily basis on the no. of onshore resident visa applications lodged up
to 23rd Jan 2020 that are yet to be allocated to case officers, categorised as to priority and non-
priority queue.
We have interpreted your request to relate to skil ed residence applications. Immigration New Zealand
(INZ) has one queue for skil ed residence applications. The applications in this queue include Skil ed
Migrant Category (SMC) and Resident from Work (RFW), and are not split into two separate queues
based on the application category.
Please see attached Table 1 detailing the number of unallocated onshore skilled residence applications
that were accepted by INZ on or before 23 January 2020, broken down by accepted date and queue,
as at 26 May 2021.
I would also like to request data on the no. of applications that were allocated weekly to case officers
from Mar 2021 to the date you respond to this request showing the lodgement date of each
application, categorised as to priority and non-priority queue.
Please see attached Table 2 detailing the number of skilled residence applications allocated for
assessment from 1 March 2021 to present, broken down by queue.
Skil ed residence queue data is not static due to the complex nature of visa processing operations.
Applications move between queues and this needs to be taken into account when comparing data
over time.
Most data used in OIA responses is pulled directly from the INZ Application Management System
(AMS), and reflects the date that the data entry relating to the application was completed in AMS. On
occasion an application is received by INZ on one date, but the data entry is not completed until a
later date. In the interest of fairness, when allocating applications the Manukau office use the date
that all information required for the acceptance of the application was actually received by INZ rather
than the date the data entry was completed – which reflects when a client will perceive their
application to have been submitted. This means that there may be differences noted in the allocation
data, which is sourced directly from the Manukau office, when compared with other statistics about
skil ed residence, including number and dates of applications in the queues.
Any updates in regards to the allocation of applications can be found via the following link:
https://www.immigration.govt.nz/new-zealand-visas/waiting-for-a-visa/how-long-it-takes-to-
process-your-visa-application/smc-and-rfw-timeframe-information
If you wish to discuss any aspect of your request or this response, please contact Anna McLachlan,
Business Advisor, Operations Support, Immigration New Zealand
at [email address]. Yours sincerely
Nicola Hogg
General Manager, Border and Visa Operations
Immigration New Zealand
Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment
Table 1 – The number of unallocated onshore skilled residence applications that were accepted by
INZ on or before 23 January 2020, broken down by accepted date and queue, as at 26 May 2021.
Onshore skil ed residence
Accepted date
general (non-priority)
Priority skil ed residence
applications
applications
6-Sep-19
<=5
0
7-Sep-19
<=5
0
9-Sep-19
<=5
0
10-Sep-19
<=5
0
11-Sep-19
8
0
12-Sep-19
12
0
16-Sep-19
12
0
17-Sep-19
26
0
18-Sep-19
26
0
19-Sep-19
12
0
20-Sep-19
20
0
21-Sep-19
34
<=5
23-Sep-19
28
0
24-Sep-19
20
0
25-Sep-19
27
0
26-Sep-19
32
<=5
27-Sep-19
20
0
28-Sep-19
24
0
30-Sep-19
23
0
1-Oct-19
28
0
2-Oct-19
24
0
3-Oct-19
19
0
4-Oct-19
19
0
5-Oct-19
31
0
7-Oct-19
20
0
8-Oct-19
21
0
9-Oct-19
29
0
10-Oct-19
34
0
11-Oct-19
27
0
14-Oct-19
25
0
15-Oct-19
21
0
16-Oct-19
26
0
17-Oct-19
32
0
18-Oct-19
<=5
0
19-Oct-19
41
0
21-Oct-19
19
0
22-Oct-19
26
0
23-Oct-19
11
0
24-Oct-19
30
0
25-Oct-19
17
0
29-Oct-19
30
0
30-Oct-19
43
0
31-Oct-19
35
0
1-Nov-19
24
0
4-Nov-19
36
0
5-Nov-19
28
0
6-Nov-19
28
0
7-Nov-19
34
0
8-Nov-19
40
0
11-Nov-19
38
0
12-Nov-19
44
0
13-Nov-19
32
0
14-Nov-19
40
0
15-Nov-19
37
0
18-Nov-19
42
0
19-Nov-19
33
0
20-Nov-19
38
0
21-Nov-19
37
0
22-Nov-19
29
0
25-Nov-19
27
0
26-Nov-19
21
0
27-Nov-19
37
0
28-Nov-19
51
0
29-Nov-19
22
0
2-Dec-19
42
0
3-Dec-19
56
0
4-Dec-19
28
0
5-Dec-19
48
0
6-Dec-19
41
0
7-Dec-19
44
0
9-Dec-19
46
0
10-Dec-19
40
0
11-Dec-19
28
0
12-Dec-19
37
0
13-Dec-19
43
0
14-Dec-19
46
0
16-Dec-19
35
0
17-Dec-19
36
0
18-Dec-19
31
0
19-Dec-19
37
0
20-Dec-19
39
0
23-Dec-19
30
0
24-Dec-19
24
0
27-Dec-19
<=5
0
30-Dec-19
9
0
31-Dec-19
<=5
0
3-Jan-20
8
0
6-Jan-20
34
0
7-Jan-20
25
0
8-Jan-20
30
0
9-Jan-20
16
0
10-Jan-20
26
0
11-Jan-20
63
0
13-Jan-20
30
0
14-Jan-20
25
0
15-Jan-20
26
0
16-Jan-20
18
0
17-Jan-20
22
0
18-Jan-20
40
<=5
20-Jan-20
14
0
21-Jan-20
23
0
22-Jan-20
24
0
23-Jan-20
32
0
Total
2864
<=5
link to page 6
Table 2 – Number of skilled residence applications al ocated by week, broken down by queue.
Week
Priority skil ed residence
Onshore skil ed residence
beginning
applications (including approved
general (non-priority)
requests under EVE1)
applications
1 March 2021
36
30
8 March 2021
52
0
15 March 2021
73
49
22 March 2021
16
118
29 March 2021
28
80
5 April 2021
47
20
12 April 2021
38
31
19 April 2021
79
4
26 April 2021
48
39
3 May 2021
41
46
10 May 2021
69
83
17 May 2021
68
101
24 May 2021
57
197
31 May 2021
43
150
1
Employment Visa Escalation is a process to respond to escalation requests for urgent allocation for
employment related visas (and associated family members) for both Temporary Work Visas and Skil ed
Resident Visas. For more information see the INZ website here:
https://www.immigration.govt.nz/about-
us/media-centre/newsletters/korero/korero-july-2019/employment-visa-escalations-eve
