Dear Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment,

I would like to request all information available regarding the New Zealand Residence Programme that the Government should have reviewed once the previous "de facto" one expired on 30 June 2021.

The last review of the NZRP happened in 2018 and established a target of between 50,000 to 60,000 residence approvals for the period 1 July 2018 to 31 December 2019. The Government failed to review the NZRP when it expired despite the fact that INZ was already facing a significant issue with the biggest residence backlog in NZ's history. Instead, they decided to keep processing residence applications at the same volume as before, applying "de facto" the previous NZRP's target.

Now the "de facto" NZRP has also expired yet we have not heard a single word regarding the new NZRP. It is of public knowledge the immense distress that the unprecedented waiting times are causing on residence applicants, which have been further aggravated by the constant uncertainty laid upon them by INZ and the government.

The least the government should do is publicly announce their plans for the NZRP that should be operating already. There is absolutely no reason that justifies withholding this information from us as it is something that has always been made public.

Please submit me as soon as possible all the information available regarding the NZRP that started operating since 1 July 2021.

Yours faithfully,

Santiago Gonzalez Novillo