16 August 2023
Wendy Yang
[FYI request #23391 email]
DOIA 2324-0035
Tēnā koe Wendy
Thank you for your correspondence of 5 July 2023, to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and
Employment (MBIE) requesting, under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act), the following
information:
1. Please provide the Immigration internal assessment templates and training materials regarding
how to grant exception to instructions for temporary and residence visa applications respectively.
2. Please also list the number of approved visas granted as an exception to instructions under each
temporary visa category and residence visa category for the financial year 2018 to 2023 in a
table.
Our response
Question 1
Please find attached Appendix A for training material in scope of your request that is currently being
used in one of Immigration New Zealand’s (INZ) offices. Regarding assessment templates, this part of
your request is refused under s18(e) of the Act because this information does not exist. While there
are temporary assessment templates that immigration officers use to assess visa applications, INZ
does not have separate assessment templates specifically for granting exceptions to instructions
(ETIs). ETI considerations and rationales are incorporated into an immigration officer’s full assessment
of an application.
Question 2
Please see Appendix B which contains the minimum number of approved visas that have been
recorded in the immigration system as being granted as an ETI from 1 July 2017 until 8 August 2023,
broken down by visa type and financial year.
Approving an application as an ETI and recording this in the immigration system is a manual task which
requires an immigration officer to manually select an ETI tick box function when approving an
application. This manual task may not be completed for every application and the data only reflects
those applications which had the ETIs correctly recorded. In order to provide data which includes
applications completed without the ETI tick box function being completed is refused under s18(f) of
the OIA, because the information cannot be made available without substantial collation. This would
require INZ to manually review the assessment notes for all applications approved from 1 July 2017
until 8 August 2023 to identify all applications within scope.
This would remove Ministry staff from their core duties, and therefore the greater public interest
would not be served. I have considered whether the Ministry would be able to respond to your request
given extra time or the ability to charge for the information requested but I have concluded, in both
cases, the Ministry’s ability to undertake its work would still be prejudiced.
You have the right to seek an investigation and review by the Ombudsman of the Ministry’s response
to your request, in accordance with section 28(3) of the Act. 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, please contact
[email address]. Nāku iti nei, nā
Jock Gilray
Director Visa
Chief Operating Officer Immigration Branch
Immigration New Zealand
Appendix B
Table One: The number of approved visas recorded in the immigration system as being granted as an
exception to instructions from 1 July 2017 until 8 August 2023, broken down by visa type and financial
year.
Financial Year
Visa Stream
Visa Product
17/18 18/19
19/20 20/21 21/22 22/23 23/24
2021 Resident Visa
0
0
0
0
2
0
0
Business /
2021 Resident Visa
Skilled
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
(payment upfront)
Entrepreneur -
0
2
1
0
1
0
0
Resident
Investor
1
12
3
2
5
7
0
Residence from
1
1
0
2
0
0
0
Work
Residence from
Work (Accredited
0
2
0
0
0
0
0
Employer)
Skilled Migrant -
5
2
3
0
0
5
0
Resident
Skilled Partnership
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
Deferral - Resident
Foreign
Foreign Mission &
Mission &
Military
90
36
1
0
0
0
0
Military
International
Ministerial Direction 49
105
79
87
75
93
5
/
Other Humanitarian
Humanitarian
0
0
1
0
10
15
0
- Resident
Pacific Access
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
Category
Refugee
2
1
1
4
0
2
0
Refugee Family
0
0
2
0
9
1
0
Refugee Quota
0
0
0
0
1
5
0
Samoan Quota
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
Limited
Limited Purpose -
61
70
5
0
0
0
0
Purpose
Student
Limited Purpose -
1,720 1,480
1,312 32
29
408
37
Visitor
Parent
Parent Sibling Adult
Sibling Adult
Child Stream
1
0
2
0
1
1
0
Child Stream
Returning
Permanent Resident 74
32
155
131
696
352
43
Resident
Removal of
Conditions -
1
1
0
1
1
0
0
Resident
Second or
Subsequent -
23
23
12
6
8
7
0
Returning Resident
Variation of Travel
Conditions -
30
16
9
2
12
5
0
Returning Resident
Student
Dependent Child -
317
376
257
280
220
204
48
Student
Fee Paying Student
3,803 2,162
1,148 695
660
679
26
Other Humanitarian 0
0
0
0
1
4
0
- Student
Reconsideration -
5
22
15
16
6
6
2
Student
Scholarship Student 212
199
57
37
15
2
0
Transfers
Confirmation
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
Transit
Transit
139
154
6
0
0
0
0
Uncapped
Dependent Child -
3
2
3
1
3
2
0
Family
Resident
Sponsored
Parent Retirement - 2
0
1
0
0
4
0
Stream
Resident
Partnership -
0
1
0
0
1
0
0
Resident
Visitor
Business Visitor
786
585
109
18
8
74
0
Dependent Child -
185
271
213
120
145
160
22
Visitor
General Visitor
6,838 4,756
1,296 2,135 2,055
633
53
Group Visitor
1,973 68
40
0
1
0
0
Guardian of a
61
38
29
16
12
10
0
Student - Visitor
Other Visitor
71
122
22
66
421
68
3
Parent/Grandparent 25
54
10
2
1
20
0
- Visitor
Partnership - Visitor 79
107
67
139
183
96
8
Reconsideration -
3
16
10
7
71
10
1
Visitor
Variation of
13
6
3
3
5
4
0
Conditions - Visitor
Variation of
Conditions Hort/Vit
3
0
0
0
0
0
0
- Visitor
Work
Accredited
0
0
0
0
0
251
57
Employer
Asylum Seeker
12
14
98
41
11
7
1
Crew of Foreign
4
12
15
8
6
11
0
Fishing Vessel
Entrepreneur
15
11
9
2
0
0
0
(Balance)
Entrepreneur
1
0
2
1
0
0
0
(Change of Plan)
Entrepreneur -
2
5
6
0
0
0
0
Work
Essential Skills
1,114 1,006
422
469
277
71
1
Global Impact -
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
Work
Limited Purpose -
Work (Recognised
5,452 2,783
356
96
326
996
1
Seasonal Employ
Other Humanitarian 42
42
54
33
30
45
7
- Work
Other Work
142
181
27
34
38
92
1
Partnership - Work
1,628 1,770
1,628 1,690 1,128
648
112
Post-study -
Employer Assisted
55
151
1
0
0
0
0
(WD1)
Post-study - Open
126
190
82
73
65
52
5
(WD2)
Reconsideration -
31
42
21
28
11
11
1
Humanitarian
Renewal -
3
2
0
1
0
0
0
Entrepreneur
Specific Purpose or
405
346
768
91
73
160
20
event
Variation of
42
54
26
215
138
134
19
Conditions - Work
Variation of
Conditions - Work
0
0
7
12
0
65
0
(Recognised
Seasonal
Work (Approved in
18
26
5
1
1
331
30
Principle)
Work
(Supplementary
0
0
1
28
8
22
8
Seasonal
Employment)
Work to Residence
326
49
34
51
52
0
0
Work to Residence
(Accredited
66
48
19
10
53
3
0
Employer)
Working Holiday
53
18
5
3
16
203
22
