2 October 2024
Wendy Yang
[FYI request #28277 email]
  DOIA 2425-0633
Tēnā koe Wendy
Thank you for your email of 2 September 2024 to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment
(the Ministry) requesting, under the Official Information Act 1982 (the Act), the fol owing:
The applicant can meet the requirements for applying for a Permanent Resident Visa (PRV)
through ﬁve methods, namely: Signiﬁcant period of time spent in New Zealand, Tax residence
status in New Zealand, Investment in New Zealand, Establishment of a business in New
Zealand, and Base established in New Zealand.
Please provide the number of PRVs approved for each method annually from 2014 to 2024, as
wel  as the number of PRVs approved for each method annually for applicants from China.
Our Response
Please find below the number of approved Permanent Resident Visa (PRV) applications from Chinese
nationals and approved Permanent Resident Visa applications col ectively within the requested date
range.
Table A:
The number of approved Permanent Resident Visa applications from Chinese nationals, broken down
by decision year from 1 January 2014 to 23 September 2024, as at 23 September 2024.
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
Total
3,418
3,306
2,998
3,569
4,781
5,003
3,695
3,150
3,567
3,730
4,590
41,807
Table B:
The number of approved Permanent Resident Visa applications, broken down by decision year from
1 January 2014 to 23 September 2024, as at 23 September 2024.
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
Total
23,941 21,893 22,269 23,945 26,009
25,882 19,416 13,367 22,102 22,786 56,032
277,642
Please note that your request to break down the data into the five methods an applicant may qualify for a
PRV is refused under section 18(f) of the Act,  the information requested cannot be made available without
substantial collation or research.  The information you have requested is not held in a reportable format
and to obtain the information would require staff to manually review each application in scope. Ministry
staff would be removed from their core duties and therefore the greater public interest would not be
served.
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In accordance with section 18A of the Act, we have considered whether fixing a charge under section 15 or
extending the time limit under section 15A would enable the request to be granted but it is my view it
would not. In accordance with section 18B of the Act, I have considered whether consulting with you would
remove the reason for refusal, however, in my view it would not as to obtain the requested information
would inevitably involve the manual search of records.
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, please contact [email address]
Nāku noa, nā
Marcelle Foley
Acting Director Visa
Immigration New Zealand
Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment
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Document Outline

Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment