Immigrants Get Their Suitcase Ready On-Line

6 July 2004

Prospective immigrants get their suitcase ready on-line

Prospective immigrants to New Zealand can apply for residence online with the new-look individualised web site built by Intergen for the New Zealand Immigration Service.

The features demanded by the Immigration Service addressed the need for users to personalise their start points and navigation paths through the content.

Users store in their site 'suitcase' content items of recurring interest to them, and are proactively presented with further relevant content.

In recognition of the difficulty that many people have with the language of Immigration policy, the site is liberally linked to glossary term definitions and help with form-filling.

Intergen's Managing Director Tony Stewart said the key to the web site's success was the site was a structured programme in which all the specific requirements of the client were elicited. The site structure and features were built up based on the many comments of NZIS staff, including their lists of user needs, comparative observation, feedback, experiences and lessons learned over time.

Intergen also built the web site so Immigration personnel could exercise total control and management of the content and structure - and to serve the very varied interests of the groups using the web site.

This control is needed for such a web site to keep pace with social, legislative and policy shifts over time, and to accommodate the highly varied interests and perspectives of the groups accessing the site.

The site also acts as a portal into the applications and transactions that can be accessed, performed and monitored on line by users, and incorporates the work done in conjunction with Intergen's partner, EDS.

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