Minister of Immigration
16 June 2015

More visas online through Immigration ONLINE

Immigration Minister Michael Woodhouse welcomes the roll out of online Work and Visitor visas as fantastic news for Immigration New Zealand (INZ) customers all over the world.

“Online visas are possible as a result of the development of INZ’s new ICT system, known as Immigration ONLINE,” Mr Woodhouse says.

“The roll out of online Work and Visitor visas follows the success of online student visa applications which have been available online since August last year.”

INZ’s third party partners such as immigration advisers and lawyers can also now lodge visa applications online on behalf of their clients and others such as education providers and employers can now assist a student or employee with their relevant applications.

eVisas (label-less and passport-less) are also now available to onshore Work and Visitor visa applicants from visa-waiver countries. The next stage of eVisas will be rolled out later this year.

“Immigration ONLINE makes the whole visa process easier and faster, and further supports some of our key export industries such as tourism and export education which have already benefitted from more visitors and international students.

“It’s also a good example of our public service making greater use of technology to deliver better services.”

Mr Woodhouse says that 60 per cent of visa applications by volume can now be made online and the online capability will be extended to 80 per cent as a result of an additional capital investment of $28.4 million in Budget 2015.

“The extra funding will enable INZ to improve the technology to extend Immigration ONLINE for family groups and tour groups to apply similar to a single visa.

“It will also be used to increase automation so that applications can be processed anywhere in the world, resulting in quicker processing times for customers.”

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