INZ celebrates 1 million visa decisions and more 2023 achievements

Immigration New Zealand (INZ) is celebrating the milestone of 1 million visa decisions being made and other achievements for the year 2023.

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Immigration New Zealand (INZ) is celebrating a number of achievements from 2023, including reaching the milestone of 1 million visa decisions being made.

INZ saw the biggest demand with visitor visas, with the record number of applications submitted being broken on a number of months throughout the year. In total, 519,417 visitor visa applications were received with the number approved sitting at 81%.

A busy year of processing also meant an equally busy time at our border. There were over 11.5 million border movements and 1.4 million New Zealand Electronic Travel Authority (NZeTA) requests submitted with 99.89% approved.

INZ Chief Operating Officer Stephen Vaughan says the results are a sign of the dedicated work of INZ staff.

“Our people were busy navigating the first full year of borders being open since 2019 and managed to exceed all expectations with this milestone number of visa decisions.

“This is a huge credit to the commitment of our people, and their ability to work cohesively with other government agencies like Customs to keep our borders flowing”, says Mr Vaughan.

Another major highlight was the number of people we welcomed into our country through the Refugee Quota Programme, with 1,507 refugees now calling Aotearoa New Zealand home.

“We are immensely proud of our team who work so hard to welcome, resettle and support these refugees into New Zealand”.

The compliance and investigations function of the immigration system also achieved 10 successful convictions in 2023.

“We are working hard to protect those who come to work and live in New Zealand and this result shows our investigations processes are working to ensure justice against those who are not complying with immigration law,” Mr Vaughan says.

“We are feeling focused and positive for the year ahead in 2024, building on the successes of last year and continuing to build our systems and processes to support people that come to work, live and study in Aotearoa New Zealand.”