You are receiving this email because you represent one or more applications for an Entrepreneur Work Visa (Interim) which is awaiting allocation to a case officer in the managed queue at the Business Migration Branch.

As you may be aware, this queue is currently subject to a significant backlog. Applications are currently taking around 10 months for allocation to a Business Immigration Specialist. We acknowledge that this situation is unacceptable and that we cannot continue operating with such significant wait times.  Market demand for this category has grown and we have therefore undertaken a process review to ensure correct processes are being followed.
 
As a result of this process review, the Business Immigration Specialists processing the Entrepreneur Work Visa (Interim) applications will be adhering to the instructions located at E7.15 (included below for your reference). Entrepreneur Work Visa (Interim) applications are applications for temporary visas, and therefore (unless explicitly directed by instructions) the generic instructions which apply to them are the generic temporary entry instructions. A consistent adherence to the correct instructions for every application across Immigration New Zealand is necessary in order to uphold the principles of fairness and natural justice.
 
The principles of fairness include considering whether an applicant is informed of information that might harm their case (often referred to as potentially prejudicial information). There is a definition of potentially prejudicial information (PPI) for principal applicants who are outside of New Zealand at E7.15.1:

E7.15.1 Applicants outside New Zealand.

For the purpose of assessing an application for a temporary entry class visa from an applicant who is outside New Zealand, PPI is factual information or material that:

1. was not obtained from the applicant or the applicant’s authorised representative or agent; and
2. is not publicly available, or that the applicant is not necessarily aware of; and
3. will or may adversely affect the outcome of an application; and
4. the applicant has not previously had an opportunity to comment on.

Note: The submission of false or misleading information by an applicant or their agent is not potentially prejudicial information as that information has been obtained from the applicant or their agent.
                                                                                                                                                    Effective 21/11/2016

This means that, if a principal applicant is outside of New Zealand, unless a decision is being based on information which does meet the definition of PPI, we will not be informing you of this information prior to making a decision on the application. Please note that information must meet each of these above criteria in order to be considered PPI.

For those principal applicants who are onshore, there will be no change to our current process.

Whilst this may not apply to the applications submitted by you or your organisation, we have noted an increase in applications which clearly do not contain evidence which demonstrates that the applicants meet the relevant immigration instructions. We have concerns that some representatives may be waiting to receive a PPI letter to tell them what information INZ expects them to submit. We do not consider this to be acceptable, and we believe that by following the correct process we can spend more time on the quality applications which are submitted by the majority of representatives, reducing wait times and providing a better level of service to all our customers.

While Immigration New Zealand must strive to ensure its decisions are consistent (A1.5, effective 29 November 2010), the fact that we may have allowed comment on non-PPI material in other applications does not provide a justification for a process outside of the instructions.

We do note that, previously, prior to a decision being made you have been afforded an opportunity to comment on information even when it was outside of the above definition of PPI material. Because of this, out of fairness we have elected to afford you the opportunity to send an update to your clients’ applications. We note that for the majority of agents who have submitted well-prepared applications, you will not need to do anything. However, in case you feel that there is any missing information, or any information which demonstrates that your client does not meet the relevant instructions, please send any updates to our office by 17 October 2017.

The address to which you will need to send any updates is:
Business Migration Branch (BMB)
Level 3, 256 Lambton Quay
Wellington 6011

Please clearly reference the application number for any information that you send.

After 17 October 2017, we will continue assessing the offshore Entrepreneur Work Visa (Interim) applications in the managed queue using the E7.15.1 definition of PPI to inform our process for principal applicants who are outside of New Zealand. New Entrepreneur Work Visa (Interim) applications received will also be assessed using this definition.

(Source: BMB)

If you have any questions about this process, you can send enquiries to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..