Immigration ONLINE – StudentANZA Conference - April, 2014

INZ Vision 2015

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• 1400 staff in 36 locations worldwide

• 41 Visa Application Centres (VACs) in 25 countries

• In the year to 30 June 2013:

Over 11.9 million unique visits to the INZ website

Over 700,000 phone / email enquiries to the Immigration Contact Centre

Over 11 million border clearances

206,360 visitor visa decisions

166,670 temporary work visa decisions

83,360 student visa decisions

38,960 people approved for residence

751 quota refugees resettled

Immigration New Zealand in context

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Improving contribution of immigration as an economic enabler to New Zealand:

• Supporting the delivery of growth strategies for tourism, international education

• Helping ensure New Zealand has the skills we need to be productive

• Migrant contribution about $1.9 billion per year to GDP

• International education contributing around $2.5 billion per year

• International tourism spend about $5.5 billion per year

Immigration’s contribution

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A significant business change programme scheduled for next two years focusing on:

• Better customer service

• More focus on attracting skills, talent and capital to New Zealand

• Improved border security

• Services delivered with improved cost efficiencies

• World-class identity management

• Greater involvement of “trusted partners” in visa processing

• So ...

“Immigration New Zealand is recognised as a trusted partner, delivering outstanding immigration services and bringing the best people New

Zealand needs to prosper.”

Vision 2015 – what is it?

Immigration ONLINE

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What is Immigration ONLINE?

• Technology that improves Service, delivers Savings and enhances Security.• A central part of INZ’s Vision 2015 - aimed at having a more flexible, responsive

and efficient operating model world-wide• A system less reliant on physical branches, paper application forms and manual

processing

What do we want to achieve?

• Immigration services will be delivered online• More consistent decision making • A more flexible business model • Improved fraud detection and prevention • World class identity management capability.

Immigration ONLINE

Indicative timingsImmigration ONLINE is scheduled to roll out in phases through to the end of 2015:

• Visa Options Check (VOC) –went live in May 2013 and guides users to the visa type they may be eligible for.

• Apply Online – starts in second quarter of 2014 with online applications for some student visas (known as Immigration ONLINE - Student).

Other visa types go live later in 2014 (work and visitor), and 2015.

Apply online allows customers to upload photographs and supporting documents with their applications, and have their own online account.

• Apply on behalf / Online Portals – will allow partners such as Education Agents and Immigration Advisors to apply online on behalf of a customer - scheduled to be progressively rolled out from late 2014.

• Identity (IDMe) – allows biometric identity verification (face and fingerprint) and automatic identity matching – scheduled to be launched in mid 2015

• Assess and Decide – our replacement system for AMS will streamline the way staff assess and decide applications, automating routine tasks. This will be available in late 2015.

Visa Options Check – the first Immigration ONLINE release

• A new Visa Options Check went live in May 2013, helping users understand which

visa they may be eligible for.

Visa Options Check – the first Immigration ONLINE release

• The VOC is attracting significantly more customer visits than the online questionnaire it

replaced.

• Updated to reflect regulatory changes.

• The spike in July represents promotion of the VOC to a database of 200,000 ‘NZ Now’

customers. Since then, usage has been largely consistent month-on-month.

July 2013

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Immigration ONLINE - Student: the second Immigration

ONLINE release

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Immigration ONLINE - Student

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Immigration ONLINE - Student

‘Apply on behalf of’

• Functionality to allow Education Agents (and other providers) to apply online on behalf of their students is planned to be introduced in late 2014, subject to testing.

• In the meantime, Education Agents will continue to use current methods of applying on behalf of applicants.

• Providing access to Immigration ONLINE for Education Agents recognises the valuable contribution made by agents in bringing skilled and talented people to study and live in New Zealand.

• We want this relationship and business partnership to continue.

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• The student online application and the new ICT infrastructure is ‘built’ and is going through extensive technical testing and user acceptance testing before going live

• Significant business readiness preparations are underway or planned for in advance of go-live (e.g. training; internal and external communications)

• Our deployment principles and go/no go decision making process will determine the definitive go-live date

• We will monitor performance of the system; quality of the applications; and our business processes

• Not all students will choose to apply online, so existing ways of applying for visas remain available (and create a fall back option)

• Following student online application, other online visa application types will be progressively introduced (e.g. worker and visitor visas)

• The student application provides the base for all subsequent online visa types.

Immigration ONLINE - Student: Next Steps

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Export Education Industry Partnership - PILOT

• Industry partnership initiative between INZ and pilot group of high-performing education providers

• INZ will pilot, and test, the framework with 25 providers from across the New Zealand education sector; with possible further rollout in 2015

• Partner providers will be able to nominate offshore student visa applicants for priority processing, if satisfied that the applicants are bona fide students with the required funds

• INZ still conducts health and character checks and makes the final decision

• Improved processing times likely for these applications

• The pilot was limited to 25 providers – as it is only in the pilot stage

The industry partnership trial…

Will: Won’t:

- Show INZ desire to work - Allow partners to decide closely with partners on applications

- Share risks and benefits - Replace immigration instructions

- Provide feedback - Allow non-advisers to give immigration advice

The initiative pilot vs. the end state

Pilot End state

Start date Late 2013 2015 tbcNumber of providers Up to 25 80++Mode of operation Letter of support Electronic tick boxWho submits the application

Student / Agent Provider / Agent

Where processed Branch received (possibly) centrallyExpected gains Information EfficiencyRisks managed by… Coaching participating 

providersIncreased assurance resource

THE PILOT VS. THE END STATE

Processing Updates

• Majority of requirements have not changed.

• Students must study

• Attend and progress

• Sufficient funds

• Good character

• Acceptable health

Recent updates to Immigration Instructions

– The main changes include:

• Work rights automatically

• Names changes for post study visas

• Work rights for English language students

• Administrative changes

December 2013 Changes

The following amendments have been made to Temporary entry instructions:

Work rights for English language students

• Work allowed for 20 hours per week

• At least 14 weeks duration

• NZQA Category 1 EER providers

Automatic work rights

• Students do not have to ask for a variation of conditions to their student visa to get work rights. Instead, students’ visas will be granted with whatever work conditions the student is eligible for.

New Instruction U13

• The work rights of students have been placed under a new section, U13 Work conditions for student visa holders, and the immigration instructions at U7.15 Students undertaking employment, have been revoked.

December 2013 changes

16 and 17 year old students

• Clarified

• Permission from both parent(s) and education providers

WD study to work

• Name changes

– from ‘Graduate Job Search Work Visa’ to ‘Post-study work visa – open’,

– from ‘Graduate Work Experience Visa’ to ‘Post-study work visa –

employer assisted’.

WD1 Post-study work visa

• employer assisted has been changed to ensure it is clear that an applicant’s

job offer must be relevant to the qualification that made the applicant

eligible for a work visa, not any other qualification that they may have

completed.

December 2013 changes (continues)

Terminology changes and clarifications

• NZQA has changed the structure of their qualifications up to level 6 on the

New Zealand Qualifications Framework. A “course” is now called a

“programme of study”.

• The wording of student and study to work visa instructions has been

amended to align with NZQA terminology. The term “course fees” has been

changed to “tuition fees”.

Visas no longer to be granted for study at Category 4 providers

• New visas will not be granted to students who seek to enrol in an education

provider rated by the NZQA as Category 4 from the beginning of 2014.

December 2013 changes (continues)

Any questions?

Or come and see us at Booth 13!