Kia ora,

It was a real pleasure to attend Tourism New Zealand’s July Kiwi Link event in Mumbai. I met many agents at the event and it was a really valuable opportunity for dialogue. I was able to provide an update on Immigration New Zealand’s (INZ) operating context and the improving performance and timeliness of our visitor visa system. The agents I met in Mumbai were able to tell me about their primary areas of concern.

The number one concern was visa decision consistency, especially relating to the treatment of large family groups travelling together on holiday and honeymoon couples. Since my return to New Zealand, we have implemented some new protocols to help improve the processing of these groups. The aim is to deliver more consistent timeliness and decision outcomes. You can help us by ensuring that any large family groups or honeymoon couples include a cover letter including the names, dates of birth and passport numbers of all applicants in the group and including this cover letter with all visitor visa applications that you submit for the group.

Next year we plan to introduce new group visitor visa functionality on our new online platform which will further improve and simplify the process. There were also some questions about the handling of incentive groups. I am pleased to advise that we are now able to provide more support for these groups with some new dedicated web pages and a team based in New Zealand who can help smooth the visa application process. If you are organising a conference or incentive trip to New Zealand please review our website(opens in new window) and get in touch with us.

In addition we’ve recently updated the India visitor visa page India | Immigration New Zealand(opens in new window) which will help you and your clients make high quality applications. A reminder that parents and dependent children under 20 years can be included on one New Zealand visitor visa application.

Finally, there were also questions about training for INZ and for you. We are currently reviewing our India market training to help ensure that the information our staff have is up to date and recognises the nuances and intricacies of incredible India. We are also talking to our Tourism New Zealand colleagues about the prospect of further webinars to help support the important work you are doing.

I hope this update gives a picture of the work underway to improve the New Zealand visitor visa experience. We look forward to further engagement with you in the coming months.

Jock Gilray

Director Visa

Immigration New Zealand