Immigration New Zealand system outage prompts visa woes for travellers, firms and workers

INZ said there were 900 fewer visa applications approved on Monday, compared to the Monday before. Photo / RNZ

By Gill Bonnett of RNZ

Hundreds of visa applications could not be submitted or processed after a fault on a new Immigration New Zealand system.

INZ said there were 900 fewer visa applications approved on Monday, compared to the previous Monday, and the system was still not functioning properly on Wednesday afternoon.

Immigration lawyer Elly Fleming said it had a significant impact on visa applicants and employers.

“INZ has not acknowledged the scale of disruption this is causing for migrants, employers, and families,” she said. “We’ve had several clients affected, waiting for their visas, as well as not being able to lodge employer accreditation applications.”

Among those affected were travellers, workers and businesses, whose visas were essentially “stuck” because the system could not generate documents, she said.

“As a result of this system failure, applicants who have already been approved are unable to receive their visas. This includes people needing to start employment, travel, or maintain lawful status in New Zealand.

“The lack of transparency and the absence of contingency processes are becoming increasingly concerning.”

‘Unexpected challenges’

INZ future services manager Karen Bishop said the agency appreciated the frustration it had caused customers and immigration professionals.

“We are working hard to resolve the issues and will take a pragmatic approach to ensure customers are not disadvantaged.

“Technology platforms require regular upgrades to improve services and performance. While most occur without negatively impacting customers, this recent update was very large and complex, and presented unexpected challenges.”

The online system, called ADEPT, will eventually become the single visa application submission channel and processing system, with several visa types already working that way, most recently international student visas.

Although it gave no numbers of impacted customers, it said Monday’s visa approvals numbered approved about 2300 across the system, compared to about 3200 applications the previous Monday, of which 1300 were in the Enhanced Immigration Online system.

A fix implemented on Tuesday night had significantly reduced upload issues, she added, and as of Wednesday night the system was returning to usual.

“The system is currently available, but some of our customers may still be experiencing occasional issues with the ability to view and upload documents. Customers may notice changes such as occasional document drop-offs; this is being actively addressed.

“The outage led to a delay with visas being issued in Enhanced Immigration Online, but with the fixes we have put in place, these visas are now progressing through the system and being finalised.”

– RNZ