Applications for Visitor Visa filed by nationals from the Pacific Island Forum will continue to be submitted only online, as these applicants cannot file their requests in person at New Zealand Pacific offices.
According to New Zealand Immigration, candidates applying for the border exception during the COVID-19 pandemic and those registering for the Pacific Access and Samoan Quota residence categories must also submit their applications online, VisaGuide.World reports.
The authorities have pointed out that this measure has provided positive results, which will be reflected in application processing times.
Since applications have moved online, we have seen higher quality applications being submitted from Pacific applicants. If high-quality information is provided to us, this helps to improve processing times.
The same noted that by applying online, applicants gain more visibility of the progress of their application and are able to track their Immigration Online dashboard, which shows the status of their application in real-time.
On their website, New Zealand Immigration has pointed out that applications can often be declined for administrative reasons, which include applicants withdrawing their requests, replacing the application with a new one or due to data errors and applications created by mistake.
The Pacific Island Forum represents nationals of 18 countries, which, except for New Zealand and Australia, includes the small islands in the Pacific Ocean such as Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, French Polynesia, Kiribati, Nauru, New Caledonia, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Republic of Marshall Islands, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu.
250,000 Visitor Visa Applications Filed in 2023/24 to New Zealand
According to New Zealand Immigration data, a total of 252,045 applications for NZ Visitor Visas were filed between 2023 and 2024, with 83.4 percent being approved compared to over 40,000 that received a negative response.
While 3.4 million requests for visitor visas have been recorded in the last decade in total, the highest number of visa applications was evident in the 2018/2019 period, when over half a million requests for such visas were recorded.
In this period, which marks the pre-pandemic year, a record number of requests were recorded, showing that the interest in such visas was soaring. More specifically, the immigration authorities in New Zealand received 580,237 applications, 92.1 percent of which were approved.