High quality application processing and decision-making is essential to the integrity of New Zealand’s immigration system. Immigration New Zealand handles about 500,000 visa applications every year and robust processes are in place to uphold our commitment to quality.

In addition to second-person checking, we assess quality through an intranet-based Quality Assurance Programme (QAP).  QAP assesses a sample of applications through questions on policy and business requirements over the application’s lifecycle.

QAP aims to: 

• help identify issues (inconsistencies, errors etc) that need to be addressed in branches, regions or National Office 
• provide an overview of individual staff performance to:
• confirm the quality of their work or 
• identify areas where their performance could be improved.

Assessments are carried out in the branch where the decision was made in the month immediately following the decision.

QAP is supplemented by a quality measure known as Q3, which assesses a sample of applications that have already been assessed by QAP. These assessments are completed each quarter by independent internal assessors in our National Office.

Q3 assessments rate the quality of the decision for each application as good, adequate, questionable or poor.

Good decisions are those assessed as having met all relevant policy and documented business requirements.

Our quality processes are part of an overall programme to improve the way we operate that includes: 

• using best practice to ensure consistency in application processing 
• standardised verification, risk and priority processes 
• more efficient and timely application processing.