A technical error occurred shortly after the Silver Fern Job Search opened on Friday 4 May, which enabled people to submit applications and pay the application fee after all the places had been filled. All those affected were contacted on Friday and received an apology for the error and were advised they would receive a full refund.

Immigration New Zealand has received a lot of correspondence from the people affected by this error. It is clear that young, skilled people have very strong feelings about wanting the chance to come to New Zealand. In light of the large amount of feedback we have received, Immigration New Zealand has decided to accept applications from the people who completed the application process and paid the fee.

The affected people will be contacted individually via email over the next few days, with instructions for paying the fee and completing their applications.

Immigration New Zealand sincerely apologises for the error that occurred and any distress that this caused.  We hope that this act of good faith will allay the concerns that have been raised with us. We are working with our system vendors to ensure this kind of technical error never occurs again.