The year 2023 was another big and challenging year for Immigration New Zealand and the immigration system. It was our first full year of open borders since 2019, and a lot was achieved along the way.

We saw unprecedented demand for visitor visas, with the record of applications submitted being broken on a number of months. We introduced new visas, including the:

• Recovery Visa to support the country’s clean up after the devastating Cyclone Gabrielle, and the
• Skilled Migrant Category to support our country’s workforce.

None of this would have been possible without the hard work and dedication of all our kaimahi (employees) across the entire immigration system, and our partners and stakeholders.

Key statistics

• More than 1 million visa decisions were made.
• There were more than 11.5 million movements at the New Zealand border.
• Over 3 million viewers watched our kaimahi on Border Patrol.
• Over 150 mass emails sent, totalling nearly 3 million emails to customers and stakeholders, as well as 5 international marketing campaigns reaching people in 38 countries.
• More than 519,400 visitor visa applications were submitted and 81% were approved.
• More than 1.4 million NZeTA were submitted and 99.89% were approved.
• 15,749 employers became accredited under the Accredited Employer Work Visa (AEWV) policy.
• Approximately 2.2 million manual identity comparisons were completed.
• Almost 2,000 AEWV post-accreditation checks were completed.
• More than 79,000 AEWV applications were submitted and 88% were approved.
• 46,703 working holiday applications were submitted and 95% were approved. There were also 2,344 working holiday extensions applications approved.
• 99% of 2021 Resident Visa applications were decided — with the goal of 80% processed being reached 3 months ahead of schedule.
• 90,067 student visas were decided — 75% of these were approved.
• More than 18,400 Recognised Seasonal Employer applications were approved.
• 1,507 Quota refugees were resettled in New Zealand.
• 567 people were resettled under the Refugee Family Support Category and 33 refugees under the Community Organisation Refugee Sponsorship pilot.
• More than 40 amendment circulars have been distributed.