Our Future Services programme

The multi-year Our Future Services programme builds on work already done to deliver a trusted and effective immigration system. 

The programme will deliver a more cost-effective immigration system that is more productive, more effective at managing immigration risk and provides a better experience for our customers and staff. It is designed to address 4 key areas: 

• making visa processing more efficient
• mitigating risk of technology and service failure
• proactive and sophisticated risk management
• improved customer and user experience.

A more customer-centric Immigration New Zealand

One platform for visa submissions and processing

As part of the programme, the enhanced Immigration Online system – also known as ADEPT – will become the single customer submission channel and visa application processing system.

Customers can expect:

• a simpler, faster and more user-friendly application process
• smart application forms that ask customers for information specific to their situation
• increased self-service capabilities including being able to check their application status in real-time within their dashboard 
• consistently reduced average processing times for visas – as seen from previous product transitions, such as permanent resident visas.

The programme has transitioned the following visa products to the enhanced Immigration Online system:

• Group and Tour Escort visitor visas in August 2026
• family of temporary visa holders in June 2026 
• international student visas in August 2025. 

The programme is aiming to transition the remaining visa categories to the enhanced Immigration Online as below. Information for each transition will be communicated when specific transition dates are confirmed.

The following timeline is subject to change and will be updated as the programme progresses. 

2026

• Family of New Zealand citizens or residents

Next

• Temporary IGMS Work Visa
• Work Visa Asylum
• Migrant Exploitation Work Visa
• Skilled Residence
• Pacific Access Category and Samoan Quota
• Resident visa transfers and confirmations
• Working Holiday Visa
• Limited Visa

Improved risk management across the immigration system

The programme will strengthen risk management across the immigration system, so we are better able to identify and respond to risk.  Improved and integrated functionality in our systems will make more data and information readily available to staff to support quality decision making. 

Designing our organisation to better suit our customers

As more products move to the enhanced Immigration Online and our risk management capabilities improve, we will be able to design our organisation around getting the best outcomes for our customers. 

An efficient and fully digital immigration system will mean that our workforce can be trained and deployed to best meet customer needs. We are currently working through what this looks like in practice.