Privacy statement
This privacy statement applies to the collection, security and use of personal and other information by Immigration New Zealand (INZ).
Privacy statement
This privacy statement applies to the collection, use, storage, disclosure, and retention of personal and other information by Immigration New Zealand (INZ).
About this privacy statement
This statement covers all information collected or held by Immigration New Zealand (INZ, ‘we’, or ‘our’), from all sources, and in all formats.
Other privacy statements that apply to INZ
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) privacy statement also applies to the information INZ collects and uses. This is because INZ is a part of MBIE. You can read the MBIE privacy statement on the MBIE website.
Collecting information for visas or New Zealand Electronic Travel Authority (NZeTA) requests
When you register as a user of our application systems, personal information is collected to create and manage your account.
When you apply for a visa or request an NZeTA, we collect personal information which can include biometric information. Biometric information is information about a person’s physical or behavioural features, such as their face, fingerprints, iris, or voice. Biometric processing uses technology to collect and process biometric information.
We use your personal information, including biometric information such as facial images and fingerprints, to:
establish a record of your identity
establish or verify your identity
determine your eligibility to apply for and be issued a visa or an NZeTA, including whether you can apply online
administer the Immigration Act 2009, including to make decisions under the Act.
The collection of your information is authorised by the Immigration Act 2009 (the Act) and the Immigration Regulations made under that Act. Providing some information, including biometric information, is mandatory (a legal requirement). If you do not provide mandatory information, we may not be able to accept, or process your visa application or NZeTA request, or we may decline your application or refuse your request.
Some information is voluntary and helps with processing your visa application or NZeTA request.
If you have agreed to be a sponsor or are supporting your partner to apply for a visa, we collect your personal information to determine if you meet the criteria to support a visa applicant.
For more information about how we collect, use, store and protect your biometric information, check our 'Collecting and using biometric information' page.
Collecting and using biometric information
Applications or NZeTA requests submitted on your behalf
We may collect your biometric information and related information from a person submitting an application or request on your behalf. For example, if it is submitted on your behalf by an agent or a licensed immigration advisor. This is also known as ‘indirect’ collection.
We will notify you if we indirectly collect your information where required under the Privacy Act. However, we may not notify you we have indirectly collected your information if:
- we have good reason to believe you are aware someone has submitted your information on your behalf
- we believe that notifying you would be likely to prejudice our maintenance of the law, including to prevent, detect, investigate or prosecute an offence under the Immigration Act 2009 or Crimes Act 1961
- we believe notifying you would be likely to prejudice the security or defence of New Zealand or the international relations of the Government of New Zealand
- it would cause a serious threat to the health or safety of any person or the public
- it is not reasonably practicable to notify you, for example, if we do not have your contact details
- the information was already publicly available.
Storing information
We have a legal requirement to protect any information we collect from you.
Biometric information, including facial images, is retained in accordance with MBIE record keeping and disposal requirements. We retain most biometric information for 50 years before it is destroyed. Some biometric information is retained for less time, for example DNA test results are destroyed within 24 months.
For a detailed list of the minimum retention period by information class and type, check the MBIE disposal authority schedule:
Disposal authority DA644 — Collections New Zealand
Biometric information may be stored or processed using secure systems or cloud services located outside New Zealand, subject to appropriate safeguards.
Immigration Act 2009 — New Zealand Legislation
Privacy Act 2020 — New Zealand Legislation
The Privacy Commissioner's website has more information on the privacy laws in New Zealand and how to complain to the Privacy Commissioner.
You can contact the Privacy Commissioner at:
Office of the Privacy Commissioner
PO Box 10094
Wellington 6143
Use of information
We use the information you provide, including biometric information, to administer the Immigration Act 2009, including performing our functions and making decisions.
We will not disclose your information to any third party in a form that identifies you unless:
- you have authorised the disclosure, or
- such disclosure is required or permitted by the Privacy Act 2020, the Biometric Processing Privacy Code 2025, or
- it is otherwise required or permitted by law.
We share information with other government agencies under applicable law, including the Department of Internal Affairs, New Zealand Customs, and the New Zealand Police.
We share identity information with immigration authorities in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America as members of the Migration Five (M5) group established to cooperate on immigration matters.
Such information is shared in relation to detecting immigration or identity fraud.
We use your information to decide if you can board a flight, or cargo ship, or join a cruise to New Zealand.
When you check in, the check-in agent only sees a boarding instruction based on the information you have provided in a visa application or NZeTA request.
To help manage your travel to New Zealand, your airline, cargo ship, or cruise operator can make an online enquiry to us based on the information from your travel booking, such as your passport details, to see if you are eligible to travel to New Zealand.
How we collect and use information about people flying in and out of NZ
We may also use your information to:
- contact you for research purposes
- inform you about immigration matters, and
- help us improve the quality of our customer service, including through staff training.
New Zealand Traveller Declaration
If you want to know how your information will be collected and used by New Zealand Customs and other border agencies, you can find out by going to the New Zealand Traveller Declaration website.
Access to your personal information
You have the right to:
- find out if we hold personal information about you, including biometric information and what type of biometric information we hold
- access that information
- request corrections to that information.
In accordance with the Privacy Act 2020, we can refuse your request if we have a lawful reason.
Request your information
To request access or correction to information we hold about you, complete our online form.
Request or change your personal information
Complaints
Check our complaints and feedback page if you want to make a complaint about a service you received from us or if you think we did not follow the correct process.
You can also raise a complaint or concern about how we collect, use, store or otherwise handle biometric information.
Complain about Immigration New Zealand services and processes
Transparency statement
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s (MBIE) transparency statement describes the kind of personal and biometric information MBIE gathers to ensure it can:
- protect people, information and places
- ensure regulatory compliance, and
- detect and prevent criminal offending.
Transparency statement — Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment
Statistical information
You can browse this website without disclosing any personal data. However, we collect statistical information about your visit to help us analyse usage and improve the website. This information includes, but is not limited to:
- users' internet protocol (IP) addresses and location
- users' search terms
- pages accessed on the website
- links clicked on
- date and time of visits
- previous visits to the website
- users' operating systems
- browsers and devices used when accessing the website.
This information can be seen by website administrators and other INZ staff.
This information is used for statistical or research purposes and will not be published in a form that could reasonably be expected to identify you.
It is also shared with other government agencies.
Google Signals
This site uses Google Signals as a remarketing and data collection tool. Google Signals only collects data from Google users who have personalised advertising enabled, which is switched on by default for Google accounts. This data may include browsing history, device and demographic information, as well as search and YouTube history. Google Signals data collection persists across devices.
If you have enabled personalised advertising in your google account, Google will be able to create models and reports about this website’s use based in part on your data. These models and reports are based on random samples and are anonymised by Google. This means we cannot identify individual Google users or their actions.
Users can disable personalised advertising in their Google account settings or mobile app settings.
Cookies
We have 4 types of cookies on this site.
- Some cookies remember the information you have entered so we can show content relevant to you based on your site preferences.
- Some cookies help us collect statistics and other analytical information so we can improve and manage the site.
- Some cookies track your use of other websites to provide relevant and engaging advertisements — these are called re-marketing tracking cookies.
- Some cookies make the website function properly for you — for example, they remember your cookie preferences.
None of our cookies collect information that could identify you personally. When you visit our site, you decide which cookies we use, although you cannot opt out of the cookies needed to make the website function properly.
Re-marketing tracking cookies
These cookies let third-party vendors show INZ ads on websites across the internet based on someone's past visits to this website. This helps us communicate with people who have shown an interest in living, working, studying or visiting New Zealand.
We share this data with other New Zealand Government agencies, such as Education New Zealand and Tourism New Zealand, so they can serve ads to these people.
NZeTA cookies
We have engaged MediaCom to provide a targeted digital marketing service through affiliates including GroupM, Xaxis and [m]PLATFORM. You can find their privacy policies on their websites.
The information they will collect and use includes:
- your IP address and data derived from that address, such as non-precise geolocation data showing the country, region, city or postal code of your device
- the type of device, internet browser, browser language, and operating system you use
- the time of day you visited the website.
This information is used for 30 days and stored for 90 days before disposal.
Security
Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) websites have security measures in place to prevent the loss, misuse, and alteration of information under our control.
To maintain the cyber security of MBIE systems and information, MBIE systems are subject to ongoing monitoring (including activity logging), analysis, and auditing.
We use information about your use of our websites and other IT systems to prevent unauthorised access or attacks on these systems or to resolve such events.
We use this information even if you are not involved in such activity. MBIE uses one or more third-party suppliers to monitor or maintain the cyber security of its systems and information.
These third-party suppliers have access to monitoring and logging information as well as information processed on MBIE websites and other IT systems.