Immigration Online terms of use

Agree to the terms

These terms of use apply to users of Immigration Online, including Immigration Online email notifications.

By using Immigration Online, you have accepted and agreed to follow these Terms of Use, including the Privacy Statement and Copyright Statement.

We reserve the right to change these terms of use at any time. All changes to these terms take effect once they have been posted on Immigration Online. If you use the system after changes have been made, you are deemed to have accepted the new terms.

Read the INZ website terms of use

You must read these terms of use alongside the Immigration New Zealand (INZ) website terms of use.

Terms of use — INZ website

Using Immigration Online on behalf

Where you use Immigration Online on behalf of another person you confirm you are using the system as that person’s agent, and you are authorised to accept and agree to the terms of use on that person’s behalf and to collect and disclose personal information related to that person. By agreeing to the terms of use on that person’s behalf, that person is bound by these terms of use as if they were a user.

Creating your Immigration Online account

You must have a RealMe account with a username and password to create an Immigration Online account. Do not share your RealMe password with anyone.

How to create a RealMe account

When using Immigration Online, you:

• are responsible for all activities carried out under your account
• must comply with all applicable laws, including any laws in the country in which the person is accessing Immigration Online
• must provide true, current and complete information in your dealings with us, including when submitting an application or form.

Making an application online

Creating an account enables you to use Immigration Online for online services, which includes:

• starting, continuing, and submitting a visa application
• making online payments for a visa application
• viewing visa applications already submitted
• receiving or sending communications about or related to your visa applications
• uploading additional documents to support your visa application.

When submitting an application online you are declaring:

• you are the applicant, or are authorised by the applicant to submit the application on behalf of the person(s) or organisation named in the application
• you have obtained all necessary permissions, consents and approvals to submit the application, and
• all the information provided in or with an application you submit is true, correct, accurate and current.

Using Immigration Online does not guarantee any particular outcome for an application.

Notifications

When using Immigration Online, you agree your online account is an electronic address for contact purposes where notices, documents, and other correspondence can be sent to you.

This will be your primary contact address for communications about any application you submit using Immigration Online.

You must promptly tell us about any changes to your contact information and all relevant facts, including changed circumstances.

Deleting applications

If you begin an application or form and save it, but do not submit it within six months, we may consider it abandoned and remove it from your account. You may have to start a new application or form.

Sharing access to your account

You can share access to any application in your account with a third party you trust. Any such third party must also have an Immigration Online account and is bound by these terms of use.

You must ensure you manage any third party access appropriately. Any third party you share your application with will have the same access to your application as you do.

This means they can:

• view your visa application and any associated information including documents you provide, and notifications from INZ
• edit the visa application if it is still in draft
• withdraw or submit the visa application
• provide additional information up until the time of the decision on the application
• share the application with other parties.

You can withdraw access to that third party at any time.

Shared access obligations

If you are a third party user, and personal information is disclosed to you as authorised by the applicant, you must comply in all respects with your obligations under the Privacy Act 2020 and any other applicable legislation in relation to that information.

In particular, you must:

• only use the information for a permitted purpose
• only retain the information as long as required for the permitted purpose
• not share the information unless authorised by the applicant or permitted by law
• destroy any electronic or hardcopy versions of the information securely when no longer required
• if downloading visa records to store, disclose or share, do so in a secure manner.

Privacy

Read our privacy statement for details on how we handle and protect your personal information. By agreeing to these terms of use when using Immigration Online, you agree you have read our privacy statement.

How we use your information

Account access

If we have reasonable grounds to believe you have breached any of these terms of use we reserve the right to suspend, restrict or terminate your access to Immigration Online at any time without notice, at our discretion.

If you fail to provide, within a reasonable time, sufficient information to enable us to determine the accuracy and validity of any information supplied by you (such as your identity), at our discretion your account may be terminated at any time without notice, and you may have to re-create an account.

How we use automated systems to support immigration processes

For people who submit visa applications using our online systems, our systems use information provided by visa applicants, alongside information already held in immigration records, to streamline some processes. INZ uses automated systems to support efficient and consistent decision making.

Partially or fully automated processing activities include:

• establishing or verifying identity using biographic and biometric information from the visa application and INZ records
• assessing whether additional information is required from an applicant (for example passports or medical information) and requesting that information
• interacting with sponsors to seek agreement to sponsorship undertakings
• automated risk assessment segmenting applications for automated or lighter touch processing, or for verification and manual risk assessment
• assessing the application against the criteria for the particular category of visa
• approving the grant of the visa with the appropriate conditions for travel and stay in New Zealand
• notifying the outcome of the decision and issuing visa-related documentation.

A decision to decline a visa application will always be made by an immigration officer.

New Zealand immigration law may require you to make a payment at the time the application is made. You can pay using an authorised Credit or Debit Card.

We process these payments using the secure Datacom Payment Gateway server. Transactions are made using industry-leading 256-bit encryption. A transaction will normally be conducted within 10 seconds.

Datacom Payment Gateway

We do not keep a record of your credit card details. However, these details are held within the banking system so we have proof of your payment.

Payments are made in New Zealand Dollars ($). We do not accept any risk or liability where foreign exchange rates change how much you end up paying.

It is your responsibility to make sure:

• all payment details are correct
• you are legally entitled to make the payment
• you have sufficient funds in your account.

Payments

New Zealand immigration law may require you to make a payment at the time the application is made. You can pay using an authorised Credit or Debit Card.

We process these payments using the secure Datacom Payment Gateway server. Transactions are made using industry-leading 256-bit encryption. A transaction will normally be conducted within 10 seconds.

We do not keep a record of your credit card details. These details are held within the banking system so we have proof of your payment.

Payments are made in New Zealand Dollars (NZD$). We do not accept any risk or liability where foreign exchange rates change how much you end up paying.

It is your responsibility to make sure:

• all payment details are correct
• you are legally entitled to make the payment
• you have sufficient funds in your account.

Payments include GST

The New Zealand Government charges a Goods and Services Tax (GST) on all Goods and Services in New Zealand, including INZ applications. Payments you are required to make may have GST included. You will be able to see this amount on the PDF receipt in your Immigration Online account.

Code of conduct

You are not allowed to use Immigration Online to use, post, or transmit any material that is:

• illegal
• obscene
• defamatory
• injurious
• threatening
• objectionable
• malicious
• infringing of intellectual property rights
• invasive of privacy
• likely to interfere with our systems or services.

Cooperation with authorities

There may be circumstances where we are required or authorised by law to share information about you or your use of Immigration Online.

We reserve the right to comply and cooperate with any law enforcement authorities or court order requesting or directing us to disclose the identity of or locate anyone for the prevention or detection of crime and regulatory enforcement.

Our obligations

When you submit an application our decision will be made in accordance with and pursuant to New Zealand law, including applicable immigration instructions.

Exclusion of liability

INZ has taken all reasonable care to ensure the information we provide to you including during any application process is accurate and adequate.

We disclaim and exclude all liability for any claim, loss, demand, or damages of any kind whatsoever (including for negligence) arising out of, or in connection with, the use of Immigration Online or the information, content, or material on it or on any websites we link to.

We will not be responsible:

• if the Immigration Online system is disrupted (for example, due to a system outage)
• for any information that is lost or corrupted while data is being transmitted, processed or downloaded from Immigration Online.

A system outage does not relieve you of the responsibility to follow requirements or time frames regarding your application.