2013-May 10: Prioritising residence applications

Visa Pak 111- Advice to staff regarding prioritising residence applications and situations considered

Visa Paks

10 May 2013

Prioritising residence applications

Operations Support has discussed prioritisation of Residence applications with the Resolutions Team in the light of correspondence from the Ombudsman on this topic.

The decision to give priority is delegated to an immigration officer as detailed in A16.1 General Instructions as to the order and manner of processing residence applications and IAC 13-01 Prioritisation Residence Programme reiterates the ability to prioritise certain applications ‘when the individual circumstances warrant it’. INZ has deliberately chosen not to have specific criteria or thresholds for prioritisation, to allow for individual circumstances to be taken into account.

Factors to consider in the decision

Where the factors provided by the applicant to support a request for prioritisation may be satisfied by the issue of a temporary visa, this is still an option particularly as an exception to instructions may be considered. However, for some applicants, prioritising the residence application may be the only satisfactory solution. In this case applicants or their families should provide verifiable evidence of an individual suffering ‘particular hardship or deprivation’. The ordinary meaning of that phrase is thought to provide sufficient guidance that the threshold for prioritisation is high and that factors affecting many applicants such as separation from family or simply being in a refugee camp without any other aggravating factors are not sufficient. Conversely, to only prioritise applications from those who are in danger of death or severe injury is considered too restrictive.

In the absence of a direct request, if an officer is aware of a current application (whether or not it is in a managed queue) that may warrant prioritisation, the officer should consult with his or her immigration manager (see below).

Making and recording the decision

Given the potential complexities and sensitivity of prioritising applications, the final decision of whether or not to prioritise should be made at Immigration Manager level or higher (Market Manager, Branch Manager or higher). The decision should then be recorded on the Assessing Residence Applications for Priority template and sent to Operations Support. Operations Support will record cases of approved and declined prioritisation across all branches to enable reporting and to provide feedback to interested parties.

Allocating prioritised applications

It is expected that in branches not processing Refugee and Refugee Family applications that applicants in all categories except the Parent/Sibling/Adult Child categories will receive sufficient prioritisation in the normal manner for them not to request further priority. Parent, Siblings and Adult Children applications approved priority should be allocated to the Family team for immediate processing. Any other application types should be allocated to the relevant branch team.

Where a significant proportion of applicants in any one branch appear eligible for prioritisation, then please seek further advice from Operations Support.

When it is decided to prioritise an application, and a NSC check is required, a priority request to NSC should also be made and followed up as necessary.

Action:

  • Decisions to prioritise must be made by Immigration Manager or higher.
  • The decision should be recorded on the Assessing Residence Applications for Priority template.
  • The template should be sent to Operations Support.
  • A priority request to NSC should be made, if applicable.