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<\/p>\nThousands of visa applications that have been in limbo for the last 12 months have been canned as Immigration New Zealand is unable to process them due to legal reasons.<\/p>\n
The agency’s border and visa operations general manager Nicola Hogg said they had been unable to process around 50,000 applications from people overseas as they couldn’t grant a visa to someone who was unlikely to meet New Zealand’s entry requirements \u2014 including under Covid-19 border restrictions.<\/p>\n
New Zealand’s border restrictions meant only citizens, residents, people granted an exception or those travelling from a quarantine-free travel zone could enter the country.<\/p>\n
Hogg said most applications were for visitor, student and work visas and people impacted would be refunded their application fee and levy.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
“Immigration New Zealand (INZ) is about to begin the process of lapsing or returning most of these applications and refunding the application fees and levies, if any.<\/p>\n
“Refunding these applicants is the fair and pragmatic thing to do, particularly given the uncertainty that remains about when border restrictions may be eased or lifted.”<\/p>\n
There was around $14 million in refunds to be processed \u2014 made up of around $11m in application fees and $3m in levies.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Most offshore applicants paid between $246 and $495 in fees and levies, depending on the type of visa.<\/p>\n
“Processing these refunds is a significant administrative exercise for INZ and is expected to take months.”<\/p>\n
Hogg said the agency was committed to ensuring everyone got their money back and would contact everyone who was due a refund at the time it was being processed.<\/p>\n
“People can then use the refunds to apply for a visa in the future as borders start to reopen.”<\/p>\n
Hogg said INZ was reviewing its approach to refund requests for various additional groups, including some residence applicants, but no decision had been made.<\/p>\n
INZ suspended the ability for people offshore to apply for a visa on August 10, 2020, Hogg said.<\/p>\n
There were two groups of people whose applications would be refunded:
\u2022 Applicants who applied for a temporary visa from offshore before August 10, 2020 but whose temporary visa applications could be processed because of the border or associated restrictions
\u2022 Applicants who applied for a temporary visa from offshore after August 10, 2020 when the ability for people offshore to submit a visa application was suspended<\/p>\n
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