RNZ acquired stories of the Immigration On-line system being down for important durations of time on Sunday and Monday.
Photograph: RNZ
Immigration New Zealand skilled one in every of its busiest days on Monday as folks tried to use for his or her visas on-line earlier than the rise in charges and levies on 1 October 1.
RNZ acquired stories of the Immigration On-line system being down for important durations of time on Sunday and Monday.
Katy Macleod, Immigration New Zealand (INZ) director on-line companies, mentioned the platform – which primarily dealt with pupil, group, partnership and resident visas, exceeded 3 times the common visitors that might usually come via the positioning.
“This meant that some prospects skilled intermittent points when making use of for visas via this platform,” Macleod mentioned.
“There have been no points reported for purchasers submitting via our different methods.”
She mentioned as soon as INZ was alerted to the issue, it positioned a banner on the web site advising prospects of the problems with the Immigration On-line system, and directed prospects to the Enhanced Immigration On-line system in the event that they have been making use of for customer visas.
Macleod mentioned INZ acknowledged that some prospects might not have been in a position to submit their functions earlier than the 1 October cut-off, and apologised for the disruption.
She mentioned the will increase to visa charges and levies have been well-signalled.
“We communicated with stakeholders and prospects properly upfront that the federal government could be rising visa charges and levies on 1 October 2024, and prospects would wish to submit full functions earlier than this date, in any other case they would wish to pay the brand new price.”
In August, the government announced visa charges and levies could be going up to make sure the system was self-funding and extra environment friendly.
Most worldwide guests making use of for a visa or NZETA (New Zealand Digital Journey Authority) have to pay a non-refundable Worldwide Customer Conservation and Tourism Levy (IVL) to enter New Zealand. That cost elevated by $65 to $100 on Tuesday.
Different visas additionally elevated markedly, with expert residence visas and partnership visas every climbing by greater than $2000, whereas pupil visas doubled to $750.
