"My friend got his visa like this, so why can't I"?

This common question always makes me cringe. I guess it is part of the misconception about INZ, but being a government department, you would think most people would assume that means unreliability? 

Immigration New Zealand does not rely on precedent

Firstly INZ is not a court of law, but instead a discretionary decision making body, so previous decisions and actions by INZ do not create precedent. Each application should be decided on its own merits and INZ has the discretion to be able to do this. A discretion-based system aims to provide fair and efficient decision making, but whether this is actually the case is also debateable.

For each application, this means that all the individual factors of the application will be assessed against the legal framework for making the decision. Even one small difference may result in a different approach, different questions being asked, different time frame, and so on. The difference also includes the mindset of the assessing officer.

Factors which will affect the result and assessment time frame of your application:

• Your individual circumstances – work history, country of origin / citizenship, education, relationship, previous immigration applications, employer’s situation, etc
• The workload at INZ
• The mood of the case officer – either their intuition about your application or even if they are in a good or bad mood today
• The skill and experience of your case officer – it is reasonably common for immigration officers to make mistakes and it is a big part of our job as LIAs to fix these
• How well your application has been prepared and presented – the strength of supporting documentation is most important

It is therefore meaningless to expect an outcome based on another person’s experience. Even if the other person is from the same country as yourself applying for the same position in the same company, there is a low chance that the processing will proceed the same way. We have had situations where we have had multiple applicants in the same occupation, same company, same country of origin, same paperwork, very similar qualifications and experience, with very different processing experiences. Timeframes varied from 3 weeks to 3 ½ months, some had their paperwork  questioned, some not at all, and others questioned in different places. This is all part of what we expect when dealing with INZ.

While a professionally prepared and managed application gives you a better chance of having your visa granted and granted quickly, there are still many factors in the list above that are outside of our control. It does surprise some people that we also aim to manipulate the mood of the case officer though.