Our Future Services

The Our Future Services programme aims to deliver a more cost-effective immigration system that is more productive, more effective at managing immigration risk, and provides a better experience for our customers and staff. 

We have made progress over recent years to move towards a digital and intelligence-led immigration system.

Our Future Services aims to improve 4 key areas:

• Making visa processing more efficient
• Mitigating risk of technology and service failure
• Proactive and sophisticated risk management
• Improved customer and user experience

The Our Future Services programme has customers at the heart of its design. Simpler, faster and more user-friendly application processes to reduce waiting times, clear communication on application status, and increased self-service capabilities will ensure our customers feel informed and supported.

What’s next 

We are pausing some aspects of the Our Future Services programme while we undertake a reassessment of the programme following completion of Phase One.

The reassessment will include updating the programme's Business Case, taking stock of progress to date, considering lessons learned, and incorporating findings from reviews, including the Public Service Commission's Assurance Review which is underway.

Current visa migration work, essential improvements to enhanced Immigration Online – also known as ADEPT – and priority Government commitments will continue. This means that once the current migration is complete, we will pause any further visa migrations to enhanced Immigration Online while the reassessment is underway.

Instead, we will focus on making the most of the products and capabilities already delivered and will continue to improve the experience for both customers and our people.

We have published a stocktake of technology projects, including the Our Future Services programme. See the most recent information on the Our Future Services programme progress below.

Our future services programme

Programme delivery

The programme will be delivered over 7 years. Phase One is complete and has delivered meaningful progress and a strong foundation for future delivery work.

Three major visa groups have been transitioned to the enhanced Immigration Online system, with one more currently in progress – temporary entry visas for family of New Zealanders. More than half of all visa applications will soon be processed through enhanced Immigration Online.

Many customers are reporting a better application experience, and new digital capabilities are helping make processing simpler, more consistent and more efficient.

Programme documents

Cabinet papers and minutes