Immigration New Zealand's $336 million visa processing rebuild has missed its first stage goals.
The Our Future Services project, a 7-year rebuild that began in 2025, aimed to move 31 visa types onto the new platform by earlier in the week of 2 July 2026. Group visitor visas, which process around 60,000 applications each year, encountered problems and missed their June to December 2025 deadline.
A Public Service Commission assurance review was ordered in June 2026. Public Service Commissioner Sir Brian Roche said the review would verify the accuracy and reliability of advice Immigration Minister Erica Stanford received about Our Future Services. Immigration and finance ministers receive quarterly updates on Our Future Services, while Cabinet gets annual briefings.
Our Future Services acting general manager Jaci Barnes said group visitor visas are now expected to be completed in the coming weeks. She said all of INZ's highest volume visa products are now on the new platform and that the programme has identified ways to deliver more effectively and efficiently in future phases.
The project's second phase runs from July 2026 until June 2028 and will move more than 100 visa products onto the enhanced Immigration Online system. The phase also includes creating a new risk analytics platform.