The review made 5 recommendations regarding out of hours residential visits, 4 operational recommendations for MBIE/Immigration practice, and 1 for Government to consider regarding legislative change.

MBIE today announced that revisions have been made to the standard operating procedures for kaimahi to use for out of hours compliance visits. These new procedures will support compliance kaimahi to do a full and thorough consideration assessment of all relevant factors when identifying the most appropriate course of action to achieve the outcome sought and maintain the integrity of the Immigration system.

Key operational changes

• Revisions to the standard operating procedures (SOPs) and supporting documents ensure a proportionate and reasonable response is selected based on the circumstances of a case.
• Detailed and thorough consideration of all relevant factors will be completed with all reasonable responses identified. These factors are used to determine the most appropriate course of action to achieve the outcome sought and maintain the integrity of the Immigration system. An unannounced out of hours residential visit will be recommended if it is identified as the last resort course of action.
• A quality check review by internal specialists has been introduced and an approval panel of senior managers has also been established to review and fully test the merits of the recommendation for an unannounced out of hours residential visit.
• An unannounced out of hours residential visit will only be approved if it is genuinely a last resort.

The revised SOPs will come into effect by the end of February 2024 to allow time for kaimahi to be trained in the new procedures. This means there will continue to be no further unannounced out of hours residential visits until kaimahi are trained.