SIS told to prioritise national security checks waiting more than nine months

The SIS has refused to reveal its average processing time. Photo / RNZ

By Gill Bonnett of RNZ

Immigration New Zealand has asked the security intelligence service to prioritise national security checks that have been waiting for more than nine months.

The SIS said it has been dealing with an almost 200 per cent increase in checks for residence visas.

Immigration briefings show half of the fast-track green list residence applications - for medical, engineering and IT jobs - are waiting for security checks, and they take an average of six months.

The SIS has refused to reveal its average processing time but said the timeframes were being formalised in a service-level agreement with Immigration New Zealand (INZ).

It said when discussions were held about security checks ahead of an estimated 100,000 applications for the 2021 residence visa, it had a year to complete them, although the expectation was half of that.

SIS said it was not consulted on green list visas, which were launched last year and were designed to be processed in six weeks.

Director-General of Security Andrew Hampton said to reveal the number of security checks (NSC) and how long they took may prejudice the security or defence of New Zealand or international relations.

“As you have noted, we have previously released average processing times,” he said.

“When making decisions on several recent requests for processing times, we assessed that there would be a likely harm to New Zealand’s national security if we continue to release processing times.

“This is because providing a snapshot of processing times is not a concern; building a dynamic picture of the NSC system by releasing this information over a time is of security concern as it could allow our adversaries to exploit the border screening system.”

SIS worked to complete 90 per cent of residence applications within six months for “routine responses”. For temporary visas, the target was 90 per cent within two weeks.

There was a 192.6 per cent increase in the number of resident category visa applications referred to SIS by immigration staff for an NSC since 2018.

“The NZSIS was consulted about its ability to provide NSC assessments before the introduction of the 2021 Resident Visa. Discussions included an agreement that the NZSIS would have a 12-month timeframe to complete all NSCs, with the expectation each NSC would be completed within six months of receipt.

“We advised INZ [that] estimating the time taken for processing NSCs is not straightforward - the time to conduct checks is highly variable depending on a number of factors, including whether we already have holdings relevant to the applicant, the number of holdings we have and the types of these holdings.”

A significant factor slowing down processing time was having to return applications to INZ for further information.

“Based on pre-Covid processing times we advised we would be able to process the expected number of Resi21 NSCs in the agreed timeframe.

“This was dependent on a number of factors, including successful recruitment within the NZSIS Border Screening function to replace staff who had left the organisation; the priority and volume of other INZ NSCs should the border reopen; full integration of the INZ/NZSIS systems to ensure applications are sent correctly and in a timely manner [and] minimising the number of incomplete applications that need to be returned for further information.

“The NZSIS was not consulted about its ability to conduct NSCs before the introduction of the Green List Straight to Residence pathway.”