Up to 500 Immigration NZ roles to be lost to automation by 2032
Thursday, 25 September 2025
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Immigration New Zealand (INZ) is estimated to lose around half of its visa processing staff as it moves toward automating its systems.
Up to 500 roles will be lost as the agency looks to move all its visas to a new Immigration Online platform, which will see some visa decisions made without any human input.
INZ general manager of future services Karen Bishop said the agency would see a smaller, more specialised workforce by the end of the seven-year programme.
Early modelling indicated the potential for a reduction of up to 500 full-time equivalents across the immigration system over a seven-year period, Bishop said in a statement.
The ultimate size of the workforce at the end of the programme would depend on factors including changes to visa volumes, changes to visa products, new policies and advances in technology.
Bishop said the agency will try to manage any reduction in roles through natural attrition and redeployment.
The visa process will be “modernised” with end-to-end automated decision-making introduced for some visas, while other visas would receive increased automation of certain administrative tasks.
Bishop said frontline staff would still be crucial.
“Decision-making for the majority of visa applications remains a human-led process, and automation is being introduced to support, not replace, specialist judgement and intervention,” she said.
“We are committed to involving staff in shaping the future of our organisation, supporting them throughout the transition and ensuring changes are managed transparently and collaboratively.”
She said the programme was designed to allow staff to focus on more complex tasks requiring human expertise, while reducing manual processing in areas where automation can improve speed and consistency.
The programme started in July this year, with student visas moving to the new platform in August.
Bishop said the initiative looked to improve efficiency, ”agility, and customer experience through a more sustainable digital service model”.
“Our Future Services is a long-term, customer-focused initiative, and we remain committed to keeping our people and stakeholders informed as the programme progresses and as more information becomes available.”
Public Service Association (PSA) national secretary Fleur Fitzsimons said the PSA opposed the use of automation as a means to replace skilled and experienced public servants, and opposed its use to make decisions on visas to enter New Zealand, saying the risks were too high.
“Particularly in sensitive and complex areas such as immigration that has a massive impact on the lives and futures of thousands of people from all over the world,” she said
The work to process visas involved a high level of skill and judgment in applying complex legal and regulatory requirements to the variety of visa applications from a diverse group of people, she said.
She said replacing highly specialised work was “problematic and risky”.
“How can you hold a machine to account?”
The use of automation in this way risked putting in place a low-cost, low-quality service for a core and sensitive Government activity.
The PSA would make submissions to MBIE opposing the change. ItT said just over 1000 staff worked on visa processing.