New Zealand's Visa Software Approved Files Unchecked: What Every Applicant Should Do Now

News · 2026-09-30 · 4 min read

Do not take it for granted that a person has gone through your visa file. In New Zealand, faults in Immigration New Zealand's ADEPT platform let some applications get approved with nobody assessing them manually. This came out in briefings to Immigration Minister Erica Stanford, which RNZ covered on 30 September 2026. Below are the facts, then the steps that applicants, employers and anyone preparing a move should take.

The fault, in plain terms

ADEPT has been the online channel for processing New Zealand visas since 2022. Officials traced a technical fault that sometimes made a single automated process fire twice or more on one file. The outcome: actions got duplicated, and the point where an officer was meant to step in and assess things never happened.

When officials went back and checked, they found:

32 visitor visas that went through with no manual assessment, spread over roughly three years
23 Job Check applications passed the same way in 2022 (Job Check is where an accredited employer must show it first made an effort to recruit a New Zealander)

Technical advisors have since looked again at every one of those visitor visas, officials say. Twenty visa holders were already in New Zealand by then, and no adverse outcome was noted. Six files went back for full assessment because risk factors were present. One was put forward for decline.

A list of further problems

August 2026 submission fault: After an update, certain visitor visa applicants were blocked from submitting a draft as soon as a second person was added to it. It took only days for a permanent fix to land. Nobody knows how many people were caught by it.
Accreditation dashboard errors: Around 2,300 businesses whose accreditation lapsed before being renewed found their migrant workers had disappeared from view in the system. That got in the way of resending job tokens and of reporting staff who left.
Gaps in health screening: In 2025, 364 people seeking multiple entry visitor visas for parents and grandparents never saw a tuberculosis-related residency question. Visas were still granted to 295 of them. Officials rated the individual risk as relatively low and promised to contact those affected.

Automation that was never switched on

Officially, the Government's line was that automation could help say yes, but a no would always come from staff. The law does allow automated decision-making in immigration, yet the agency had reportedly never used it. Back in 2025, it estimated it was still around two years short of the data and testing required to do this properly. So nobody planned these approvals. The software simply did what it was never meant to do.

On a separate track, ministers returned the $336 million Our Future Services programme and asked for a new business case, because its projected savings had been overstated by $134 million. A report is expected from officials before April 2027.

Your next steps, depending on who you are

Applicants: Nothing indicates real, honest applications are under threat. The problem is about consistency and oversight; it is not about people being turned down wrongly. Still, being approved quickly is no proof your file got proper scrutiny, and if mistakes surface later, you could be contacted again.

Employers and sponsors: Line up whatever the dashboard shows against your own staff records and the list of job tokens you have issued. Never treat the system as the final word, particularly after your accreditation has gone through a lapse and renewal.

Future migrants: Every destination country updates its policies and systems over time. Hold your own record of submissions, confirmations, medical results and correspondence, regardless of what appears on screen.

Five rules to protect your application

Store a copy of each page and confirmation once submitted.
Give full answers to all health and character questions, prompt or no prompt.
Move fast whenever further information is requested.
Log in to check your status often. Silence is not a sign that all is fine.
If something looks off, go to a licensed migration professional, never an unlicensed middleman.

The lesson

Tech can make processing quicker, but only when there is solid testing and people overseeing it. The strongest shield an applicant has is an honest, thorough and fully documented application, whatever the country. Be wary of anyone who says they can push your file through using a system shortcut; a genuine process does not work like that.

General information only, not immigration advice. Rules and processes shift, so confirm with official sources or a licensed adviser before applying.

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