In a major hint on how various visas will be processed in future, Immigration Minister Iain Lees-Galloway, on Tuesday said this in Christchurch, “We are looking at ways to make the entire visa approval process fully automated. So if all the paper-work is in order, the applicant may get a computerised approval, with no manual work involved.

On December 2, Immigration New Zealand said in a release, “We have contacted a group of people who were recently declined visas to visit a New Zealand citizen or resident partner. These people have been told they may apply for a visitor visa which will be assessed against updated guidelines. The fee for this application will be waived.”

The Government has announced that the Pathway Student Visa pilot will continue until January 2021, after which it will become a permanent visa category. This pilot was introduced in December 2015, to enable international students to study up to three consecutive courses on a single student visa for up to five years. The visa is only available for study with approved education providers and for some courses of study.

In a first-of-its-kind meeting held in Auckland on November 11, representatives from several Kiwi-South-east Asian communities including from India, Pakistan, Nepal, and Sri Lanka - decided to form a five-member action committee to take up collective immigration concerns with the Central Government.

- this story is particularly for Immigration New Zealand, which recently started viewing the still very-popular and prevalent form of marriages in the Indian sub-continent, differently