Ombudsman complaint re: cherry-picking of SMC applications

[raghubhat]

Got a response from Office of the Ombudsman

"We have now received the INZ’s response to the Chief Ombudsman’s provisional opinion. This will now be assessed before the Chief Ombudsman decides on his next steps."


I was not informed about what was the Chief Ombudsman’s provisional opinion and INZ response to that.
Does anyone know if I (Complaint lodger) am allowed to know/ask what was asked by Ombudsman and what response was provided by INZ ?

[deverett]

The ombudsman has finally made their decision and published it today. I won't post the entire 5 page letter but the shortened version is before February 2020 INZ were not breaking any laws but we're not acting fairly to applicants. The recommendation isn't exactly great but those that had to withdraw may be entitled to a refund under his guidance. The actual except I was sent is this;

I have recommended that:
1. INZ apologise to complainants for the disadvantage caused by its informal priority criteria
between July 2018 and 23 February 2020.
2. INZ refund the application fees, minus reasonable lodgement/administrative costs, to
affected applicants who wish to withdraw their applications.
3. Within 3 months, report back to my Office on the steps INZ intends to take to prevent
similar issues from occurring again.
I have asked INZ to advise me of the action it intends to take to implement my recommendations
by 3 May 2021.

[raghubhat]

Yeah, I got the similar 8 page reply.

/Rant
This is outright fraudulent and frustrating ! They basically said INZ made a boo boo and they are wevy wevy sowvy. Imagine applicants saying that to INZ for any of their mistakes.

This, even after I have a official letter from INZ stating that I would be assigned a case officer within 5 months. They don't bother to honor their own official statement.

For me and my family, it was/is 2+ years (and counting) of excruciating wait, uncertainty, anxiety and financial loss.

As for the refund - They are ready to refund minus reasonable lodgment/administrative costs - WHAT ? WHAT ???
It's not our mistake, why should we bear the "administrative" cost. If anything, INZ should give me back my hard earned money with interest for the last 2 years

Not sure how is this legal, swindling our hard earned money and making false promises.
/End Rant

[Cheech]

....hmm, rather unsatisfying outcome. I am lucky enough to have residence now - after 22 months in the queue, but what about those who no longer qualify due to the wait?
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/...sidence-policy

[chandanN]

Congrats to you Cheech on your residence.
But I don't see anywhere mentioning for those who are in wait, they do not qualify.

[satty02]

here is the action by INZ

https://www.immigration.govt.nz/abou...a-applications

[JandM]

Nothing there to say 'sorry', but that's a government department for you...

[raghubhat]

This is what I received from INZ.

One of the most apathetic response ever.
No apology as well.

Also, looks like pandemic is only affecting INZ since they expect us to send in our refund application through snail(physical) mail! No such restrictions while receiving candidates money.

What a ripoff!



Regarding application for: ____________________
Client number: ____

We’re writing to you as our records show that you made a residence application under the Skilled Migrant Category (SMC) or the Residence from Work (RfW) Category between 1 July 2018 and 23 February 2020.
During this time Immigration New Zealand (INZ) allocated these visa applications in accordance with an informal priority criteria. The Ombudsman has deemed this to be unreasonable.
The criteria used by INZ for prioritising skilled residence applications was formalised on 24 February 2020 and has been used appropriately since. This can be found here.

A refund can be given if:
• the SMC/RfW application was lodged between 1 July 2018 and 23 February 2020 (inclusive); and either:
• the application has not been allocated to an Immigration Officer (IO) at the time the request to withdraw the application with a refund is made; or
• the application has been allocated to an IO at the time the request to withdraw the application with a refund is made, but no assessment has been undertaken.

If you wish to withdraw your application and meet the above requirements, you can request a refund of your application here.

Application withdrawal and refund requests should be sent to:
INZ, National Documentation Office, PO Box 76895, Manukau City, Auckland 2241, New Zealand.

Refund requests will be processed as soon as possible.
Please note that INZ is not able to receive a refund request by email due to banking regulations regarding the electronic transmission of banking information.
If you don’t wish to withdraw your application you don’t need to do anything. Your application will remain in a queue until it is allocated to an Immigration Officer. Current processing times can be found on our website.

[IT_GUY]

Apathetic is an understatement, I got this too, which clearly shows that INZ even when called out on their unfair and illegal behaviour would not apologise.

[Cheech]

This is what I received from INZ.


Refund requests will be processed as soon as possible.
Please note that INZ is not able to receive a refund request by email due to banking regulations regarding the electronic transmission of banking information.
If you don’t wish to withdraw your application you don’t need to do anything. Your application will remain in a queue until it is allocated to an Immigration Officer. Current processing times can be found on our website.[/I][/B]

Current processing times? Their website states SMC/RFW processing times will be updated 1st April...