Some New Zealand visas were approved without an officer: what Vietnamese applicants can do

News · 2026-09-30 · 4 min read

New Zealand has shared some surprising news about its online visa system. Faults in the system approved some visa applications without a person checking them. This does not mean your application is in danger. But it is a good reason to prepare carefully, and this short guide explains how.

What happened?

Briefings to the immigration minister, which came to light on 30 September 2026, explain the problem. The system is called ADEPT. It is Immigration New Zealand's online visa processing system, and it has been used since 2022.

A technical fault sometimes let the same automated step run more than once. Because of this, the step where an officer should check the file was skipped. Officials then looked for other cases. They found:

32 visitor visas approved with no manual check over roughly three years.
23 Job Check applications approved with no manual check in 2022. A Job Check is when an accredited employer shows that it tried to hire a New Zealander first.

Advisors have now reviewed all the visitor visas. Twenty of the visa holders already travelled to New Zealand, and no bad result was noted. Six files were opened again for a full check because of risk factors. One was recommended for decline.

Were there other problems?

Yes. These problems were also found:

In 2025, 364 applicants for multiple entry visitor visas for parents and grandparents were not asked a question about tuberculosis and residency. 295 of them were given visas. Officials said the risk for each person was relatively low, and that affected applicants would be contacted.
Around 2,300 businesses with lapsed and renewed accreditation could not see their migrant workers in the system. This made it hard to resend job tokens or report that a worker had left.
In August 2026, a system update stopped some visitor visa applicants from submitting drafts after a second person was added. A permanent fix came within days. We do not know how many people were affected.

Why is this a big story?

The Government had said that computers would help to approve applications, but staff would make the decisions to decline. The law allows automated decisions. But the agency had not yet used them, and in 2025 it said it was about two years away from having the data and testing to do it well. So these approvals were not planned. The system did something nobody wanted.

There is also a money problem. Ministers sent the $336 million Our Future Services programme back for a new business case. Its projected savings were overstated by $134 million. They want a report before April 2027.

What should you do?

Nothing here suggests that real applications are being wrongly refused. The worry is about checking and oversight. A fast approval does not always mean someone checked the file with care. Mistakes found later can lead to a follow-up message.

Save a copy of every page and confirmation you submit.
Answer every health and character question fully, even if the system does not ask.
If a police certificate is requested, a Vietnamese citizen usually needs the Judicial Record Certificate No. 2 (Phiếu lý lịch tư pháp số 2).
Get certified English translations of Vietnamese documents if the visa rules ask for them.
Reply quickly if you get a request for more information.
Check your application status often. Silence does not always mean all is well.

Keep yourself safe

Deal only with licensed organisations and real employers. Never pay an unlicensed broker. Be careful with anyone who asks for money upfront to secure a job or a visa. If anything looks unusual, ask a licensed migration professional.

A careful, honest application with good records is your best protection in any country. Rules change, so read the New Zealand work visa pages before you apply. This article is general information, not immigration advice.

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