Hon KRIS FAAFOI (Minister of Immigration): In December 2017, our borders were open under pre-COVID settings and Immigration New Zealand were processing 90 percent of visas in 22 days. In March of 2020 the New Zealand border was closed to keep people safe and, therefore, offshore visitor visa applications were halted. Immigration systems processing capacity pivoted to processing the critical purpose visas that we needed to keep our businesses and services running, and while that process is labour intensive, those visas have been processed in an average of 12 days. The result of that reprioritisation meant that as of April of 2022, 50 percent of visitor visas are approved in 15 days, 75 percent in 33 days, and 90 percent in 71 days. As we reconnect with the world, the critical purpose visa will be a thing of the past, meaning those processing resources can be pivoted and prioritised back to the likes of visitor visas. I have sought and received assurances from Immigration New Zealand around processing times and I will watch this closely.