Delivering services to people and business

People across MBIE deliver and support many services that touch on the daily lives of New Zealanders.

From supporting safe and secure homes through tenancy services, connecting New Zealand to the world through our immigration system, and helping businesses to succeed, our diverse and widespread services help Grow Aotearoa New Zealand for All.

While our customers are diverse, our commitment to serving them is unified. We are committed to providing a great experience to our customers, and ‘Our Promise’ outlines what customers can expect when they interact with us, whether in person, by phone, email or on our website.

Our Promise | Te Kī Taurangi

Simple: We listen to you, and we keep it simple
Māmā: Ka whakarongo mātou ki a koe, ā, ka whakamāmāhia

Safe: We help keep people safe through consistent and appropriate application of the law
Haumaru: Ka āwhina mātou kia noho haumaru te tangata mā te tika me te riterite o te whakatakoto o te ture

Certain: We help you know what you need to do, how to do it, and why
Mārama: Ka āwhina mātou i a koe kia mōhio me aha, me pēhea, ā, he aha ai

Customer satisfaction

Understanding how customers and users experience our services lets us continuously improve and make informed choices about changes to our services. Where possible, we conduct regular surveys to understand how well we are meeting customer expectations.

For example, despite higher demand, we have maintained relatively high levels of 78%* of customer satisfaction for our immigration and employment dispute resolution services, though we are just short of our target of 80%*.

* Percentage of respondents rating our services ‘good’ or ‘very good’.

Customer satisfaction (% rating good or very good)

Service centre

Services we provide:

In addition to information online and via email, many people call us seeking information, including:

  • how to grow and digitise their business
  • immigration processes
  • lodging complaints because their rights as tenants, consumers, workers and so on, have not been upheld.

We have people based across the country managing over 70 different helplines: over 50 voice channels and over 20 email channels. This year, we processed over 1.5 million calls averaging over 125,000 calls per month.

Pie chart depicting the number of calls to various MBIE service centre lines.

Line graph depicting the volume of calls through the service centre by month.

Immigration

Services we provide:

  • Connecting people and enabling visitors to enter Aotearoa New Zealand
  • Attracting international talent and investment
  • Protecting the border

We approved over 1.1 million visa applications, which allowed nearly 845,000 people entry to the country, connecting New Zealand to the world (Data excludes visitors from visa-waiver countries).

Bar graph depicting the number of visa applications received and approved by month.

Bar graph depicting the proportion of visa approvals by category.

Building and tenancy

Services we provide:

  • Bond receipt and refunds
  • Tenancy, unit titles and weathertight mediation
  • Investigating breaches of the Residential Tenancies Act 1986, Unit Titles Act 2010 and Building Act 2004
  • Building Code determinations
  • Temporary Accommodation Service
  • New Zealand Claims Resolution Service (NZCRS)

We lodged and held bonds for nearly 179,000 New Zealand households and are progressing over 900 open NZCRS cases covering several significant events. This contributes to New Zealanders’ access to safe and secure housing.

Bar graph depicting the number of bond refunds and lodgements by month.

Pie chart depicting the proportion of open New Zealand Claims Resolution Services open cases by event.

Market integrity

Services we provide:

  • Business registration
  • Licensing practitioners, including building, electrical, immigration, auctioneers, motor vehicle traders
  • Radio spectrum, telecommunications infrastructure
  • Trading standards and Standards NZ

We registered over 55,600 companies and relicensed over 26,100 building practitioners and 11,900 electrical workers this year, to support a dynamic business environment and enable a fair market for consumers.

Line graph depicting the number of companies forming and ceasing by quarter.

Employment

Services we provide:

  • Information and advice about employment law, rights and obligations
  • Employment relations and dispute resolution
  • Prevention of migrant exploitation and compliance with employment standards

We led 4,580 employment mediations and delivered over 5,000 employment standards interventions enabling safe and productive workplaces. Since we reopened the borders in August 2022, over 250,000 people have arrived in New Zealand on a work visa (over 120,000 people in 2023/24). This year, we managed over 3,900 reports of migrant exploitation and completed over 3,000 Migrant Exploitation Visa Assessments, of which 91% were completed within 5 days.

Bar graph depicting employment standards interventions in 2022/23 and 2023/24 by month.

Bar graph depicting migrant exploitation reports received in 2022/23 and 2023/24 by month.

Business and consumer

Services we provide:

  • Information and tools to support business and consumers
  • Digital products and learning
  • Small business support
  • Protecting intellectual property

We published over 200 voluntary consumer product recalls to make sure goods supplied to consumers are safe and of acceptable quality. The register now contains 340,000+ trademarks to protect intellectual property.

Bar graph depicting voluntary recalls published by month.

Line graph depicting new trademark and patent applications, comparing New Zealand applications to total applications.