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Survey of New Zealand visa and permit applicants who have used an immigration adviser

Research Approach and Sample Profile

The survey of applicants who use advisers was undertaken using an online methodology.  This approach replicated the approach used for the Global Visa and Permit Survey (GVPS) (undertaken by the Department of Labour Workforce Group).  In the past the GVPS had been undertaken using paper-based questionnaires which were distributed by each of the visa and permit branches both onshore and offshore.  In 2009 the Department piloted undertaking this survey using an online methodology.

The distribution of online surveys was centralised and managed by Premium Research.  A list of visa and permit applicants who had received advice from an adviser in the eight months prior to 4 May 2009, and had personal email addresses included in their contact details, were provided to Premium Research (by the Workforce Group).

Emails were sent to all respondents explaining the purpose of the survey and including a ‘click here’ link to the questionnaire.  Covering emails were in English and included a link the survey in English and eight other languages:

Surveying was undertaken between 27 May and 12 June 2009.

A total of 7,500 applicants were invited to participate in the survey. A total of 1,137 applicants completed a survey. This equates to a survey response rate of 20 percent.

The profile of the achieved sample is outlined overleaf.

For analysis purposes, respondents were divided into three groups (referred to throughout this document as ‘status’):

Sample Achieved(image links to large version)

Caution is needed when considering this split of applicants because a high 55 percent of respondents said they did not know if their adviser was licensed. 

This split of applicants resulted in groups sized as follows: