Migrant-data sharing ran for years before first annual reviews

Summarised by Centrist

New Zealand’s international migrant-data sharing arrangements operated for years before the first annual reviews began in early 2026, RNZ reports.

Agreements dating back to the early 2010s provided for annual reviews and reporting of privacy or security breaches. However, RNZ was previously told these were not formal processes and none had been completed.

Immigration New Zealand identity manager Matt Gibbs said a new quality-assurance framework was agreed in May 2025. New Zealand’s subsequent reviews identified no privacy breaches, system-access security breaches or inappropriate disclosures to partner countries for the 2025 calendar year. That finding does not cover the preceding years.

Australia submitted more than a million requests for information about travellers in the year to April 2026, producing 676 fingerprint matches. Those matches do not necessarily indicate criminal offending.

Separately, the Migration 5 countries, New Zealand, Australia, Britain, Canada and the United States, have paused exploratory work on criminal-record checks. New Zealand agencies concluded existing legislation did not permit overseas agencies to query police or court conviction information for immigration purposes.

Gibbs said no biometric or conviction information was shared during that exploratory work.

Read more at RNZ 

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