There’s praise for the 'tight ship' Immigration New Zealand's running. 

Data released to Newstalk ZB reveals just over 65 thousand visa applications were turned down in 2025, plunging from more than 83 thousand in 2024. 

The rejection rate last year sat at around 6.3% – while the two years before both sat at 7.3%. 

Queen City Law Managing Director Marcus Beveridge told Mike Hosking Immigration New Zealand's making efficient decisions to keep the bad guys out. 

He says they've had computer and personnel issues in the past, but it now seems they've got things humming pretty well. 

There’s also little surprise at the countries making up rejections – India made up almost a third of them, followed by China and Pakistan. 

Beveridge told Hosking India’s seen similar numbers for years, as it’s always been considered a high-risk country, but Fiji often sees quite a bad rejection rate as well. 

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• Immigration New Zealand visa rejection rate falls to post-Covid low