NEW ZEALAND LAWS
New Zealand Statutes and Regulations
To access all New Zealand legislation currently in force, you can directly link from this website to the Public Access to Legislation website at:
To access the Immigration Act 1987 and its subsequent amending Acts, follow these steps:
- Click on
- Scroll down the Home page to "Acts" and click "Browse"
- This will open a window where you can browse Acts by Title
- Choose the letter "I" (for Immigration), from the "A to Z" drop-down box, and click on "Browse Now"
- Select "Immigration Act 1987"
- Scroll down to select the specific provisions of the Immigration Act 1987 you are wanting to view or select "view whole Act", "view PDF copy" or "search within this Act" from the grey banner ar the top of the page.
The Acts that appear on this website link are consolidated up to the date stated at the top of each Act, so care needs to be taken to ensure you have the most updated Act. If there are unconsolidated recent amendments, the words “See related information and/or uncompiled amendments" will appear as a link above the grey banner at the top of the page.
Immigration Regulations can also be viewed via the site. Simply follow the above steps but click on the link marked "Regulations" rather than "Acts".
New Zealand Government Residence Policy
To access New Zealand Government residence policy please go to . The Operations Manual is available both online (which includes historic policy) and in pdf form (current policy only).
International Treaties and Conventions
Some of the decisions of the Removal Review Authority refer to international treaties and conventions to which New Zealand is a signatory. The majority of these international instruments are published in full, with links to the status of ratifications, on the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights website.
Examples of the international instruments available on the site include:
- International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
- International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
- Convention on the Rights of the Child
- Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment
or Punishment
Higher Court Judgments
Many of the decisions of the Removal Review Authority refer to judgments of the higher Courts in New Zealand. Most are reported in New Zealand Administrative Reports (NZAR) or New Zealand Law Reports (NZLR), but some are unreported. Recent decisions may be available on the Ministry of Justice website or at www.nzlii.org.
We hope to be able to publish in full the unreported High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court judgments that have direct relevance to the decisions of the Removal Review Authority. In the meantime, where reference is made to a judgment that is unreported and is not available on either of the websites provided, please write to the Court Registry concerned and request a copy. There may be privacy reasons in some cases that will prevent a copy being sent to you.
