The number of visa applications referred to Immigration New Zealand's profiling branch has fallen by nearly three-quarters since it was launched.
Passport stamp visa for travel concept background, New Zealand. Photo: 123RF
Documents supplied under the Official Information Act show the Immigration's Profiling Branch handles cases involving people from countries identified as posing reputational risk, including war crimes and human rights abuses.
Immigration New Zealand figures show almost 6000 immigrants were referred to the Immigration Profiling Branch in 2006, a year after it was set up.
But following a review in 2014, numbers fell from 3000 to 1600 last year.
The profiling branch is no longer a separate office within Immigration New Zealand and has been re-named the Specialist Assessment Team (SAT), based in Porirua.
Immigration New Zealand said prior to the review the criteria for referring applications to the team was based on a list of countries.
It withheld the details of the review, and said releasing the information could prejudice the maintenance of the law.
Immigration New Zealand said its risk assessments were not based on country-of-origin profiles such as risk of overstaying, visa fraud or convictions.
The number and names of the high-risk countries were withheld with the branch saying it could prejudice New Zealand's security, defence or international relations.