Plain language law

New Zealand law explained for everyone

Immigration Act 2009

Compliance and information - Disclosure of information to or by other agencies, bodies, or persons

303: Disclosure of information to enable specified agencies to check identity and character

You could also call this:

“Sharing information between agencies to check non-citizens' identities and backgrounds”

This section is about sharing information between government departments to check people’s identity and character. Here’s what you need to know:

The Department of Immigration can share information with other government agencies to help them check who someone is and what they’re like. This applies to people who aren’t New Zealand citizens, both inside and outside the country.

If you’re not a New Zealand citizen, the head of another government department can ask Immigration for information about you. They might do this if you’re in New Zealand, or if you’re planning to come here, or if you’ve been here before.

Immigration can share quite a lot of information about you, including:

Your name, birthday, and other details that identify you Any crimes you’ve committed before How you usually do things If you’ve been involved in illegal activities Your money dealings, including if they think you’ve been laundering money Reports about you Details of your phone calls or messages that have been intercepted Your general history, including people you know Where you’ve travelled before Details about your visa

The government departments that can ask for this information are the Police, the Ministry of Justice, and the departments in charge of biosecurity, prisons, and customs.

Every year, the departments that ask for this information have to report on how many times they’ve done it and if there were any problems with the information they got.

This sharing of information is done under an agreement that follows the rules set out in section 303C of this law.

This text is automatically generated. It might be out of date or be missing some parts. Find out more about how we do this.

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM2391029.

Topics:
Immigration and citizenship > Visas
Immigration and citizenship > Border control
Government and voting > Government departments
Previous

302: Disclosure of information to enable Department to check identity, character, and status, or

“Sharing information between agencies to verify people's details for immigration purposes”

Next

303A: Disclosure of information to specified agencies for purposes of law enforcement, counter-terrorism, and security, or

“Sharing traveller information with government agencies for safety and security”

Part 8 Compliance and information
Disclosure of information to or by other agencies, bodies, or persons

303Disclosure of information to enable specified agencies to check identity and character

  1. The purpose of this section is to facilitate the disclosure of information by the Department to a specified agency to enable the specified agency to—

  2. establish or verify a person's identity:
    1. check matters relating to a person's character.

      1. For the purposes of this section, the chief executive of the specified agency may supply identifying information about the following persons to the chief executive of the Department:

      2. a person in New Zealand who the chief executive of the specified agency believes is not a New Zealand citizen:
        1. a person outside New Zealand who the chief executive of the specified agency believes—
          1. is not a New Zealand citizen; and
            1. is intending to board a craft for the purpose of travelling to New Zealand:
            2. a person outside New Zealand who the chief executive of the specified agency believes—
              1. is not a New Zealand citizen; and
                1. has previously travelled to New Zealand.

                2. The chief executive of the Department may compare the information he or she receives with information that the Department holds about the person.

                3. If the Department holds immigration information about the person, the chief executive of the Department may supply the information described in subsection (5) to an authorised officer under an agreement entered into in accordance with section 303C.

                4. The information is—

                5. the person's identifying information:
                  1. the person's previous convictions:
                    1. the person's modus operandi:
                      1. details of the person's known or suspected involvement in illegal activities:
                        1. details of the person's known currency and other financial transactions of relevant interest, including known or suspected involvement in money laundering:
                          1. intelligence analysis assessments of and reports about the person:
                            1. details of communications interceptions involving the person:
                              1. the person's general history known to the Department (which may include information about associates and networks):
                                1. the person's past travel movements:
                                  1. details of a visa held by the person.

                                    1. Repealed

                                    2. The chief executive of the specified agency must ensure that each annual report of the specified agency includes information about agreements between the chief executive of the specified agency and the chief executive of the Department under this section, including—

                                    3. the number of agreements; and
                                      1. an outline of each agreement; and
                                        1. the number of cases in which the accuracy of the information disclosed by the chief executive of the Department was challenged.

                                          1. In this section,—

                                            authorised officer means an officer, employee, or agent of the specified agency who is authorised by the chief executive of the specified agency to receive information from the chief executive of the Department in accordance with this section

                                              chief executive of the specified agency includes the Commissioner of Police

                                                identifying information means a person's—

                                                1. full name:
                                                  1. date and place of birth:
                                                    1. gender:
                                                      1. unique identifying number used by the specified agency:
                                                        1. unique identifying number used by the Department:
                                                          1. biometric information:
                                                            1. alias or aliases:
                                                              1. address:
                                                                1. distinguishing features:
                                                                  1. details of travel documents:
                                                                    1. details of identity documents:
                                                                      1. citizenship:
                                                                        1. nationality

                                                                          specified agency means—

                                                                          1. the New Zealand Police:
                                                                            1. the Ministry of Justice:
                                                                              1. the department of State responsible for the administration of the Biosecurity Act 1993:
                                                                                1. the department of State responsible for the administration of the Corrections Act 2004:
                                                                                  1. the department of State responsible for the administration of the Customs and Excise Act 2018.

                                                                                  Notes
                                                                                  • Section 303(4): amended, on , by section 275(1) of the Intelligence and Security Act 2017 (2017 No 10).
                                                                                  • Section 303(6): repealed, on , by section 275(2) of the Intelligence and Security Act 2017 (2017 No 10).
                                                                                  • Section 303(8) specified agency paragraph (e): amended, on , by section 443(3) of the Customs and Excise Act 2018 (2018 No 4).