Is the Immigration New Zealand's Investigations team exempt from the government's public servant job number cuts?

Answer

Budget 2026 included an additional $18m in Crown funding over four years for to increase capacity and resourcing for immigration compliance and investigations and the labour inspectorate. The funding includes one new Immigration Investigations team, one new Immigration Compliance team and a new Labour Inspectorate team. These teams are all considered frontline staff and funding appropriated in Budget 2026 can only be used for its intended purpose.