The Department of Labour - which incorporates the Immigration Service - has started sending personalised texts and emails to customers to provide "immigration information" such as permit expiry reminders, policy and fee change notifications, notices for immigration agents and information about jobs.

Lead by the departments iBranch, this "proactive client communications" project is “a fast, effective way to make personal contact with people about their situation," the department's workforce deputy secretary, Mary Anne Thompson told the New Zealand Herald.

"The department is the first immigration service in the Asia-Pacific region - and possibly the world - to use such a communications approach."

The project has been given a Telecommunications Users Association award.