In 2019 a cross-Immigration New Zealand (INZ) Victims of Family Violence Project was instigated to assess the effectiveness of INZ’s approach to both preventing and responding to family violence for recent migrants - people who have lived in New Zealand for five years or less. This report provides an account of the project’s key phases and findings.

Key findings:

1. New Zealand’s family violence rates are one of the highest in the OECD.
2. The majority of applicants for INZ’s FV visas are from India or Fiji. Together with these, FV visa applicants from China, the Philippines and Tonga make-up the top five source countries.
3. In addition to acknowledged levers of financial, emotional, physical and sexual abuse that occur across situations of family violence, some characteristics and types of violence are particular to the specific circumstances of recent migrant women. These include:
   • immigration law-related abuse and coercion
   • multiple perpetrators
   • violence perpetrated or supported across international borders
   • certain cultural values and practices that can impede help-seeking.
4. Multi-lingual information and programmes available to the entire migrant community are vital to prevent and respond to family violence. That is, education on women’s rights and family violence needs to be provided to the whole migrant community (including perpetrators), not just to victims.