Ever so polite, New Zealand's Immigration Service iBranch received a Telecommunications users Association award for the personalized text messages and emails it sends to foreign nationals, employers and legal advisors.

This is a novel approach that is quite possibly not yet used any where else in the world. The government uses it to send information about permit expiration reminders, policy and fee change notifications, notices for immigration agents and jobs.

See Immigration texts emails win award, New Zealand Press Association, October 12, 2007, for more information.