April 2022 Newsletter
Message from the Registrar
Kia ora koutou
I hope everyone has had a safe and enjoyable set of long weekends.
There are a number of exciting things being produced by the Authority at present, and I would like to introduce and highlight several of these.
We are announcing a series of webinars that will take place this year based on the stages of the client relationship. The first of these will be held this week on Thursday 28 April 2022. All advisers were sent an invitation to register 2 weeks ago. You can find the registration link below.
The Licensing Team have some announcements, including a change to how the paper-based application levy can be paid and the addition of a new checklist resource.
The Immigration Advisers Social Media Campaign is also progressing, with phase 1 well under way. Find out more about this below.
Kia kaha and keep our standards high.
Duncan Connor
Registrar of Immigration Advisers
2022 Webinars
This year, the Authority is running a series of 3 webinars based around the stages of the client relationship: the start, duration, and end. We will also use these webinars to highlight some of the issues identified from the 2021 Migrant Survey Results.
The next webinar is scheduled to take place on 28 April 2022, 3-4pm NZST. The webinar topic is ‘The Start of the Client Relationship’. This will also be recorded so you can watch it at a later date.
In this webinar we will discuss the documents and explanations that should be provided to clients during initial meetings, as well as other important things to keep in mind at this important stage of the relationship.
If you have any questions you would like to submit to the IAA team about this topic prior to the webinar, please email info@iaa.govt.nz. We will do our best to ensure your questions are answered as part of the webinar.
Message from Toi Ohomai
Invitation to provide feedback on the Graduate Diploma in New Zealand Immigration Advice
Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology (Toi Ohomai) established a Graduate Diploma in New Zealand Immigration Advice (GDNZIA) Industry Partnership Group in 2020. The group is made up of GDNZIA programme staff, an Authority representative, an INZ representative, and licensed immigration advisers. The group is a forum for Toi Ohomai to share information about the programme with industry, and for industry to provide feedback on issues relating to graduate outcomes and the content and delivery of the programme.
If you have any feedback on the GDNZIA please pass this on to one of the GDNZIA Industry Partnership Group members. They can then share the feedback for discussion at our next meeting.
The 2022 licensed immigration adviser members of the group are:
- Asoka Weerasundara
- Fahim Gul
- Hemant Kaushal
- Jens Mueller
- Jessica Meng
- Thomas Tran
- Vinod Kumar
If you have any questions or suggestions about the GDNZIA, you can also contact Appley Boyd, Academic Leader at Toi Ohomai. Her email address is appley.boyd@toiohomai.ac.nz.
Licensing matters
Licence ID packs
A number of Licence ID packs have been returned to the Authority as no one has been available to receive them at the primary business address.
We understand that some advisers may still be unable to work from their usual business address. Licence ID packs are sent to an adviser's primary business address. If you are unable to receive packages during business hours at the address listed as your primary business address, please email info@iaa.govt.nz to confirm a suitable alternative address. Please wait for the Authority to confirm receipt of the request before you finalise your online renewal application.
Note that this address cannot be a PO Box.
A note about the immigration adviser levy
Please note that there has been a change in the levy payment process for paper-based applications.
If a person’s licence application is successful, the Authority will send an email to the adviser stating that the application is approved subject to levy payment. This email will contain instructions with how to pay the levy.
Am I ready to apply for an initial provisional immigration adviser’s licence?
The Authority has recently published a resource that aims to assist prospective advisers working on their first licence application. The checklist will assist applicants to ensure they are providing all the necessary documentation, which will help to speed up the time it takes to process applications. If you are a proposed supervisor or know anyone who is planning on applying for a provisional licence, please refer them to this checklist.
For further information on the initial licence application process, please visit the Licensing Toolkit on our website:
Immigration Advisers Authority Social Media campaign
You may recall that in our December 2021 Newsletter we highlighted that work was underway to develop a proactive marketing campaign to promote the importance of using licensed immigration advisers when seeking immigration advice about New Zealand.
We have recently commenced phase 1 of the campaign. A series of adverts have been promoted on social media platforms. These adverts direct the reader to the Authority’s webpage where they can find important information about seeking migration advice and search the public register of licensed immigration advisers.
Phase 2 of the campaign will be to promote translated versions of these adverts. Languages will include Simplified Chinese, Hindi, Punjabi, and Spanish.
In addition to these adverts, we have developed a resource for advisers to share when they see unlicensed advice happening on social media platforms.
You can read more about this resource in our February Newsletter.
Tribunal decision
The Immigration Advisers Complaints & Disciplinary Tribunal (the Tribunal) has recently released the sanctions decision for ZL v Wan. In the substantive decision of 19 January 2022, the Tribunal upheld the complaint finding that Mr Wan had breached clause 1 of the Code of Conduct, by failing to inform the Complainant that Immigration New Zealand had rejected an exemption request for the Complainant to leave the country.
In the decision, the Tribunal stated:
“…Mr Wan was found to have lacked diligence and not to have exercised due care in his advice and the steps taken by him concerning the complainant’s 2 trips to China. The trips were in breach of a visa condition requiring her to stay in New Zealand with her son when he was here. Mr Wan failed to lodge a variation application fort the first trip and did not advise the complainant of Immigration NZ’s refusal of the second trip and the consequences of that...”
Mr Wan was censured and ordered to pay a penalty of $2,000.
New decisions are appearing regularly, and I encourage you to save the following link as a bookmark.
Immigration advisers complaints & disciplinary decisions(external link) — Ministry of Justice
