July 2016 newsletter
Registrar update
We currently have 40 licensed immigration advisers supervising provisional licence holders. Thank you to each of you who have taken on this important role. Over the coming year I’m sure that many more of you will become supervisors as the need for supervision grows. For those of you who want to test the water before committing to a supervision agreement, I encourage you to consider taking on a student work placement for eight weeks.
Thank you to all of you who completed our annual Adviser Satisfaction Survey on the IAA’s service during the last year. I am pleased that adviser satisfaction has increased from 67 per cent satisfied with the overall quality of the service from the IAA last year, to 76 per cent this year. In addition, 78 percent of you agreed that the new IAA Online services have made it easier to interact with the Authority. We will be looking into the results including your comments over the next few weeks to identify how we can continue to improve our service.
Thanks also to those of you who contributed to our consultation on changes to the English language standard. The results will be analysed this month.
The Qualification Steering Group has now reviewed the first four courses of the Graduate Diploma. The overall feedback to date is that a lot of great work has been put into it and that real families and people are now at the centre of the courses. If you are interested in helping develop scenarios on specific topics for the Graduate Diploma please email jeni.fountain@boppoly.ac.nz.
Catherine Albiston
Registrar of Immigration Advisers
Get in quick to secure a student work placement!
From 19 Septemberthe first cohort of Graduate Diploma in New Zealand Immigration Advice students will be undertaking a work placement. The work placement provides an opportunity for students to be exposed to a real immigration advice practice and to reflect on immigration matters and professional practice in a real-life situation.
Students are required to spend around 10-12 hours per week for eight weeks in the work placement.
Work placement mentors will be expected to give the student the opportunity to observe what it means to be a licensed adviser and to assist with tasks that don’t require immigration advice to be provided.
Students are not expected to have a provisional licence or provide immigration advice as part of this work placement. However they may do if they have a provisional licence and are working under agreed supervision.
Unless otherwise employed by the adviser, students are not employees for the purpose of this work placement and, as such, will not be paid or expected to pay for the work placement.
The work placement will only be available to students who can attend a physical immigration advice business with a licensed immigration adviser. At this point there are around 24 students who are looking for a work placement in the following locations:
Auckland (16)
Christchurch (4)
Timaru (1)
Hamilton (1)
Tauranga (1)
Hong Kong (1)
Work placements need to be agreed by the end of August.
If you are keen to have a student join your workplace, or have any other questions, please email jeni.fountain@boppoly.ac.nz.
The Polytechnic has developed a detailed Handbook that sets out the expectations for work placement students and mentors.
2015/16 in review – Licensing and Complaints
Our financial year has just come to an end and it’s a good time to give you an update on the core work we have been doing here at the Authority.
As at 30 June 2016 there were 1091 licensed immigration advisers.
In addition to New Zealand, the Authority inspected advisers based in Australia, Canada, China, Fiji, India, Israel, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Sri Lanka, the United Kingdom, and the United Arab Emirates.
Of the 232 inspections undertaken, 46 advisers were sent improvement letters on business practices which will be checked again at their next renewal.
In the year to 30 June 2016, the Authority completed the following:
Licensing
| Fast-track renewal | |
|---|---|
| Received | 438 |
| Completed | 438 |
| Completed within 5 working days | 100% |
| Inspection renewal | |
| Received | 240 |
| Completed | 232 |
| Completed within 40 working days | 95% |
| Initial applications | |
| Received | 152 |
| Completed | 152 |
| TTMRA applications (includes renewals prior to 26 November 2015) | |
| Received | 276 |
| Completed | 276 |
Complaints about licensed advisers
| Received | 55 |
| Completed | 44 |
| Sent to Tribunal | 19 |
| >Closed by Authority | 25 |
| Completed within 115 working days | 80% |
Potential offences
| Received | 63 |
| Completed | 63 |
| Prosecution | 1 |
| Education / Warning | 58 |
| Completed within 115 working days | 79% |
Looking to be a supervisor?
In July there will be a new cohort of students graduating with the Graduate Certificate in New Zealand Immigration Advice plus those who are halfway through the Graduate Diploma. A number of these people will be looking to find a supervisor and get their provisional immigration adviser licence.
Supervisors who are looking for a provisional licence applicant to supervise can advertise directly to the Bay of Plenty Polytechnic’s students.
Advertisements must contain the following information:
name and contact details of the company or organisation (on company letterhead)
- name and details of the contact person
- description of the supervision being offered (including location)
- description of the type of person required
- dates e.g. when posted, when applications close, potential start date (optional).
This type of advertisement will be posted on the Bay of Plenty Polytechnic’s student programme page.
If you are interested in supervising a new provisional licence holder, please email this information to jeni.fountain@boppoly.ac.nz.
Have you used our online CPD plan and record?
You can log-in at iaa.govt.nz to start or update your CPD plan for the year and record activities you complete. If this is the first time you are logging-in, you will need your activation code. Please contact us if you don’t have it.
Remember that you need to start following the new CPD requirements as soon as you renew your licence after 26 November 2015.
Our CPD Toolkit sets out all our requirements as well as extra guidance. You need to read and understand our CPD Toolkit in order to understand your obligations as a licensed immigration adviser.
Did you know…?
It is a good idea for provisional licence holders to have a second, back-up supervisor.
Section 19(5) of the Immigration Advisers Licensing Act 2007 requires that a person who holds a provisional licence must work under the direct supervision of an immigration adviser who holds a full licence.
Direct supervision must continue when the primary supervisor is away or unavailable so it is recommended that the supervision agreement includes provision for an alternative full licence holder to act in the supervision role in the absence of the primary supervisor.
Tribunal decisions
A common theme in Tribunal decisions is the importance of how an adviser responds to the Tribunal, including their insight into their conduct and their ability to acknowledge when they have made an error. Advisers are encouraged to seek legal representation to respond to complaints before the Tribunal.
Reading Immigration Advisers Complaints and Disciplinary Tribunal decisions will help develop your understanding of the standards expected of licensed immigration advisers.
LawTalk
Did you know that you can read LawTalk online? LawTalk is the official magazine of the New Zealand Law Society and often contains articles that may be of interest to New Zealand licensed immigration advisers.
IAA Online outage
There will be an outage to IAA Online at some point in July while we make further improvements to our services. We will email you to give you advance warning of the outage. We apologise for any inconvenience this causes.
